“Our mission to transform the mobile audio experience has taken a major leap forward with the introduction of Dirac Bass,” states Erik Rudolphi, Dirac General Manager of Mobile. “The pioneering solution provides the market with a level of bass reproduction that, until now, was associated exclusively with much larger devices. As smartphones, smart speakers and portable speakers increasingly become the preferred method for digital entertainment consumption, we look forward to equipping customers with an audio experience powerful enough to impress even the most discerning audiophile.”
The company will debut an all-new Dirac Bass demo experience developed with strategic partner AAC Technologies, a leading company in micro speaker R&D and manufacturing. The demo integrates various Dirac mobile audio solutions for perfected sound, including Dirac Bass, with AAC Technologies’ micro speakers to showcase the next generation of mobile audio quality.
Since 2016, Dirac and AAC Technologies’ engineering teams have collaborated closely to maximize the efficiency of the hardware and software design process and achieve a new calibre of audio performance through products designed specifically to work together.
“Bass performance has traditionally relied on how much air a speaker can move, which is a difficult challenge for micro speakers used in mobile devices,” adds Nilo Casimiro Ericsson, Dirac Head of Product Management, Mobile. “Dirac Bass overcomes this obstacle with cutting-edge algorithms to deliver louder, cleaner bass from the same size speaker. That capability, combined with our close work with AAC Technologies to develop specifically tuned micro speakers, has resulted in a demo experience that is sure to give MWC19 attendees a new perspective on mobile bass.”
Dirac Bass leverages the classic psychoacoustic approach, which states that our hearing leads us to believe that there is a lower fundamental tone in a sound when, in reality, it’s merely a combination of artificially generated overtones that are several octaves higher. By utilizing a dynamic NLD (non-linear device) that replaces bass tones with optimal overtones for a given input signal, Dirac Bass extends the perceived bass by up to three octaves on micro speakers. Together, these innovations place Dirac Bass well ahead of other existing solutions.
In addition to the performance upgrades, Dirac Bass also provides key business benefits to OEMs. When small speakers and micro speakers attempt to produce pure bass tones, they easily get over-driven, causing audible distortion and ultimately speaker damage. By shifting bass tones to higher frequencies, Dirac Bass improves the health and longevity of the speakers. Furthermore, the removal of some of the original bass content results in new headroom for speaker excursion which is exploited to increase the perceived loudness of the full band playback.
Dirac Bass – which is used in conjunction with Dirac Panorama Sound or Dirac Power Sound – also allows smartphone manufacturers to utilize smaller speakers, which often cost less, while still delivering a significant boost to bass performance. These smaller Dirac Bass-enabled speakers require less power, which results in extended battery life for power-constrained mobile devices.
Dirac Research Reinforces Investments in Audio Solutions
As the consumer audio experience across all devices becomes increasingly driven by software innovation, Dirac Research recently completed a new $13.2-million (119 MSEK) round of financing led by current investors.
“As consumer devices decrease in size and expand in complexity, digital signal processing is the key to unlocking their full audio potential and creating premium sound experiences,” states Dirac CEO Mathias Johansson. “With this new funding, we can take our approach to digitizing sound systems even further – creating more intelligent and adaptive audio processing solutions that establish new standards in both audio playback and capture across a variety of applications.
“In doing so, we establish ourselves as the industry’s leading one-stop-shop for an entire premium digital audio chain and provide customers with the best possible sound experience for every use case.”
To manage the expanding scope of product development initiatives, Dirac has appointed former Harman International Senior Vice President of Research & Development Armin Prommersberger as Chief Technology Officer and opened a Copenhagen Research & Development Center.
Dirac will introduce Dirac Bass and other audio technologies at MWC 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, in Hall 2, Stand 2B64MR.
www.aactechnologies.com | www.dirac.com
