Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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Quantifying Acoustic Sources Through Sound Power Measurement - White Paper Available |
Andrew Barnard, Ph.D., INCE Board-Certified from Pennsylvania State University, touches on the basic source-path-receiver paradigm for white goods sound generation, focusing on the source in his latest research article. Understanding the source-path-receiver model is becoming increasingly important when determining proper measurement techniques for white goods noise radiation. With easy access to white goods data, consumers are more educated than ever on making their purchasing decisions . Download the White Paper Here
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Knowles Releases New Voice Control Development Kit for Smart Home Appliances |
Knowles Corp. announced the AISonic White Goods Standard Solution, a new, complete development solution that enables fast and easy voice integration for smart appliances. The development kit enables OEMs and ODMs to build voice-activated control and far-field speech recognition capabilities into smart appliances, including refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, clothes washing and drying machines, vacuums, dishwashers, and more. Read More
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USB Specification Revision Defines Up to 240W and 48V of Power Delivery over USB Type-C |
The USB Promoter Group announced the release of the USB Power Delivery (USB PD) Revision 3.1 specification, a major update to enable delivering up to 240W of power over the USB Type-C cable and connector. While specifics of the implementations will need to be detailed, the revision responds to requirements from systems that benefit from USB PD, supporting also up to 48V fixed voltages . Read More
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Rotel Announces MKII Stereo Preamplifiers with Upgraded Audio Circuits and Components |
Rotel has announced new upgraded MKII versions of two of the company’s stereo preamplifiers with the launch of the RC-1590MKII and RC-1572MKII. Both models feature a host of acoustic and performance upgrades with each acoustic circuit having been critically analyzed and significantly improved by leveraging technologies engineered for the award-winning Michi series. Both feature a Texas Instruments premium 32-bit/384kHz digital-to-analog converter (DAC) stage. Read More
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McIntosh Announces MB20 Class 1 Bluetooth 5 Transceiver with AAC and aptX HD Support |
Many high-end audio manufacturers offer embedded technologies in specific products, such as amplifiers and wireless speakers, that users quickly learn become obsolete sooner or later. As a leading brand in prestigious home entertainment and ultimate-quality audio for more than 70 years, McIntosh Laboratory understands that some things are better kept separate. The McIntosh MB20 Bluetooth Transceiver was designed in that spirit. It will also be obsolete eventually, but at a suggested retail price of $500 USD, it’s not that expensive. Read More
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Belkin Introduces Soundform Connect Multi-Room Audio Adapter with Apple AirPlay 2 |
In light of the announced updates to Apple Music, and given the lack of support for Lossless streaming over Bluetooth, extending wireless options at home over AirPlay 2 makes a lot of sense. Particularly for those of us who have invested in high-quality speakers and home audio systems. The new Belkin adapter is an obvious solution to bridge new audio products through AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, easily enhancing multi-room audio experiences . Read More
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True Wireless Stereo Earbuds Will Capture 70% of Global Bluetooth Stereo Headset Sales in 2021 |
According to the latest Bluetooth Device Tracker research from Strategy Analytics, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds are out-competing traditional Bluetooth headsets by rapidly adding advanced capabilities found previously only in premium headsets. Used anywhere for music listening, calls, noise isolation or audio augmentation, in 2021 TWS earbuds’ sales will account for seven out of 10 of all Bluetooth headsets sold . Read More
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Merging Technologies Introduces Music Recording Software for Anubis AoIP Network Interface |
As promised, Merging Technologies expanded the software features of its compact AD/DA converter and audio network recording interface Merging+Anubis. Merging calls its modular approach to application-oriented software configurations "Missions". And following the original Monitor Mission, Merging has now introduced Music Mission, a complete set of recording and processing features with a fully featured low latency mixer and many configuration possibilities . Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
(Editor-in-Chief)
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A Revolution in Spatial Audio?
The Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker Design from Syng
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Chris Stringer is a longtime Apple designer and the reason why the unveiling of its latest project caused so much buzz on the usual gadget-oriented click-bait websites. His new company is called Syng and its first product is called the Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker. A mysterious designation to describe a lot of very ambitious technologies and a bold design that normally would makes us suspicious, if it wasn't for the fact that a lot of great names in speaker engineering are involved - and we understand that they couldn’t really tell us much more for now. And since there are no trade shows…
Apparently, the new audio company became a reality two years ago, even if the concept was in the works before that. The result of that work from an international engineering team, with collaborations from recognized industry veterans in all aspects of development, is the Syng Cell Alpha, dubbed "the world’s first Triphonic speaker." The designation, plus a website presentation left us with more questions than answers, but since so many experienced industry professionals were involved, I decided to request official information.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Syng team is still lacking on the marketing side and they unveiled the speaker but forgot to hire someone to write the press releases - meaning we received a PDF brochure that basically says the same things that are already on the website and published on the above-mentioned tech-garbage websites. Including a lot of statements like "Triphonic audio is super spatial sound" and references to a "groundbreaking new object-based sonic architecture that allows you to hear, see and touch sound, offering full control with precise placement and localization."
Since it seems that Dolby wasn't involved with Syng and there's no reference to MPEG-H audio standards, this must mean that Syng invented a new object-based audio format, which also means we have no way to understand how it will interpret source material mixed for any of the existing formats. In other words, more marketing hype to inflame the "spatial audio" muddle, even though their patent says the solution supports higher order ambisonics; Vector Based Amplitude Panning (VBAP); Distance Based Amplitude Panning (DBAP); and K Nearest Neighbors Panning. TBC
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The spherical Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker design might sound amazing but its form factor is challenging for modern lifestyles. |
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So, for this article I will try not to amplify the references to sounds "we can touch," or to the "field of sound," and I will focus more on the details about the Syng Cell Alpha, which seems to combine a lot of interesting things: completely new transducers, a new electroacoustic arrangement, and integration as a network-connected speaker. At first impression, it appears to be more of an " Echo Studio-killer” or - who knows - the greatest revolution in home audio since the Klipsch Horn.
There will be a lot to explore on the software side. The Syng Cell Alpha is controlled by an iPhone app, and we specifically mention the iPhone because apparently the controlling app makes use of Apple's ARKit to map out a room and generate immersive audio specifically for the environment and the source application. Important to note in this context that Christopher Stringer worked for Apple during 21 years and left in 2017 to create Syng. He was involved directly in developments for the iPhone and iPad, Apple Watch, and more importantly the HomePod. His name is referenced on more than 1,400 US patents.
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For those who like reading fun patents, Syng's "Systems and Methods for Spatial Audio Rendering" is certainly one for the holidays, describing every possible "systems and methods for rendering spatial audio." |
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The Cell Alpha hardware part is truly interesting since this is a three-horn circular system (“Triphonic”) that projects sounds "with pinpoint accuracy." The intriguing part about the software is that the patent claimed by Syng - titled “Systems and Methods for Spatial Audio Rendering” - describes "a plurality of sets of drivers, where each set of drivers is oriented in a different direction," and the response of those drivers being controlled by "an audio player application, wherein the audio player application configures the processor system" and "spatially encode the audio source, decode the spatially encoded audio source to obtain driver inputs for the individual drivers."
The spherical shape - which is shown as a transparent device - reveals top and bottom woofers. The pair of opposing "Force-Balanced Subwoofers" use a triaxial carbon fiber weaver diaphragm that generates directional audio using modal beamforming. The bottom diaphragm surrounds the pole mount aperture for the speaker stand - which is not optional. In the meridian of the sphere we can see three high-frequency drivers directly coupled to the dispersion system, which are able to be configured to project sound “with unrivaled precision.” On the website there’s a reference to a “Single Point Source.”
In total, the Syng Cell Alpha sphere holds eight custom drivers, so we are still missing three. The answer for the remaining number of drivers lies in the fact that the Triphone three-horn system is actually powered by separate mid-frequency drivers (not visible) and tweeters. The response is completely controlled by the built-in DSP processor, in any of the modes.
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Syng was co-founded by Chris Stringer, who designed the now-discontinued Apple HomePod. The Cell Alpha speaker design received contributions by an experienced engineering team and combines two woofers, three pairs of tweeters and mid-frequency drivers, arranged in a 360-degree ring. There are also microphones all around to measure the acoustics of the room and adjust the response. |
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The official "press kit" PDF says that the Triphonic technology was optimized for Syng's new "object-based sonic architecture," which allows it to be placed everywhere as a single speaker or in multiple "cells." As the brochure states, "As you add more Cells to your home, you unlock new levels of spatial control and possibility."
We know very little about the electronics of the Syng Cell Alpha speaker but thanks to a few companies that know what a press release is, we learned that the new design is powered by last generation Class-D modules that use gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors. The use of these transistors - from GaN Systems - supports the extreme performance levels required by the multi-driver configuration, while allowing significant weight reductions and generating minimal heat.
"This type of challenge is a fitting application for GaN Systems transistors, which offer unparalleled switching performance in an extremely small package. This collaboration highlights the growing use of GaN in the audio market, from amplifiers to companion power supplies," GaN Systems states.
Each Syng Cell Alpha retails for $1,799 with a table stand or $1,969 with a floor stand and the multiple Cells can work together in any number, supporting both wired and wireless (AirPlay 2) connections. Wired connections include two USB-C ports which will support multiple applications, including Ethernet, USB audio streaming, and HDMI eARC for home theater modes.
The Syng Space app is used to manage the Cell speakers and will support Spotify integration, even though Spotify is the only streaming service that is yet to confirm what it intends to do with spatial audio, if anything.
audioXpress will look forward to listening to this system and eventually publish a full review, after everyone else is done with the available demo units.
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An actual Triphonic sound system was patented in 1984 by Emil L. Torick (inventor) on behalf of CBS Broadcasting. The Syng approach simply uses the designation. Multiple Syng Cell Alphas can be synced to generate spatial audio in a room and can also be configured for multiroom mode using AirPlay 2. |
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The PR-3 - A High-Quality Stereo Preamplifier
By George Ntanavaras
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For our readers who like to get hands-on with DIY projects, this article details a project for a High-Quality Stereo Preamplifier. George Ntanavaras describes the design and the construction of his PR-3 stereo analog preamplifier, offering three high-level unbalanced stereo inputs and two unbalanced stereo outputs. A potentiometer at the input of the preamplifier adjusts the volume of the output signal. Most of the components for this design are contained on a single PCB, and the amplification stage is based on a top-quality single opamp - the Texas Instruments OPA627 - supplied with very low noise regulators. The article includes the author's measurements. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2019. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Comprehensive Transducer Testing in 24 Minutes
By Andrew Taylor (Klippel)
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In the May 2021 edition of Voice Coil, Andrew Taylor (Klippel) explains how to do Comprehensive Transducer Testing in 24 Minutes. As a way to illustrate how the latest Klippel Multi-Scanning Workbench solution allows measurements across several domains (acoustical, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic) while working from non-anechoic environments, the author uses a practical characterization of balanced mode radiator (BMR) loudspeakers, which require a more complex approach when compared to conventional cone-based woofers or dome-tweeters. This is primarily caused by the long measurement time associated with assessing full vertical and horizontal directivity, which the article shows, can be achieved in a short time, saving money and space by dispensing with the need for a large baffle and anechoic room. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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