This issue of audioXpress for February 2023 opens with a review by Stuart Yaniger of the Arylic Audio Up2Stream Amp V4 wireless multiroom DIY board. This board is part of the large Arylic portfolio of audio products produced by Rakoit, a design house and OEM/ODM manufacturer with excellent credentials in digital and wireless audio. The Arylic amplifier board incorporates a field-proven Linkplay wireless module, which helps deliver an extended range of connectivity options. In this Fresh From the Bench article, Stuart Yaniger attests to how this affordable and versatile solution performs and measures.As the cover for this issue showcases, the topic for this month's Market Update is MEMS Microphones and Voice Pickup Sensors, an area that is seeing important developments. New technologies in MEMS microphones promise to rival the performance of electro-dynamic and electret condenser microphones, and now, voice pickup sensors, DSP integration, and edge AI promise to take voice capture to uncharted territory. In this article, J. Martins and Mike Klasco detail how this potentially massive application market has proven a challenge for young and innovative companies, pressured by manufacturing operations, production yields, and price constraint, not to mention ruthless competition in the mobile space.
A sampling of the latest and most innovative product examples in MEMS microphones is just one of the reasons to dive into this market update article. The business, product, and technology trends in this segment is framed in this report against the growing opportunities presented in the true wireless earbuds, hearables, and hearing aids categories, where voice capture with MEMS microphones is being increasingly complemented with voice pick up sensors, including bone conduction devices that can be categorized as accelerometers, velocity pickups, or displacement pickups.
The next article expands on the topic of microphones and voice capture and is another fascinating explication by Erica Yorga, the Principal Intellectual Property manager at Nureva, about the unique features and benefits of the Unified Coverage Map technology for conference and lecture rooms. The article discusses this new patent-pending feature of the Canadian company's next-generation technology for audio presentations that provides a new perspective on how microphone coverage works in large rooms.
On the Subject of Standards is how Ekin Binal, Director, Product Management (AV Solutions) at Crestron introduces his article about Filling in the Gaps Left by AES67. Is the AES67 interoperability standard a viable alternative as the core solution for audio-over-IP distribution? Crestron proved that it is with its DM NAX technology filling the existing gaps of network discovery and routing. The article shares the practical experience in embracing the AES67 standard for distributing audio over a network for residential audio installation.
Next up, in Sound Control, Richard Honeycutt addresses the pertinent topic of Suitability of Venues for Various Events. This article details how understanding the optimal reverberation time vs. frequency performance of a venue, particularly one used mainly for amplified music, is important for acoustical consultants and architects. More importantly, the article frames the topic with recent research that has provided valuable design guidelines for such venues.
The next article will certainly be appreciated by our DIY readers and by many developers who often are faced with the need to build and test their projects on a properly designed, prototype printed circuit board. In Modern PC Board Design Practices, audio expert Ethan Winer proposes a two-part article that examines current practices and methods for designing four-layer printed circuit boards using surface-mounted components (SMDs). Part 1 presents an overview of the process, while Part 2 will explain specific strategies. Many related issues will be described along the way.
The next article on Audio Electronics is the fourth serving of Chuck Hansen's treaty on Power Transformer Parameters, Selection, and Testing. The initial group of articles focused on the history of transformer cores, their construction methods, their materials, and various testing methods. Part 4 of this series discusses the parameters of transformers and their losses.
Finally, this audioXpress February 2023 issue closes with a substantial DIY project brought to us by James Skov, a semiconductor industry expert with extensive experience in audio and software design, paired with a love for tubes. Now retired and dedicated full time to tube audio projects, James Skov has embarked on a never-ending search to improve the performance of tube audio circuits and this project pushes the envelope to achieve even lower distortion from an already great-sounding concept. The project, based on the TU-8500 preamp from Elekit, is called The Pre-5, and is a hybrid preamp with a 10Hz to 100kHz frequency bandwidth.
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