Audio Signal Chain
SAR Insight again assisted Qualcomm in the creation of its annual consumer survey – The State of Sound report. This year the audience was extended, to include South Korea and to cover the use of devices in the workplace, for gaming and hearing enhancement. There are lots of interesting results to explore for anyone working […]
Read MoreMEMS speakers design wins are starting to accelerate, and the technology is being recognised by more media outlets. Recently I was invited to help WSJ journalist Christopher Mims with an article discussing the market, highlighting two vendors xMEMS and uSound. Here are some of the quotes from me, for more details please view the full article […]
Read MoreSource: https://www.cirrus.com/applications/laptops-and-tablets/laptops/ Soundwire, initially launched in 2014, serves as a common interface to facilitate audio features and functions across diverse devices. It underwent an update in 2022 to extend its reach in the market by supporting more sophisticated audio components. The PC space is seen as fertile ground for audio improvement. Several vendors are seeking to […]
Read MoreIn a bid to stave off further automotive supply chain issues, automotive group Stellantis has entered into agreements with leading semiconductor vendors such as Infineon, NXP, onsemi and Qualcomm to purchase more than €10 billion worth of products through 2030. Stellantis cites SiC MOSFETS, MCUs and SoCs as some vital products included in the deal. It’s linked to […]
Read MoreQualcomm has announced an update to the Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 Sound platform portfolio, which is optimised for gaming. Latency is perhaps the biggest issue that is holding back widespread adoption of Bluetooth for gaming, many vendors continue to rely on proprietary RF to ensure latency is minimised. SAR Insight has talked about this many times. […]
Read MoreUltimate Ears’ recent UE Premier in-ear monitor (IEM) headphones boast an impressive 21 drivers per earpiece, “to deliver a signature sound with unparalleled fidelity, control and precision”. It is the trend to add more and more drivers (speakers) to IEM earbuds, but SAR has not seen anything quite so dramatic as 21 per earbud before. On closer inspection […]
Read MoreWhile this news story isn’t very enlightening it does lead to some more interesting thoughts on the handheld gaming market. The announcement of Sony’s Project Q, which is a handheld device “for playing games installed on your PS5 and streamed over WiFi”. Project Q is Sony’s answer to compete in the growing handheld gaming market, dominated […]
Read MoreThe USA and Europe are spending $/€ billions to re-establish a thriving semiconductor manufacturing industry after decades of underfunding and a self-defeating focus on driving manufacturing abroad in the pursuit of short-term profit. Some forward-thinking semiconductor vendors, such as Infineon, have continued to invest in “local” manufacturing and it is now able to accelerate its […]
Read MoreThe SAR audio team visited xMEMS during our recent short tour of the Bay Area. During this time we were treated to a demo from the xMEMS team of its most recent products. SAR has been covering MEMS speakers for a few years now and are well versed on xMEMS products and their competitors (see MEMS […]
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