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Industry & Product News
Audio Innovations for Applications That Demand Premium Sound Quality
End-to-end audio solutions, for any systems' need, from Texas Instruments. Our audio solutions include a wide range of devices, including amplifiers, processors, converters, and switches, for automotive, personal electronics, and professional audio applications. Our portfolio offers solutions for high-performance and cost-optimized applications, and includes a comprehensive library of reference designs, hardware, software and online technical support to get designs to market faster. Read More
ams Helps Differentiate New PaMu Quiet True Wireless Earbuds with Best-In-Class ANC and Augmented Hearing
Austrian high-performance sensor manufacturer ams announced it has provided an optimized digital Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) solution as a differentiating component to Padmate’s PaMu Quiet earbuds. The new cutting-edge TWS earbuds from the Chinese brand feature the latest ams AS3460 Digital Augmented Hearing combined with a Qualcomm Bluetooth SoC to deliver advanced ANC in a competitively priced, comfortable design with a design similar to the AirPods Pro. Read More
What Does the Future Hold for the Hearables Market?
A new market report from IDTechEx Research, a research and consultancy firm focused on emerging technologies from Cambridge, UK, offers an in-depth perspective on the market for Hearables. The new IDTechEx research covers ear-worn electronic products, including headphones, hearing aids, and related product areas. The new report offers an overview of trends, technology, players, and expanded forecasts from 2020 to 2030. Read More
Microtech Gefell Introduces MMS 212 and MMS 214 Measurement Microphones and MV 240 Digital Preamplifier
German company Microtech Gefell, founded in 1982 by Georg Neumann, offers one of the most complete catalogs of measurement microphones – providing a complete eco-system for every audio testing need. Once in a while they remember to actually tell the world about it, and eventually they let us know that new models are being added. This year, the company announced the MMS 212, a rugged measurement microphone combo for harsh environments, and the MMS 214 model for very low sound pressure levels. Additionally, the company is now shipping the new MV 240, a measurement microphone preamplifier with an analog-to-digital converter. Read More
ESS Technology Announces Its Highest Performance Audio ADC Series
Audio semiconductor specialist ESS Technology has announced a completely new series of SABRE PRO and SABRE Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) with an Ultra-Low Noise Floor Bandwidth of 200kHz. According to the California company, the noise floor bandwidth on the new devices is up to 10 times wider than the competition, enabling higher resolution at higher sample rates. The two new SABRE PRO and two new SABRE ADC devices set a new benchmark for audio performance with unmatched specifications and the highest sample rate available in the market. Read More
Deezer Creates HiFi Room to Promote FLAC Streaming Quality
Music streaming platform Deezer announced a new curated section, with curated playlists and albums just for high-fidelity fans. The new HiFi Room on Deezer features hand-picked tracks to draw out the rich sounds streaming in lossless FLAC quality. The company says it currently offers more than 52 million files encoded on FLAC on the platform, and it made sense to offer a curated selection for its premium subscribers to easily find this content in one place, now offering more than 15 exclusive playlists, album recommendations, and reissues (remasters). Read More
Editor's Desk
J. Martins
Editor-In-Chief
Harman Kardon Citation Amp
First Product Using the Axign AX5689 Controller Drops in Europe
The new Harman Kardon Citation Amp has been initially launched in Europe, for now. The new product offers a very interesting set of features, in a compact, Internet-connected Class D design, extending even further the brand's Citation family of connected home audio products, including support for WiSA uncompressed wireless surround technology. And carrying the longstanding tradition of the Harman Kardon Citation designation, the new Class D Citation Amp evolves as a Digital Loop Amplifier controlled by the Axign AX5689 IC and audio converter.

For Harman Kardon to announce a new Citation amplifier also meant making sure the brand would remain true to its spirit of pure, accurate sound quality. The challenge for Harman was to design a Class D product that would make sense within the current Citation family of connected products, but also stand out in its technology implementation. And for that, Harman’s audio amplifier design experts approached Axign, a new company from The Netherlands, founded by former Philips and NXP employees who worked on the pioneering Class-D efforts. Axign was ready to deliver its AX5689 audio amplifier controller chip, which uses a digital control loop with feedback that is able to improve dramatically the fidelity of existing Class D solutions.
This Harman Kardon Citation Amp audio amplifier will be used in many applications where the audio sources will be heavily compressed audio streams. As Axign knows, the results will be as good as the weakest link in the total sound reproduction chain. With the Citation Amp, the audio amplifier is not the weakest link anymore.
Of course, after two years of intense work with Harman, Axign was eager to reveal the results to the world. But the current deteriorating pandemic situation forced Harman to postpone its promotional plans, and Harman Kardon was forced to discreetly share information about the Citation Amp exclusively with channel partners in Europe. Axign saw the first listing of the Citation Amp for sale online in early October, but until now there was no press release or official announcement. The first commercially available product featuring its revolutionary technology is now shipping in a very interesting product, and they weren't able to brag much about it...

This Harman Kardon Citation Amp audio amplifier will be used in many applications where the audio sources will be heavily compressed audio streams. As Axign knows, the results will be as good as the weakest link in the total sound reproduction chain. With the Citation Amp, the audio amplifier is not the weakest link anymore.
Fresh From the Bench
GeerFab Audio D.BOB Digital Breakout Box
By Gary Galo
Another great audioXpress review, in which Gary Galo shares his experiences with GeerFab Audio’s D.BOB Digital Breakout Box, a valuable new de-embedder solution for all the music enthusiasts who would like to listen to their Super-Audio CD (SACD) music collection by feeding the DSD datastream via HDMI from the player to an outboard digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in high-resolution audio. And GeerFab Audio created the first device that delivers! This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2020.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here
Voice Coil Test Bench
The 140FCD 1” Compression Driver from REDCATT
By Vance Dickason
This Test Bench edition characterizes the 140FCD 1" compression driver from REDCATT. This is a relatively new OEM pro sound driver manufacturer - a privately held, international company established in 2014 and based in FuMing Industrial City, DongGuan, China. The core management team at REDCATT has been sourcing and building transducer components, sub-assemblies and systems in China for more than 25 years, and its team members have been working around the world for the biggest companies in the audio market with direct R&D and manufacturing experience. The self-stated objective for REDCATT was to create a true state-of-the-art facility, focusing on production quality audio products. And the 140FCD is a truly impressive compression driver. Designed for use with 1" throat horns, the REDCATT 140FCD is definitely in the running for this year’s best-looking driver packaging! It is driven by a 35.5 mm (1.45”) diameter voice coil wound with edge wound copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) on a non-conducting Kapton-type former, driving a polyimide composite diaphragm and vented surround. This article was published originally in Voice Coil, August 2020.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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