Wolfson breaks new ground for mobile phones with world’s first digital audio hub solution

The industry-defining WM8995 blends together many of Wolfson’s successful audio components to deliver world-class audio performance, significantly enhanced battery life, longer music playback time and more end user features at a lower total cost. Crucially, the WM8995 enables system designers to optimally manage the complex world of multiple concurrent use cases where, for example, the consumer can take a hands-free call over a Bluetooth headset, whilst listening to music and receiving navigation commands, all at the same time and on the same handset.

As the latest addition to Wolfson’s unique range of highly integrated audio hub solutions, the WM8995 addresses demand for crystal clear audio, as well as managing increasingly complex multiple use cases. Its advanced accessory detection capability enables complete audio remote control, supporting up to seven function buttons on a headset.

The WM8995 enables mobile phone manufacturers to efficiently port, mix and route audio streams from multiple processors to multiple transducers, while also benefitting from the lowest complete electronic bill of materials (eBOM) cost by virtue of digital connectivity.

One of the key advantages of the WM8995 digital hub is that it allows ease of audio scalability and repeatability across the handset tiering. The WM8995, in conjunction with Wolfson’s digital microphones and audio amps, provide optimised, scalable, cost effective audio-centric solutions to all tiers in the cellular handset segment.

The WM8995 also represents an ideal solution for multiple form factor variants and other portable devices which require differentiating audio, such as MP3 players and netbooks.

Featuring multiple audio interfaces with sample rate conversion and digital mixing, and simple interface to speaker amplifiers which enable the smallest PCB footprint, the WM8995 also incorporates a dual capless Class W headphone driver which enables output power limit in countries that have legal limits for headphone power. The WM8995 also features next generation digital filters offering more natural sound during voice calls, and a 2-pin serial audio data interface for transmitting PDM data to digital input speaker amplifiers.

Darren Hobbs, Wolfson’s Audio Hubs Product Line Manager, said: “The WM8995 provides the world’s first highly optimised digital audio hub solution for mobile phones and other feature-rich portable applications. By combining Wolfson’s expertise across its product lines, our audio hubs unleash world-class audio performance and multiple use case capability at a low cost.

“In addition, the WM8995 conveniently enables consumers to use the advanced functionality in the headset to skip, pause, amplify or mute music, rather than having to access the handset or media player.”

Availability

The WM8995 is available for sampling now in a W-CSP package.

WM8995 customer evaluation boards are available to aid device evaluation and development.