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FROM EDN EUROPE: Audio quality is king in portable multimedia

Building on its mixed-signal design capabilities, Wolfson Microelectronics will shortly introduce a series of devices that will support the integration of high-quality audio into volume consumer products. The "Audio-plus" range will offer an integration path that combines the audio signal path with other mixed-signal functions that are difficult to integrate into a logic-based system chipset, such as power management. Wolfson's CEO David Milne identifies two contributing trends: the emergence of high-volume digital products that also need quality audio; and the continuing demand for portable products to support more functions and improved performance, with no compromise on cost, size or battery life.

In its existing business in portable audio, such as the Apple iPod, Wolfson is finding that rising consumer expectations, together with the fact that audio quality level is frequently the most critical element in defining the user's multimedia experience, is moving audio quality to the top of the design specification. This leads to demands on the semiconductor process that designers may not easily meet on the main-system chipset. Integration pressures for a smaller, lighter and less power-hungry design mean that combining functions that share those process constraints on a single chip is a sensible route, Milne asserts. Therefore, the first of the new-series parts, due later this year, will host an audio signal path plus sufficient power management circuitry to control the functions of a device such as a multi-media cell phone. Milne will not specify at this stage whether the chip will contain power switches or drive external switches. Wolfson's Marketing Manager Julian Hayes adds that the emphasis on audio quality among the company's customers is so strong that if any compromise were required between achieving the best possible efficiency or the best audio experience, the audio function would take precedence.

Wolfson Microelectronics, +44 1312 727000, www.wolfsonmicro.com