Apparently no Auracast for Rexton/Signia until 2027. Yikes!
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That’s crazy! Well at least they did the important stuff, LE Audio.
Oh, That’s too bad… By the way, we are releasing C82 LEA, the LE Audio USB C transmitter. It works with Starkey hearing aids under LE Audio one-to-one pairing. We are also looking for testers with other LE Audio hearing aids, like Philips Hearlink 9050，Phonak Infinio Sphere 90，Oticon Intent，Signia Pure Charge & Go IX, Rexton Reach. We will offer a few free testing units to early requesters.
I’m interested in participating as an early tester. I have Infinio I90s and am very satisfied with them. I am a DIYer who can make any necessary adjustments during the trial.
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Sure thing, Ralph. You are the lucky last tester for Phonak Infinio. Please email support@avantree.com with your mailing address and we will proceed.
Hi Phoebe
I have Resound Vivia 9 rechargeables and I’m interested in this. I have already bought a Multimic+ and a TV Streamer +. I’m also a beta tester for Naim audio firmware and software. I use Apple products rather than Android. Can I help at all? I’m in UK though.
David
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Hi Phoebe,
I’d be happy to join the test group.
I wear the Oticon Intent 1, and have a Pixel 9.
Sure thing, Please email to support@avantree.com with your hearing aids model and location so we can arrange. Thanks David. It is confirmed that our Auracast transmitters work well with Jabra hearing aids. What we would like you to test is to test the C82 LE Audio / Unicast compatibility, not the Auracast.
What we need is for some countries to start mandating Auracast support in Hearing Aids from a certain date. Even if its 2030, its a target date that manufacturers know they must work towards and then it would be a competition to say they support it prior to the required date.
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If Apple starts to suppose it in Sept, 2025, it will make a huge push also.
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I’m playing with the new beta , no signs of it 
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It wasnt part of their new iOS26. But there is talk of Apple putting Bluetooth 6.0 in its next iPhone. That gives a slither of hope.
The entire 90 minute presentation at WWDC was … painful. Disappointing. Every new feature hyped up to the nines and I was sitting waiting for them to announce Auracast. Nope. But here’s five minutes on why the trash can icon has been redesigned to be the best ever…
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Fully agree – I stay with Apple because of the ecosystem integration but that’s it.
Trash can, emoticons and now this transparency that is a refried version of Windows Vista.
I do not expect LE Audio suppor/Auracast to be released in September.
I’ve been playing with the beta (MacOS, IOS) and I haven’t found a single feature that I find interesting (except for the multitasking on the iPad, which I have zero use for – I have no desire to use my iPad as a laptop)
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Hmm… I guess they have too many other focus, especially all the AI stuff.
Auracast is dependent on the “LC3” audio codec.
– Abandon hope, all ye non-nerds who read below here. –
The LC3 codec is required by BT 5.2; more technically, “lc3” is both a codec and a file container type.
An LC3 codec is supposed to offer mono&stereo at the following sample rates: 8, 16, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz.
The LC3 code is supposed to support bit rates (per channel) up to 320kbits/second.
I’ve tested the Linux “elc3” software, and it supports all of the above except for 44.1 kHz (Compact Disc) sample rate.
Google’s LC3 sample code software can be found at:
“Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3)”
I’ve compiled and run this code on Linux, and it seems to work properly. Note, however, that on some Linux distributions, simply installing “elc3” will install an out-of-date version of this software, so you may have to recompile the Google code in order to get an up-to-date (v1.1.3) version of “elc3”, “dlc3”, and “liblc3.so”.
Once you have the latest “liblc3.so” and the latest header (.h) files compiled and installed, you can then “make” a version of ffmpeg which is liblc3-enabled. A liblc3-enabled version of ffmpeg makes it more convenient to run side-by-side comparison tests of lc3 with other audio codecs.
BT 6.0 doesn’t require, but does enable the “LC3plus” codec.
LC3plus adds support for 96 kHz sample rates, plus higher quality and lower latency at 48 kHz sample rates.
LC3plus supports bit depths of 24 bits, and per-channel bit rates of up to 500 kbits/second, as well as latencies as low as 1.25 msec.
LC3plus supports more than 2 channels – e.g., 5 and 7 channels; indeed, LC3plus supports any number of channels.
Presumably, BT6.0 Auracast will support LC3plus.
Here is an authoritative page about LC3plus: LC3plus
“LC3plus is fully backward compatible with LC3 in Bluetooth Low Energy Audio”
LC3plus will supposedly also offer a “lossless” mode, analogous to other lossless audio codecs such as “FLAC” and “ALAC”:
CES: Fraunhofer Demonstrates Dynamic Lossless Audio Codec - ETCentric
“German research organization Fraunhofer IIS has unveiled LC3plus Lossless”
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More nerd stuff:
Android 16 has Auracast built in: go to System > Developer options > Bluetooth LE Audio mode and choose “Unicast and Broadcast” (Auracast IS LE Audio Broadcast). Then choose System > Developer options > Enable Bluetooth LE Audio Broadcast UI preview. You have now enabled Auracast if your Android HW supports it.
Android 16 also has a new built-in Linux capability called “Linux development environment” which can be enabled in the “Developer options” section of the “System” settings.
This Linux development environment is a full Debian Linux system running on your Android phone.
Curiously, if I do “sudo apt install liblc3*” in this Linux development environment, I will install LC3 v1.0.1, which is NOT up to date, and probably not even up to date with Android 16’s own LC3 implementation !
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Brilliant posts, thanks @Nerdrunner
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Although Auracast isn’t enabled in iPhones yet, that isn’t necessary for the phone to be able to act as an Auracast switcher. So for example with my GN Resound Vivias, in the Resound Smart 3D app on an iPhone 12 Pro, you can search for and select Auracast broadcasts so that the Vivias choose the correct broadcast.
I don’t think the lack of anything to do with LE Audio or Auracast in IOS 26 betas means much. The iPhone 17 series have a different Bluetooth chip from the iPhone 16 and earlier. iPhone 17 has the all new Apple implemented 5G, WiFi and Bluetooth chip and the hope is that Apple will have put LE Audio in that.
Incidentally using the Vivias and the Resound TV Streamer +, you get Low Energy Audio unicast between the streamer and the hearing aids and the huge improvement in sound quality compared with streaming from an iPhone using old-fashioned Bluetooth LE is totally startling. Low Energy Audio is truly a game changer.
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You are lucky with Resound. For many others like Starkey, users have to depend on an Andriod phone to unlock their Auracast feature.
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My guess is that Apple will only introduce generic Auracast support when they also have headphones/Airpods to support it…