Auracast test with the nRF5340 Audio Development Kit

[Giampiero]

Hi.

I'm evaluating the LE Audio Auracast using some nRF5340 Audio Development Kits.

I programmed a board as the source and a board as a target and I successfully played music on the speaker connected to the Line-out of the target board.

At this point I wanted to connect a wireless headphone based on a Qualcomm chipset so I tried to use my Samsung S24Ultra (Android 15) to link the Auracast transmission coming from the  nRF5340 source kit with the headphone. The problem is that my smartphon doesn't detect any Auracast stream on air. Actually the it doesn't detect any nRF5340.

Is it possible this use case?

Is there a guide to test the LE Audio Auracast features with standard sources an targets already available on the market?

Thanks

Giampiero  

[Øyvind]

Hello Giampiero. 

What version of the nRF Connect SDK are you running? 

connect a wireless headphone based on a Qualcomm chipset

Does this headset support BLE Audio? 

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[Giampiero]

Hi Øyvind.

On the box I read "nRF5340-Audio-DK Rev. 1.0.1.

The Qualcomm chipset supports LE Audio and Auracast. I'm sure about it because my S24Ultra shows the LE Audio option in the BlueTooth devices management screen and the Auracast icon.

[Øyvind]

Giampiero said:

On the box I read "nRF5340-Audio-DK Rev. 1.0.1.

This is the Audio Development Kit. 

Øyvind said:

What version of the nRF Connect SDK are you running? 

What version of the  software development kit (SDK) are you using to build the audio applications? We will need more information on how you compile the project with the specific tag. i.e. build logs

Please note that we have a more flexible and lightweight method of setting up a Broadcaster/Auracaster using the nRF Auraconfig sample.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[Giampiero]

nRF Connect SDK v2.9.1

[Øyvind]

Hello, our audio team pointed out a similar issue with Qualcomm in this DevZone ticket  nRF5340 Auracast issue 

Could you have a look and see if this is a similar issue on your side?

[Giampiero]

I stop at the first step (1,Connect the nRF5340BIS headset with the phone): my phone doesn't detect the start5340AudioDK programmed as source (green central LED). It can detect the target start5340AudioDK ( blue central LED), but the connection (pairing) fails.

[Øyvind]

Hello, I've discussed the issue with out audio team. 

This is a more general guide on how to use Samsung S24 as broadcast assistant to work with our broadcast source and sink. 

1. Study material: 
   To know better about how Auracast works, we could take a look at
   https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-resources/overview-of-auracast-broadcast-audio/
   https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Introduction-to-LE-Audio-2.0.pdf
2. Setup the DKs
   1. Prepare at least two DKs, (three would be great, check the nrf5340 audio doc for setting the channel properly)
   2. Setup the broadcast source (broadcaster)
      Add following configs into prj.conf, and then build and program the broadcaster.
      CONFIG_TRANSPORT_BIS=y
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_PREF_SAMPLE_RATE_16KHZ=y
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_BITRATE_BROADCAST_SRC=32000
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_MAX_TRANSPORT_LATENCY_MS=10
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_PRESENTATION_DELAY_US=40000
CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME="16_2_1_broadcaster"
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_BROADCAST_NAME="16_2_1_broadcaster"
      This is using the mandatory support preset defined in BAP, could be a good start for testing with headset from other vendors.
      Once if it works, then we can move to higher quality preset
3. Setup the broadcast sink (BIS headset)
   Add following configs into prj.conf, and then build and program the BIS headset.
   CONFIG_TRANSPORT_BIS=y
CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_SCAN_DELEGATOR=y
4. Setup the phone and then play the demo
   Caution: Since now the phone won't show LE audio device which without the ASCS UUID, but that is not mandatory for broadcast sink device. The workaround is to enable the "developer option" and "show unsupported Bluetooth LE devices in Bluetooth settings"

[Øyvind]

If you fail to connect with BIS headset, please push button 5  during reset for erasing the bonding information. There could be a chance that your device is already paired.