Dirac and NXP Announce Collaboration to Support i.MX 8M Chipset Family with Premium Digital Audio

Swedish sound pioneer Dirac and NXP Semiconductors announced a collaboration to combine one of the world’s most powerful audio chipsets with a market-leading digital audio platform. By equipping the NXP i.MX 8M family of chipsets with Dirac’s digital audio platform, OEMs can enable their devices with maximized, immersive, and adaptive sound across their complete range of products. The strategic partnership announcement was made at CES 2020.

Swedish digital audio processing pioneer Dirac announced the debut of a new digital audio solution for smartphones and other mobile devices. What can be described for now as a powerful audio enhancer implemented on a mobile app, applies headphone specific profiles, intended to “set a new standard in sound across all headphones.” For now, Dirac is tying the promotion of this new processing solution with feedback received directly from acclaimed DJs and music producers, which praise the solution as “the best way to experience the richness and energy of studio sound through any headphones.”

ON Semiconductor will showcase a wide range of innovative technologies for smart home, connected buildings and personal connected devices at CES 2020. Powering portable voice-controlled applications will be the latest LC823455 ultra-low-power audio processor, supporting high-resolution audio processing. This highly integrated SoC, featuring an Arm Cortex−M3 Dual Core CPU and proprietary 32−bit DSP Core (LPDSP32) wit support for high−resolution 32−bit/192kHz audio.

ESS Technology announced today it’s 7th-generation of audio processors for soundbars and wireless speakers. The Crescendo VII is a highly integrated solution for consumer audio products that provides a multicore platform for system control and signal processing with a range of inputs and interfaces. Combining audio processing and signal routing with DTS Virtual:X certification, the Crescendo VII enables compact, power-efficient, and cost-effective designs for soundbars, wireless speakers, and active subwoofers.

Lattice Semiconductor announced its new low power FPGA platform, Lattice Nexus. The platform is architected to deliver power-efficient performance that will benefit developers of a wide range of applications, including voice processing and edge computing for connected devices. Built with innovations at every level of design, from solutions, to architecture, to circuit, the new Lattice Nexus FPGAs deliver higher system performance at significantly reduced power consumption.

Anytime we need to login to the local Wi-Fi or pair with another Bluetooth device, we think, "There must be a better way to do this!" That's precisely one of the exciting possibilities for data-over-sound technology. This article explains what else we can do with it, and how it works. It also explores how data-over-sound can be realized in embedded scenarios, and how Chirp’s new technology, using the Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M7 processors, can be implemented in connected products. This article was originally published in audioXpress, November 2019.

This Voice Coil’s Spotlight, written by Vance Dickason with commentary from Floyd Toole, Wolfgang Klippel, Andrew Jones, and James Croft, focuses on Zero Phase in Studio Monitors. As Dickason explains, "the implication of using FIR filters to zero out the phase of a loudspeaker to improve its subjective performance seems inherently flawed given all the research done over years that concluded that the human ear is not very sensitive to phase or group delay." This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2019.

audioXpress December 2019 dives into the latest wireless audio and DSP platforms and solutions in a dedicated Market Update, followed by a review of the latest Audio Precision APx555 B Series audio analyzer. David Logvin shares his experience with the xCORE VocalFusion development platform by XMOS, while Michael Steffes re-confirms a theory that cascaded amplifier + ADC harmonic distortion combine as voltage swings. Christopher Paul explores alternative approaches to the design of a linear current regulator for audio tube amplifiers, Menno van der Veen details an 18 W single-ended valve amplifier using Trans technology, and Richard Honeycutt investigates whether or not swapping out comparable tubes makes any audible difference in a guitar amplifier’s sound. Download your own copy now!

Waves Audio is a leading developer of professional audio signal processing technologies and audio plug-ins for music production, broadcast, post-production and live sound. The company now announced the availability of V11, a new major upgrade for Waves plug-ins that will ensure compatibility with future operating systems and DAW systems. Wave also announced that is now shipping Waves SuperRack, the next generation of plug-in processing software for live sound and broadcast applications.

Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, announced a new development kit based on the Qualcomm QCA4020 multimode SoC that is qualified by Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS) for AWS IoT Core connected devices. The new Qualcomm Home Hub 100 kit supports Alexa Voice Service using a microcontroller (MCU) and Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) with Multimode Connectivity and adds to Qualcomm's’ line up of voice enabling products including kits that can allow OEMs to easily integrate Alexa into smart speakers and hearables.