All items in category Industry News
Apple Confirms Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio Are Coming to Apple Music June 2021
by Joao Martins

Apple Confirms Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio Are Coming to Apple Music June 2021

Apple announced that Apple Music will be offering Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos tracks, as well as offering its entire catalog in Lossless Audio, at no additional cost for subscribers, starting June 2021. Lossless will use ALAC file format, and support 24-bit/48kHz as standard, with Hi-Res Lossless Audio files available up to 24-bit/192kHz. Apple is even promoting the fact that Hi-Res Lossless will require external equipment, such as a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC)!
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Cadence Offers MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile Decoders for Tensilica HiFi DSPs
by audioXpress Staff

Cadence Offers MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile Decoders for Tensilica HiFi DSPs

Fraunhofer confirmed that Cadence Design Systems is now offering decoder implementations supporting the new MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile and has joined the MPEG-H Audio System trademark program administered by Fraunhofer. Adding MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile decoding capabilities to Cadence’s industry-leading Tensilica HiFi DSP designs opens up the potential to bring interactive and immersive sound to millions of users worldwide.
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ArkX Laboratories Joins Voice Interoperability Initiative
by audioXpress Staff

ArkX Laboratories Joins Voice Interoperability Initiative

ArkX Laboratories has joined Amazon, Dolby, Facebook, and more than 30 leading technology and manufacturing companies as a member of the Voice Interoperability Initiative (VII) Group. Originally announced in 2019, the initiative's mission ensures voice-enabled products provide users with choice and flexibility through multiple, interoperable voice services. ArkX is a recognized supplier of production-ready, far-field voice capture solutions, all Amazon Voice Service (AVS) pre-qualified.
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Powersoft Launches New Free Certified Training Courses
by audioXpress Staff

Powersoft Launches New Free Certified Training Courses

Powersoft has launched a brand-new training program on its recently updated website, which provides two new free training sections for users: Webinars, where all Powersoft’s recent webinars are uploaded, and E-Learning, where the live sound and install courses are available online for anyone who wishes to take them. A new OEM course will be released in the coming weeks.
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Abbey Road Studios and Bowers & Wilkins Extend Partnership to Transform In-Car Audio Entertainment
by audioXpress Staff

Abbey Road Studios and Bowers & Wilkins Extend Partnership to Transform In-Car Audio Entertainment

Abbey Road Studios and Bowers & Wilkins announced a new phase of their partnership, which will see the two iconic audio brands come together to explore and enhance the in-car audio experience. The main goal is to explore new possibilities in spatial audio and acoustics simulation, helping to translate ideal acoustical environments that translate music as well in the vehicle cabin as it would in a reference studio environment.
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Ambiq Introduces Ultra-Low Powered Development Solution for Voice-Enabled Connected Devices
by audioXpress Staff

Ambiq Introduces Ultra-Low Powered Development Solution for Voice-Enabled Connected Devices

Ambiq introduced the new Ambiq Voice-on-SPOT (VoS) Kit, designed for manufacturers to introduce voice-command into their IoT devices with faster time-to-market. The Ambiq VoS Kit offers a complete, always-on, always-listening, voice-to-cloud solution for local voice commands and/or voice assistant integration in battery-powered connected devices.
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Bose Unveils SoundControl FDA-Cleared Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Aids
by Joao Martins

Bose Unveils SoundControl FDA-Cleared Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Aids

Bose was the first company to receive an FDA approval for an over-the-counter (OTC) hearing assistance device. The audio industry has been waiting for the actual product announcement. Now, Bose unveiled the SoundControl Hearing Aids, which as the name implies, are actual self-fitting, direct-to-consumer hearing-aids. They can be personalized using a mobile app, but the SoundControl Hearing Aids do not stream music or take calls and they retail for $849.95.
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CEVA to Acquire Intrinsix to Offer Full Turnkey SoC Platforms
by audioXpress Staff

CEVA to Acquire Intrinsix to Offer Full Turnkey SoC Platforms

CEVA announced that it agreed to acquire Massachusetts-based Intrinsix Corp., a leading chip design specialist, for approximately $33 million in cash, subject to working capital and other customary purchase price adjustments. The closing of the acquisition is anticipated to take place during the second quarter of 2021. The acquisition allows CEVA to offer IP, software and chip development.
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HEAD acoustics and Rohde & Schwarz Test Voice over 5G New Radio Communication Quality
by audioXpress Staff

HEAD acoustics and Rohde & Schwarz Test Voice over 5G New Radio Communication Quality

Working together with Rohde & Schwarz, HEAD acoustics have created a test solution that was able to successfully verify the communication quality of 5G (VoNR)-capable devices. VoNR, or “Voice over 5G New Radio” is a call service which fully explores the capabilities in the SA architecture for 5G networks. Compared to other communication services, VoNR provides significantly lower latency and improved sound and picture quality, improving the calling experience.
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Sonova Acquires Sennheiser Consumer Division to Expand and Enter New Growth Markets
by audioXpress Staff

Sonova Acquires Sennheiser Consumer Division to Expand and Enter New Growth Markets

Hearing solutions provider Sonova Holding AG, has signed an agreement to acquire the Consumer Division from Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (Sennheiser). The announcement from the Switzerland-based company follows on the statement, made earlier in 2021, that Sennheiser was planning to focus on its Professional business, and aiming to secure a partnership to strengthen its market position in Consumer Electronics.
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