Audio ICs
Actively Combating Noise
In this interesting article from ES Design magazine, Horst Gether, Product Manager, ams AG, poses the following question: Can active noise cancelling improve speech intelligibility even in a single-ear headset? Read on to find out.
Wolfson audio technology selected by Lenovo for flagship smartphone
Wolfson Microelectronics has today announced that its WM5102 High Definition Audio System-on-a-Chip, and its WM2000 earpiece driver with Wolfson's class-leading ambient noise cancellation technology built-in, has been selected by Lenovo for its latest flagship smartphone, the IdeaPhone K900.
TI Announces Industry’s First 8-Channel PWM Audio Processor With Dual ASRCs
Texas Instruments have announced the introduction of the industry's first 8-channel pulse-width modulator audio processor with dual asynchronous sample rate converters integrated on a single chip. The HD-compatible TAS5548 allows home and pro audio designers to seamlessly mix two audio sources, providing design flexibility and cost savings compared to competitive solutions that require two chips.
World's Lowest-Power Speech Recognition Solution For Mobile Devices
Wolfson Microelectronics and Sensory have announced the availability of Sensory's TrulyHandsfree Voice Control and audio detect front-end on Wolfson's latest ultra-low power platforms for mobile phone audio channel processing. This combination of leading-edge embedded software and DSP technologies enables unprecedented performance for voice activation and hands-free operation of mobile devices.
Smallest MEMS Microphone Designed for Hearing Aid Applications Features Low Equivalent Input Noise (EIN) and Power Consumption
Analog Devices introduced today a high performance MEMS microphone developed specifically for hearing aid applications. When compared to legacy solutions like electret condenser microphones, the ADMP801 is not only smaller in size at only 7.3 cubic millimeters, but also offers greater performance stability over time, temperature, and environmental changes, produces very low equivalent input noise at 27 dBA SPL, and consumes only 17 µA at 1Vsupply - a fraction of the power consumed by traditional ECMs.
World’s Most Highly Integrated SoC for TV SoundBar Audio Applications
The seemingly insatiable demand for ever-thinner profiles is compromising the audio quality output of even top-end flat panel TVs, thereby creating enormous market opportunities for digital sound projectors (SoundBars) capable of delivering an audio fidelity that matches today's high-definition video reproduction.
Conexant Introduces New Ultra Low-Power Class H, Audiophile-grade 2.8V Headphone Amplifier
Conexant Systems today announced the CX3000, its new high-performance, ultra low-power, Class H headphone amplifier with I2C control. CX3000 is the first Class-H amplifier to drive up to 2.8V into matching high impedance headphones with 106dB SNR and 100+ dB THD.
Sound Quality Breakthrough With 9.5V Boost Voltage In Mobile Micro Speakers
In a push for better sound quality and more output volume, leading mobile phone makers have been raising the internal voltage used to drive micro speakers – from 3.3V through to 5V, and recently as high as 8V. NXP is launching its new TFA9890 speaker driver IC, which enables an unprecedented 9.5V boost voltage from an integrated DC-DC converter. Increasing the voltage headroom in the audio driver IC prevents amplifier clipping and keeps sound quality high at maximum volume.
Tensilica and Sensory Drive Industry’s Lowest Power DSP-Based Voice Activation Solution
Tensilica and Sensory today announced that the two companies have worked together to provide the lowest power voice activation solution based on Tensilica's recently introduced HiFi Mini DSP (digital signal processor) IP core and Sensory's TrulyHandsfree always-on voice activation technology.
STMicroelectronics and Soundchip Introduce Components to Create Smart High-Definition Audio Accessories That Dazzle
STMicroelectronics together with Soundchip today introduced two HD-PA audio engines, STANC0 and STANC1, and an HD-PA microphone, the MP34AB01H, which enable the creation of exciting, feature rich, software-controlled smart audio accessories.
Toshiba To Launch Audio Codec IC For Mobile Devices
Toshiba Corporation has revealed today that it will launch an audio codec IC that integrates the audio features required for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, including microphone input, an earpiece speaker amplifier, stereo headphone amplifier and line-out output. Samples of the new product, TC94B24WBG, are available now and mass production is scheduled for March 2013.
Conexant Launches New Ultra-Lower Power I2S Audio Codec with Integrated DSP Features
Conexant Systems today announced the CX20787, an ultra low-power, I2S audio codec with integrated stereo class-D speaker amplifiers and powerefficient class-G headphone amplifiers. When combined with Conexant's software algorithms and design support, the CX20787 becomes an ideal turnkey solution for applications that require high-quality audio performance such as tablets, ultrabooks, portable media players, and smartphones.
IR Expand PowIRaudio Family With Two New Integrated Power Modules
IR today announced the expansion of its PowIRaudio family of integrated power modules with the introduction of the IR4311M and IR4312M. The 40V IR4311M and IR4312M offer a compact, heatsink-free solution for low power Class D audio applications including tabletop audio systems, active speakers and musical instruments with integrated amplifiers.
Dialog Semiconductor announces latest audio codec to enhance smartphone sound quality
Dialog Semiconductor today announced its latest ultra low power audio CODEC, designed to provide full range, high fidelity audio capture and playback to a variety of portable devices and audio accessories. Dialog's new DA7320 audio CODEC features a programmable Digital Signal Processor to offload audio software from the host processor.
Audience Introduces the earSmart eS515 – The World’s First Smart Sound Processor
Audience today announced the world's first Smart Sound Processor, the earSmart eS515. The earSmart eS515 Smart Sound Processor combines the company's award-winning Advanced Voice processing technology with its first high-performance, low-power audio codec for a best in class voice, speech recognition and multimedia experience on a mobile device.
Digital Signal Processing IC Provides Clearer Audio Through Cardioid Directivity
ROHM Semiconductor has recently announced the development of a digital signal processing IC designed to improve audio quality in devices such as smartphones and car navigation systems through cardioid directivity based on beam-formation technology using two omnidirectional microphones. The BU8332KV-M clarifies the specific direction of sound through beam-formation technology using two omnidirectional microphones.
Ultra-Low-Power, Filter-Free 3.2W Class-D Audio Amplifiers from Nuvoton
Nuvoton today introduced the NAU82039, a family of new Class-D audio amplifiers designed to optimize portable consumer devices. The new Nuvoton NAU82039 features high-efficiency mono, analog-input 3.2W Class-D power amplifier with 12dB of fixed gain – ideal for mobile consumer electronics such as smart phones, tablet PC, docking stations, portable audio and video players, GPS/Navigators, LCD and LED TVs, and toys.
Acoustic components: MEMS microphone with high signal-to-noise ratio
TDK Corporation presents the new EPCOS C914 MEMS microphone. It offers a particularly high signal-to-noise ratio of 65 dB(A) in the frequency range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It is thus particularly suitable for demanding audio applications in smartphones.
Acoustic components: Top-port MEMS microphones with flat frequency response
TDK Corporation presents the two new EPCOS C920 and C923 MEMS microphones. With footprints of only 2.75 x 1.85 mm² each and an insertion height of 0.9 mm, they are among the smallest top-port microphones worldwide.
STMicroelectronics First to Simplify Complex Multimedia Routing with New DisplayPort 1.2 Device
STMicroelectronics today added the STDP43 series of products to its innovative DisplayPort portfolio. These Systems-on-Chips are the world's first high-speed active-protocol bi-directional media-routing devices that manage audio and video data from various sources and send this data to multiple displays.
Nuvoton Introduces Ultra-Low-Power, Filter-Free 3.1W Class-D Audio Amplifiers
Nuvoton Technology today introduced a family of new Class-D audio amplifiers designed to optimize portable consumer devices. The new Nuvoton NAU8223 and NAU8224 feature high-efficiency stereo, analog input 3.1W Class-D power amplifiers - ideal for mobile consumer electronics such as smart phones, tablet PC, docking stations, portable audio and video players, LCD and LED TVs, and toys.
TI's Bipolar-Input Audio Op Amps Target Highest Noise Performance Applications
Texas Instruments unveil two bipolar-input audio operational amplifiers that provide unmatched noise, distortion and bandwidth performance while dissipating a mere 1.5 mA. The power-efficient, dual-channel OPA1662 and quad-channel OPA1664 enable system designers to develop the next generation of professional and prosumer audio equipment capable of producing crisp, clean "true to the original recording" sound quality.
Wolfson's MEMS microphones deliver crystal-clear HD Audio to consumer electronics devices
Wolfson Microelectronics has today unveiled the WM7121 and WM7132, Wolfson's first high performance top and bottom port silicon analogue micro-electro-mechanical systems microphones with matching frequency responses, designed to deliver outstanding audio quality to a wide range of consumer electronics applications.
Silicon Labs launch CP2114 USB-to-I2S Audio Bridge Chip
Silicon Laboratories have unveiled the industry's first crystal-less USB-to-I2S audio bridge designed to support a wide range of codecs and digital-to-analog converters used in USB-based audio applications. The new CP2114 audio bridge chip simplifies the process of transferring audio data from USB to I2S without time-consuming code development, speeding time to market for USB audio accessories such as speakers, headphones, music boxes, point-of-sale terminals, navigation systems and VoIP systems.
Industry’s first Audio Mixer Development Boards
Microchip announces two new digital audio mixer boards based on low pin-count 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers. The DM320014 USB digital audio accessory board uses standard USB 2.0 Mini-B connectivity; whilst the DM320413 digital audio mixer board offers Apple portable device connectivity. These two development boards, each powered by a Microchip PIC32MX250F128 32-bit MCU, enable audio and voice device development for a broad range of applications.
DEMO: Boost Micro Speaker Sound with TFA9887 Mobile Audio System from NXP
Housed in a small, cost-efficient wafer-level chip-scale package, this complete audio system includes an embedded DSP (running advanced algorithms for speaker boost and protection), a high-efficiency 2.65 W Class-D audio amplifier, and an intelligent DC-to-DC converter.
NXP's TFA9887 IC Blows your Mind, Not your Speakers
The TFA9887 IC from NXP has an amazing embedded algorithm which increases the output power of micro speakers by over 5 times, vastly improving the sound quality of mobile devices. By driving over 2.6 watts RMS into micro speakers that have previously been limited to 0.5 W, the NXP TFA9887 IC will give mobile phones, portable music players and tablets much louder sound, deeper bass, and higher sound quality – without risking speaker damage.
