Ultrasone Announces NAOS Ultra-Compact 24bit/192kHz Headphone DAC

German headphone manufacturer Ultrasone announced a new miniature high-res DAC especially designed to work with smartphones, tablets and notebooks. The new NAOS 24bit/192kHz High-Res DAC is the first device specially designed for headphones from Ultrasone. The ultra-compact design is supplied with micro USB, USB-C, Lightning and USB-A connectivity, and 3.5mm mini jack output.

Austrian company ams, a leading supplier of high performance sensor solutions, has won the prestigious Gold Level Innovation Award at the 2017 Best of Sensors Expo Awards (Sensors Expo & Conference, San Jose, California, 27-29 June 2017). ams won the award for its novel Accessory Communications Interface (ACI), a technology, which enables Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) headsets to operate with no battery in the earphone when connected via a single wire to a host device like a smartphone.

Silicon Labs has introduced a fixed-function audio bridge device that provides a simple, turnkey solution for transferring digital audio data between the universal serial bus (USB) and integrated inter-IC sound (I2S) serial bus interfaces. The new CP2615 digital audio bridge simplifies USB-to-I2S connectivity and accelerates time to market for a wide range of power-sensitive, space-constrained USB audio applications based on Android, Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, including headphones, headsets, speakers, and others.

ams announced the launch of a technology which enables noise-cancelling headsets with a four-pole 3.5mm jack to operate for the first time without a dedicated battery power supply. The new Accessory Communication Interface (ACI), invented by ams, uses a single wire to carry power and bidirectional data as well as digital audio signals, enabling small form factor noise cancellation headsets while offering the flexibility to include sensors, LEDs and displays.

There were hardly any surprises at the Apple scheduled event in San Francisco. Just a sequential confirmation of all the rumors that had already been circulating for a while. This doesn’t mean that Apple didn’t deliver on the expected performance, design and the highest engineering level in all the new products announced, from the Apple Watch Series 2, to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, all the way to a full range of audio accessories from Apple and Beats, including the new wireless Airpods and the fact that we now have officially entered the “jackless age”.

Radial Engineering just announced another one of those problem-solving boxes they are known for. The new Radial Trim-Two passive stereo isolator box was designed to play any sound files from the headphone output of any laptop, smartphone or tablet, connected to the the 3.5mm input on the Trim-Two, using the volume control to adjust the level and avoid distortion.