Qualcomm enhances wireless audio for gaming

Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. has expanded its S3 Gen 2 Sound platform portfolio with an enhanced solution that delivers ultra-low-latency wireless audio for gaming. The new solution, supporting Bluetooth LE Audio, is designed for dongles and adapters for use in source devices, including phones, laptops and TVs.

The addition to the portfolio combines Snapdragon Sound and LE Audio, claiming ultra-low latency of less than 20 ms for lag-free wireless audio with voice back-channel for in-game chat. Latency can be further reduced when delivering game audio only, said Qualcomm.

S3 Gen 2 Sound platform (Source: Qualcomm Technologies)

Referred to as the “Snapdragon Sound for gaming,” this is the first time that Bluetooth has seen an introduction to a low-latency technology and platform for gamers, said Mike Canevaro, director, marketing, and head of Snapdragon Sound, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., during a press briefing.

With every generation of Snapdragon Sound, Qualcomm has driven down latencies and improved audio quality, Canevaro said. In late 2021, the Qualcomm S5 and S3 Gen 1 Sound platforms offered a latency of 80 ms over classic Bluetooth and with the S5 and S3 Gen 2 platforms latency dropped to 48 ms, now reaching under 20 ms with the gaming-optimized addition.

Based on Qualcomm’s annual State of Sound survey, consumers want lag-free audio for gaming, but it has been “reserved” for proprietary 2.4-GHz gaming solutions, Canevaro said.

S3 Gen Sound platform designed for use in dongles and adapters (Source: Qualcomm Technologies)

Gamers are used to buying SteelSeries [headset] or other gaming platforms with a dongle and that dongle has been a proprietary 2.4-GHz solution, which was required to get latencies in line with what gamers expected, he said. “Those numbers are sub-30 ms and many of the proprietary 2.4-GHz solutions actually run sub-20 ms and below.

“We have developed in conjunction with our Snapdragon Sound audio platform our lowest ever gaming latency integration over Bluetooth, said Canevaro. “This is not a proprietary 2.4-GHz solution,” he added. “This is using Bluetooth LE Audio, and this drives latencies down with voice back-channel to sub-20 ms.”

Canevaro said there have been many challenges with Bluetooth and latency.

“When we started, we were well north of 100 ms and probably even higher for just simple stereo music,” he said. “Now we’re talking about sub-20 ms with voice back-channel and true wireless earbuds (TWS) as well as additional advanced user experiences such as LE Audio, broadcast audio – Auracast, and high-resolution and lossless audio quality, all sandwiched into our latest S3 platform.

“What’s interesting about this solution is that while daily gaming on smartphones is on the rise, it can be plugged into the latest Samsung Galaxy device or any PC in the marketplace and still drive these latencies that gamers are used to,” said Canevaro.

Wireless audio sharing and music listening

Although the new platform is optimized for gaming over Bluetooth using Snapdragon Sound, it can deliver lossless and high-resolution music listening and stereo recording for TWS as well as enable calls on the same devices.

The solution supports the latest LE Audio Auracast broadcast capabilities for dongles and adapters used in devices such as TVs, phones, laptops, PCs, consoles and other audio equipment. For premium music playback, it delivers 24-bit/96-kHz high-resolution Bluetooth streaming using Snapdragon Sound and Qualcomm aptX Adaptive audio technology.

Auracast broadcast enables content and audio sharing. This includes sharing audio with multiple people from your phone or laptop or listening to wirelessly streamed Auracast audio in public places like airports or museums.

Auracast-enabled earbuds or devices can pick up whichever channel or stream you wish to listen to, so in the airport it could be picking up announcements rather than over the PA, and at home, it could be multiple earbuds picking up a single piece of content, Canevaro explained.

There is also the unmuting of silent TVs in airports or sports bars, for example, where there are multiple TVs broadcasting different games, and you can pick up whichever game you wish to listen to, he said. “You can also broadcast and share audio with family and friends.”

When paired with Qualcomm S5 and S3 Gen 2 based earbuds and headsets, the solution delivers dynamic latency adaption. This means gamers can walk away from their consoles or PC and still remain in the game and participate in the chat with no interruptions to the audio.

Also, gaming for many reasons is focused heavily on over-the-ear cans [headphones] and now there is the ability to broadly focus on TWS earbuds for gaming in multiple uses cases, Canevaro said. “This is really the first time that Bluetooth has been able to support such a broad range of use cases.”

Snapdragon Sound supports a super-wideband voice connection over Bluetooth and all of that is underpinned through an interoperability and certification platform established in the market to ensure that products that carry the Snapdragon Sound logo and brand all meet or exceed certain KPIs and criteria, Canevaro said.

Snapdragon Sound for gaming. Click for a larger image. (Source: Qualcomm Technologies)

Some of the blocks from a chipset perspective include LE audio support for dongles and source devices, ultra-low-power design, powerful processing – built on the robust S3 and S5 platforms introduced last year, a programmable DSP and strong connectivity, all built on Bluetooth 5.4 with dual mode for both standard Bluetooth and LE audio, he said.

In addition, the audio codecs are adaptive, Canevaro said. “We’ve got bitrate adaptation for noisier environments.”