The new PC-optimized audio enhancing solution includes the Cirrus Logic CS35L56 smart amplifier packed with processing power to deliver higher performing audio with increased perceived volume and dynamics, combined with the low-power CS42L43 SmartHIFI PC audio codec that integrates a MIPI SoundWire interface (v1.2).
According to Phil Solis, research director, Connectivity and Smartphone Semiconductors at IDC, "The PC market continues to shift towards thinner and lighter form factors that even approach the thickness of smartphones. At the same time, both consumer and commercial users want better audio quality from their laptops, whether that is for gaming, video or video conferencing applications. This requires higher-performing audio solutions with lower BOM costs and sizes.”
Cirrus Logic’s CS35L56 smart amplifier helps PC manufacturers deliver rich audio with deeper bass, balanced sound and dynamic range from compact multiple-speaker designs on the thinnest of laptops. The CS35L56 smart amplifier includes onboard DSP, sensing hardware, notebook battery voltage boost, and protection and enhancement algorithms to deliver industry-leading PC audio that maximizes loudness and increases quality and consistency while minimizing rattle and vibration. The CS35L56 amplifier consistently extracts maximum performance from novel form factors, such as 360s and detachable 2-in-1s and folios, and new high-excursion and force-cancelling speakers without noticeable speaker degradation.
The CS42L43 PC audio codec delivers a top-tier headset audio experience with great voice clarity, high dynamic range and low distortion. Because headphones vary greatly in acoustic characteristics, it’s important that OEMs consider headphone types in their design process. Otherwise, users may hear different sound from different headphones even from the exact same laptop. Cirrus Logic’s CS42L43 codec helps OEMs deliver more transparent, consistent premium audio quality across headphone types. With 50 percent lower power than other available solutions, the CS42L43 audio codec also contributes to longer PC battery life.
Cirrus Logic’s advanced audio solution also simplifies design and lowers material costs for PC manufacturers. The CS42L43 audio codec is available in a 13mm2 chip scale package, which contributes to a combined solution that is more than 50 percent smaller compared to competing products. The PC-optimized solution enables designs with lower cost and less waste due to lower power consumption, reduced board space and fewer components.
According to Cirrus Logic, this new PC audio solution enables a frustration-free, simpler design process and eases OEM’s transition to the industry’s new SoundWire interface (v1.2) - which in itself is an important progression. The CS35L56 amplifier provides for simple integration with a SoundWire Device Class Audio (SDCA) manager and is designed to work within Microsoft's ACX framework.
Offering both flexibility and extendibility, Cirrus Logic's audio solution combines a hardware, firmware and Windows driver solution, making it compatible across industry-leading processors and with any number of speakers. By choosing the number of CS35L56 amplifiers to pair with the CS42L43 codec, OEMs also can scale their solutions for performance and value.
"As users rely more and more on their laptops in their daily lives, whether it’s in hybrid working environments or for entertainment, today’s laptops need solutions that promise big sound out of small spaces while addressing the industry transition to the SoundWire® interface," says Eric Eklund, director of Marketing and Applications for Cirrus Logic’s Mixed-Signal Products Group. "Cirrus Logic answers this need with a premium PC-built audio solution that enables frustration-free OEM design and loud, immersive audio whether listening from the speakers on your laptop or using headphones."
The 55-nm process CS35L56 is available in a commercial-grade 34-pin QFN package. The CS42L43 audio codec is available in a commercial-grade, 70-ball WLCSP (wafer-level chip scale package) and a commercial-grade, 88-pin QFN package. Samples of both products are available now with production volumes expected to begin before the end of this year.
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