TWS

Knowles releases new TWS reference design with best-in-class music experience and advanced features

By Peter Cooney / October 19, 2022
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The reference design is not dead! This is still a very valuable technique to highlight new technologies and give developers an easier way to start a design, as well as guide existing customers towards using these new products. Knowles’ new reference design brings together its hybrid driver and SiSonic MEMS microphones alongside a Qualcomm QCC5144 […]

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Headband headphones vs TWS

By Joe Murray / September 22, 2022
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The last two days have seen two high-end headphone manufacturers release brand new over-the-ear headphones. Firstly, Focal, who have announced the world’s first beryllium headphones retailing for $4999. Alongside this, Meze Audio have released a more affordable high-end pair of open back headphones priced at $799.   SAR believes that these new releases are interesting as […]

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Sony and WS Audiology have entered into a partnership agreement in the over-the-counter self-fitting hearing aid business

By Joe Murray / September 21, 2022
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Sony has recently confirmed suspicions that they will be entering the OTC hearing aid market by signing a deal with Danish company WS Audiology. The final rulings for OTC hearing aids were published on August 16th with the ruling expected to take effect in October 2022.   As the official ruling has been anticipated for years, […]

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Sennheiser uses Nordic Semiconductor Bluetooth LE Audio technology

By SeongCheol_Jang / September 20, 2022
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Nordic semiconductor is a well-known company in Bluetooth technology and their Bluetooth chips are widely used in many consumer devices such as voice remote, smart watch and smart speaker, etc. Nordic’s nRF5340 is an attractive Bluetooth SoC although it is missing the backend audio part so the implementation requires an external audio CODEC for a […]

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Airoha sets 10-year milestone with Bluetooth LE Audio certification

By SeongCheol_Jang / September 6, 2022
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It looks like Bluetooth LE (BLE) audio is making a significant impact on TWS SoC providers such as Airoha, as it is believed to be a game changer in the wireless audio industry. TWS SoC providers consider BLE as an important milestone due to the benefits that it will bring. Power efficiency and better sound […]

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Optimizing PPA with RISC-V custom extensions in TWS earbuds

By SeongCheol_Jang / August 19, 2022
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In a recent TWS market study, SAR finds that the use of RISC-V cores is increasing. The RISC-V is license free core although one has sole responsibility to make the core run without any technical issues. Fabless TWS SoC companies such as mid-to-low tier IC companies may find RISC-V cores appealing due to the cost […]

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GreenWaves’ GAP9 processor for hearables and smart sensors

By SeongCheol_Jang / July 25, 2022
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GreenWaves’ ultra low power processor is gaining interest from the market especially in the smart portable audio devices such as TWS earbuds, etc.  GreenWaves is a fabless semiconductor company found in 2014 and their headquarter is located France.  GAP8 was GreenWaves’ first generation low power processor introduced in 2018. GAP9 is second generation processor after […]

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The domestic TWS chip maker Zhongke Lanxun goes public

By SeongCheol_Jang / July 19, 2022
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Zhongke Lanxun (also known as Bluetrum) recently went to public after Actions Semiconductor. Zhongke Lanxan is a Shenzhen, China based fabless company focused on developing TWS earbuds SoCs.  Bluetrum’s TWS SoC chips can be found mostly on a mid-to-low tier TWS earbuds and one of their main business is white-label market.  Bluetrum’s chips can be […]

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SAR publishes its IC Platforms & Components in TWS market report

By SeongCheol_Jang / July 19, 2022
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SAR recently published ‘IC Platforms & Components in TWS’ market BRIEF.  In this BRIEF, SAR does a deep dive into TWS earbuds hardware, analyzing the system architecture as well as other components inside.  Component vendors participating in the TWS earbuds are reviewed and analysed.  This BRIEF covers the IC platforms & components in TWS earbuds […]

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Endel collaborates with Sony to bring audio wellness to Sony’s LinkBuds series

By Peter Cooney / May 30, 2022
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This is an interesting example of how 3rd party app developers can build new solutions, working in collaboration with TWS device vendors. In this case app developer Endel (Germany) appears to be using the Sony Linkbuds microphones to understand context, e.g. is a person situated in an office, in a park, etc., from this it […]

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