Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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Syntiant Introduces Second-Generation NDP120 Deep-Learning Processor for Audio and Sensor Apps |
Syntiant Corp., the AI for edge devices chip technology company from Irvine, CA, announced the availability of its latest Syntiant NDP120 Neural Decision Processor (NDP), a new generation of special purpose chips for audio and sensor processing for always-on applications in battery-powered devices. The low-power Syntiant Core 2 technology in the NDP120 processor delivers 25x the tensor throughput of the core technology found in earlier Syntiant NDP devices that are currently shipping in high volumes. Read More
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Two Iconic Brands Come Together: Gibson Announces Acquisition of Mesa/Boogie |
Gibson, the iconic American guitar brand, surprised the industry with the announcement of the addition of Mesa/Boogie - one of the most respected and prestigious brands in guitar amplification - to its family of brands. A clear sign that Gibson intends to refocus in its core business of musical instruments. And this acquisition also signals an important milestone, with Gibson Brands' first expansion move since the painful process of restructuring the company and rebuilding its business. Read More
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DSP Group Unveils DBM10 Low-Power Edge AI/ML SoC with Dedicated Neural Network Inference Processor |
DSP Group has announced the DBM10, a new low-power, cost-effective artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) system-on-chip (SoC). This new open platform, with a cost- and power-optimized architecture, enables rapid development of AI and ML applications for mobile, wearables, hearables, and connected devices in general. It provides a complete platform in terms of voice and audio processing, without compromising the battery life of new designs, and allowing developers to implement their own differentiating algorithms . Read More
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Bose Sport Open Earbuds Explore New Truly Wireless Open Transducer Concept |
Bose announced the new Bose Sport Open Earbuds - truly wireless earbuds that are optimized for sports, fitness, and wellness - with a unique design that the Massachusetts company says, feels like "Nothing in Your Ears, Nothing Covering Them." This new "not in-ear" truly wireless design challenges perceptions, in a crowded space mainly competing to be smaller, smarter, and more discreet. But after the Sleepbuds and the Bose Frames, it seems clear that Bose is not afraid of taking risks. Read More
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CEVA Establishes Partnership with DARPA for Technology Innovation |
CEVA announced an open licensing agreement with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to accelerate technology innovation for DARPA programs. The commercial partnership, as part of the DARPA Toolbox initiative, establishes an access framework under which DARPA organizations can access all of CEVA’s commercially available IPs, tools, and support to expedite their programs. This provides DARPA researchers with access to CEVA’s portfolio of wireless connectivity and smart sensing IPs. Read More
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SB Audience Introduces Bianco 12” and 15” Woofers Optimized for Open-Baffle Designs |
Open-baffle loudspeakers are extremely popular for good reason. They can be fitted with large low-frequency drivers and they sound "real," in part because open baffles play with room reflections and sound good even off-axis. A big concern though is control over the bass response, where the size of the baffle as well as the choice of the bass drivers are critical. And that is why the engineering team at SB Audience decided to launch new woofers designed for enthusiasts of open-baffle applications . Read More
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NAMM Believe in Music Week Global Gathering Takes Place January 18-22, 2021 |
NAMM Believe in Music Week is the online, global gathering event that will replace the Winter NAMM Show this year. The event is intended to unite and support the people who bring music to the world, during the global pandemic. The online celebration, to be held over the week of January 18, 2021, will feature a mix of comprehensive programming and professional education at BelieveinMusic.tv, as well as an interactive marketplace to connect buyers and sellers . Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
Editor-in-Chief
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Hey, It’s CES Time!
Technology News for the Times Ahead
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It’s 2021, and here we are at the start of a new year… not in Las Vegas, NV, but watching and reporting from home. It’s kind of obvious that this would be a year of patience and resilience, waiting for the vaccine, waiting for all these temporary hurdles to disappear, until we can gradually resume our in-person activities once again. And boy we miss it.
Particularly this week when it’s CES time and we should all be enjoying a few days in Vegas - where it’s always warm and cozy inside the casinos, even when it’s freezing cold or raining outside.
CES is virtual this year, but it’s already showing us that certain trade events really matter and cannot be bypassed, even when they don’t take place physically. It doesn’t really matter how good the online platform is or isn’t, if the whole industry conveys the same level of commitment with exciting announcements and unveilings. But actually, what the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) calls a Digital Venue promises to be a unique proposition. CTA did make an effort, setting up a digital platform built from the ground with support from Microsoft for people to connect and make business, apart from creating a global platform for exhibiting to the world. The consumer electronics industry is a vibrant ecosystem, CES is an event that expanded across multiple exciting markets and technology sectors, and naturally companies are eager to leverage the opportunity to mark the calendar, show innovation, and reveal their plans going forward. And this naturally includes lots of ideas to improve our lives during the pandemic, and pave the way for what will come next.
After the world spent two lazy, long holiday weekends, binge watching Disney+, Netflix, and the like, it feels great to be suddenly submerged in online events, press conferences, torrents of press releases and press kits, as though it was business as usual. It’s CES time again. And so glad are we that it is (yes, lots of Star Wars have we been watching).
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There’s a lot to follow, explore, and discover at CES 2021. We are so CES Ready… |
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There are many important announcements already in our inbox, most of them under embargo, and forcing us to delay their publication until next week - and for many, also for weeks to come. But it’s certainly good to see news from most industry standard organizations, semiconductor companies, CE brands large and small, and also from many audio manufacturers.
We can anticipate a few important things from those announcements. Such as the fact that voice recognition applications continue to have a strong focus for the industry, and not surprisingly, there are important announcements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platforms technologies.
Low-power neural network processors for edge devices continue to evolve at a surprising pace showing that the industry recognizes the need to have intelligence at the local level, for privacy and security reasons, but also to pave the way for a lot more functionality, which doesn’t require connecting to the cloud or external resources. Those edge processors, with connected sensors and MEMS microphones (which also continue to evolve, and we will see some announcements next week), in combination with the latest generation audio amplification devices, are key to the evolution of hearables and all audio systems that are location- and situation-aware, paving the way to truly smart, continuously adapting audio enhancement solutions.
The same companies pushing these new-generation AI/ML SoCs that power voice applications, are combining these platforms with the most powerful DSP capabilities, creating the ideal “brains” for all types of sophisticated audio applications - currently with a focus on spatial audio capabilities, but also for sophisticated real-time acoustic processing.
True wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds and headsets are going to stay a dominant product category in 2021, and Bluetooth LE Audio has the potential to increase consumer awareness by enabling a level of robustness and new exciting possibilities in short range wireless audio. And with headphones, headsets, earbuds, and wearables gaining overlapping applications thanks to sophisticated low-power DSPs, AI/ML engines, and sensor fusion solutions, implementing even more sophisticated active noise cancellation (ANC), adaptive sound processing and augmented audio will become accessible to all manufacturers.
It seems we will start noticing that evolution first in TWS designs this year, with the certainty that very soon many brands will expand those possibilities to larger headphones (everyone is intrigued by Apple’s latest launch, and is now rushing to copy the AirPods Max, of course). But even at the lower price levels, LE Audio will enable products to standardize on features, such as adaptive ANC, stream sharing, and voice assistant interactions.
Obviously, we also noticed that the barrage from copycat companies and one-hit wonders that usually make for a large percentage of CES’ show floor, continues to exist and they all try their best to get noticed, even in an online event. The amount of messaging is as massive as if we were on the show floor in Vegas. A positive thing about CES being online is that we don’t have to see those massage chair companies and people sleeping on the show floor. On the negative side, we get to receive even more press releases from air purifier and bitcoin-economy companies!
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Even online, we can follow the evolution of the much expanded and totally renovated Las Vegas Convention Center. Yes, it will be a totally different Vegas experience in 2022! |
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Showing the industry commitment to CES online, Mike Fasulo, president and COO of Sony Electronics (and past CTA Executive Board Chair, serving from 2018 -2020), stated: "While there has been an shift to a digital-only show, CES remains the must-attend pre-eminent consumer electronics event and our customers and partners expect the innovations across display and video, audio and as well as evolutions of our products, platforms and services.”
So, as we make our best effort to pretend we are still at the Mandalay, the Venetian, the Sands, or the Las Vegas Convention Center, we will focus on working extended hours (all CES online events still happen in Pacific time…) bringing the most important stories and announcements to all our readers who are working from home around the world. As someone brilliant said, if you are working from home it means two great things: You have work, and you have a home. We’re good.
I am going to conclude with an image of the revamped Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall expansion that was awaiting us this year, and we will be there for us in the future. When we finally return for CES 2022, it will be a totally different Vegas, with an hugely expanded convention center now sitting in the place where the old Landmark and the Riviera used to be. And the entire LVCC is now fully equipped with 5G wireless services and fast Internet connections for exhibitors and attendees, plus all the halls will be connected by an underground system built by the Boring Co. (an Elon Musk venture)! Hopefully those halls will be filled with more audio companies finally taking space on the ground floor and away from suites. Looking forward!
Let’s Make 2021 a Healthy, Positive Year!
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QuantAsylum QA401 and QA451
Redefining the Compact and Modular Audio Measurement System
By David Logvin
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On the cover of audioXpress December 2020, many of our readers instantly recognized the familiar look of the increasingly popular QuantAsylum QA401 audio analyzer. What many readers might not have recognized was the second module, the completely new QA451 programmable load, so new that audioXpress tested a pre-production version. In this review article, David Logvin shares his valuable perspective on this modular solution for audio measurements from QuantAsylum. Putting the systems to use in actual tests, Logvin explains the software features, and fully explores these affordable hardware solutions, offering up to a 192kHz sample rate, differential inputs and outputs, full-isolation from the USB-connected host, and programmable electronic loads permitting rapid power amp testing up to 200W. This article was originally published in audioXpress, December 2020. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Omega Audio ODT29 Cloth Dome Tweeter
By Vance Dickason
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In this Test Bench, Vance Dickason offers a characterization of the ODT29 fabric dome tweeter from Omega Audio, an OEM transducer manufacturer new to the pages of Voice Coil. The company, headquartered in Holon, Israel, was founded in 1978 when the founder of Omega Audio, Levi Mordechai left Morel. All of Omega Audio’s ODT line of tweeters, dome midranges are handmade in the company's facility, from dome coating to coil winding and motor assembly. The woofers are also hand assembled. All of this is done by Levi Mordechai himself, as it has been since 1978, and for this reason Omega Audio is a high-quality, small-scale manufacturer.
The features for Omega Audio’s ODT29 fabric dome tweeter include a 29mm hand-coated fabric type diaphragm with a fairly narrow 2mm wide surround, a felt damping ring on the top of the pole piece, ferrite motor, a plastic faceplate with a short waveguide, an aluminum voice coil former wound with copper wire, and gold-plated terminals. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2020 . Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Advancing the Evolution
of Audio Technology
audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.
Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.
The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.
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