News and New Products

Power-miserly audio codec brings fidelity and 3-D sound to portables

By Margery Conner -- EDN, 1/17/2006

The days of lackluster, tinny sounds from cell phones and other portable consumer products may be over with the introduction of Texas Instruments’ low-noise TLV320AIC3x family (figure) of 16/20/24/32-bit stereo-audio codecs. With integrated sound processing and consuming as little as 14 mW, the three new devices in the family enable features such as 3-D sound. A demo at the recent CES (Consumer Electronics Show) of the sound of a race car’s seemingly zooming around the conference room made for outstanding effects from the demo cell phone’s tiny speakers. In addition to cell phones, other applications include battery-powered products, such as cellular handsets, MP3 players with recording functions, and digital still cameras. TI claims that the codecs consume only one-third the power of comparable devices. Their register-based power control enables 48-kHz stereo playback using 14 mW from a 3.3V analog supply.

The TLV320AIC31/32/33 DAC provides an SNR of 100 dB and includes programmable digital filtering for 3-D spatial enhancement; bass, treble, and midrange effects; and speaker equalization and de-emphasis. The devices also provide multiplexing ability among as many as 10 input pins and 10 output pins, as well as fully programmable mixing capability with volume control. A programmable PLL supports the standard audio rates from clocks ranging from 512 kHz to 50 MHz, and it reduces cost and system complexity by eliminating the need for an external crystal. In addition, the TLV320AIC33 and the TLV320AIC31 offer differential inputs, which cancel noise that normally enters the ADC.

The AIC31/32 are available in a 5×5-mm, 32-pin QFN package, and the AIC33 comes in a 5×5-mm, 80-ball MicroStar Junior BGA package. The AIC31 and AIC32 sell for $3.45 (1000) each, and the AIC33 sells for $3.95 (1000).

Texas Instruments, www.ti.com.