According to a recent user survey conducted by SAR Insight & Consulting for Cirrus Logic, 40 percent of consumers have increased their use of speaker mode over the past 12 months. The global survey shows that as more people work from home during the pandemic, they are increasingly using smartphone speakers to watch and share video via social media, participate in video calls and listen to podcasts or music while multitasking. These are all factors driving consumers’ desire for better audio quality from their smartphones.
If there's not much that can be done to avoid this, improving audio quality parameters as much as possible needs to be a priority for the industry. The new Cirrus Logic CS35L45 is a 15V smart boosted Class-D audio amplifier with DSP that can be easily integrated into a stereo or multi-speaker playback solution for next-generation mobile devices. By combining speaker protection and adaptive battery management features to drive higher output power in all battery conditions, the device helps to improve the performance in mid-tier designs without upgrading the device's speakers. These features result in up to 30 percent higher peak loudness compared to Cirrus Logic’s previous generation boosted amplifier.
"To help fulfill consumer demand for a richer, more immersive audio experience, smartphone OEMs are increasingly incorporating additional and more powerful speakers into next-generation devices," says Carl Alberty, vice president of Mixed-Signal Products, Cirrus Logic. "Cirrus Logic's CS35L45 flagship boosted amplifier elevates audio quality coming from microspeakers in these mobile devices, providing greater loudness, dynamic range and higher bass and tonal balance, while protecting the speaker and preserving battery life."
"The CS35L45 smart power amp features 7W output power capability and 15V overboost to enable higher peak power at all frequencies, resulting in more tonal balance at all volume levels, better dynamics and more spatial range and timbre. Since it has the ability to draw high levels of current from the battery, the CS35L45 is “system aware” with built-in battery current and voltage monitoring that delivers high output power but only when required to reproduce the source audio content," the semiconductor company explains. "The CS35L45 amp’s proprietary adaptive battery management technology helps to “look ahead” to sudden audio signal spikes in order to protect the battery, prevent pumping and clipping and maximize the audio performance at all volume levels, with no audible artifacts," they add.
The Y-bridge output driver on CS35L45 allows for higher efficiency in receiver and speaker modes for longer battery life. And next-generation, more accurate speaker protection algorithms push speakers to their maximum limits while keeping them within safe limits. This is all supported with on-chip DSP firmware features that include equalization and psychoacoustic enhancements that maximize performance from small speakers. The result, Cirrus Logic claims, is top acoustic performance for stereo smartphones that approaches the loudness and sound quality of portable speakers – without sacrificing battery power.
Consumers Embracing Speaker Mode
Speaker mode in social gatherings is one of the most unfortunate consequences of the introduction of the smartphone - which will be hard to restrict until technology truly enables the implementation of personal sound zones through beaming techniques, protecting the ears of all other bystanders that shouldn't be able to endure the awful high-frequency distortion propagation originated by the tiny speakers on mobile devices.
According to a global survey conducted by SAR Insight & Consulting and sponsored by Cirrus Logic, respondents confirm that this unfortunate behavior - increasing significantly in the past 12 months - is the result of simple convenience, the ability to multitask, or simply the need to listen to music, podcasts or audio books when they have no other speaker of higher quality to pair/connect their devices. This in turn is driving consumer desire for improved audio performance from mobile devices and could influence their future purchasing decisions. Also, of course, a major opportunity for the audio industry to promote awareness of how simple and convenient is the ability to pair wireless headphones or speakers to replace the built-in speakers in these devices.
The SAR Insight survey, conducted in China, Germany, United States, United Kingdom and South Korea, asked participants how they used their smartphones, when they used speaker mode and to what extent audio performance mattered in today’s more heavily video- and audio-reliant applications. Results from the 1,722 participants, ranging in age from 18 to over 65, revealed that 40 percent of people have increased their use of speaker mode when "enjoying" audio content during the past year. Younger age groups are driving this increase across the board, particularly in China where 46 percent of respondents say they are increasing their use of smartphone speakers. Fifty-three and 57 percent of U.S. and German respondents, respectively, stated convenience as the number one reason when using speaker mode for video and conference calls.
In China, a highly mobile-focused country and therefore a leading indicator of global trends, 78 percent liked sharing social media videos and content on speaker mode, and more than half said they used speaker mode to create a "good atmosphere", especially for gaming. South Korea followed with 67 percent preferring speaker mode to share social content with family and friends and almost half preferring to do other things while talking on the phone.
Since this is not going to go away, there's an urgent need to increase the audio reproduction capabilities of mobile devices, not only to enhance the sound quality for the intended listeners, but above all to avoid disturbing the others in the vicinity. Users are aware of how bad the audio quality in those devices is, and all reported a desire for better audio speakers.
The new Cirrus Logic CS35L45 smart amp will be an important contribution to help address these audio quality issues, together with battery life concerns in future smartphones. The Cirrus Logic CS35L45 smart power amplifier is currently shipping in production volumes in a commercial-grade 0.4 mm pitch, 36-ball wafer-level chip scale package for operation from -40 C to +85 C.
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