Fully Self-Contained Raspberry Pi Audio HAT Board with MERUS Class D Multilevel Amplifier Now Available

Infineon Technologies developed the world’s first fully self-contained Raspberry Pi audio amplifier HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) board. It offers high definition audio at boombox power levels in a small form factor. The Infineon proprietary multilevel technology ensures minimum size and consumption, state of the art power efficiency, and high resolution audio quality for Raspberry Pi users and makers. Target applications include active speakers with wireless music streaming.

This project is a great suggestion for a new affordable high-end 2 x 40 W Class D audio amplifier implemented with a Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) board to connect onto a Raspberry Pi Zero platform, creating a solution ideally suited for DIY audio projects. On the other hand, this is a very clever way to promote the Merus amplifiers from Infineon and get a great number of developers and enthusiasts to actual use it, get to know it, and understand its advantages in a real audio project. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2020.

This article shares a new important insight on modern Class-D amplification from the experienced perspective of Jens Tybo Jensen - part of the founding team at Merus Audio, and now head of Class D Audio Marketing and Applications at Infineon. The author states that it may be time to rethink Class D audio design and measurement practices, and he details what multilevel Class D amplification can do for new product designs. This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2019.

Canadian company Eleven Engineering, specializing in semiconductor products for wireless audio for home theater, multi-room, portable, professional, 12 Volt (car, truck, motorcycle, power sports, marine) and gaming applications, and the developer of the renowned SKAA wireless audio solutions, announced a partnership with Infineon Technologies to promote the company's MERUS multilevel amplifier range.

Ward Maas writes about Danish-sensation Merus Audio, the company founded in 2010 by Hans Hasselby-Andersen and Mikkel Hoyerby, and recently acquired by Infineon Technologies. The article recalls how this Copenhagen-based start-up quickly ascended in the audio industry with its new generation of energy-efficient integrated Class-D amplifier solutions. This article was originally published in audioXpress. September 2018.

Once again, audioXpress focuses on loudspeaker building, design, and testing in its September edition. We have three great speaker DIY projects that are certain to inspire our readers, Geoff Hill explains how speaker measurements are evolving under the latest Audio Engineering Society (AES) efforts, and Richard Honeycutt writes about modulation distortion in loudspeakers. We interviewed Crispin Herrod-Taylor, the designer of the amazing SoundBuckets portable speakers, we explain all you need to know about the latest HDMI Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) specification, and Ward Maas tells the story of Infineon's new energy-efficient multi-level amplifiers.

Infineon is the latest company to join the Wireless Speaker and Audio (WiSA) Association, the industry group dedicated to bringing high resolution, wireless, multi-channel audio products to the home theater market, assuring interoperability between wireless speakers and components. Infineon joins a strong and extensive list of members, including also GoldenEar, Electrocompaniet, Almando and Primare, as WiSA continues to expand with major audio industry suppliers, manufacturers and speaker brands.

Infineon Technologies announced the acquisition of Merus Audio. The Copenhagen-based start-up, founded in 2010 by Hans Hasselby-Andersen and Mikkel Hoyerby, has developed a new generation of energy-efficient integrated Class D amplifier solutions. Merus Audio amplifiers maximize audio performance and battery playback time for smart home and battery-powered speakers while minimizing heat and design space. Following the company's presentation at CES 2018, Merus generated significant interest in the audio and CE industry in general.

Here's an interesting story both from the loudspeaker design and marketing perspective. Copenhagen, Denmark-based SOUNDBOKS recently released a follow-up version of their "popular party speaker", known among music festival participants and other party goers as “The loudest battery-powered speaker.” Among other improvements, the updated version features two Merus Audio MA12070P amplifier ICs, allowing higher power and longer battery life.