e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

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Reply To: None Monday, 7 May 2001 at 5:51 PM EDT
Post # of 673743


Guest Opinion May 2001

Sounds good
End-to-end digital-audio systems will bring
greater flexibility, new features, and enhanced
sound fidelity to the consumer listening
experience.
Niels Anderskouv, Texas Instruments

Audio recording and playback have
been digital for a long time, but until now
listeners have had to settle for
compromises in sound output that result
from analog amplifiers, converters, and
speakers. Today, digital designs are
appearing that will revolutionize audio.
Digital audio systems will bring greater
flexibility, new features, and enhanced
sound fidelity to the consumer listening experience.

Digital implementations drive speakers twice as efficiently as
conventional analog components, consuming less power and
dissipating a fraction of the heat. At the same time, DSPs and
other digital circuitry increase signal quality and integrity.
Advanced digital technology not only relays audio information
with greater clarity from the source to the speaker, but also
enhances the sound output through techniques such as
environmental frequency response and dimensional effects.
Using digital technology, even small, inexpensive speakers can
now produce sound quality once reserved for larger speakers
costing hundreds of dollars.

These capabilities translate into new types of audio applications
and new features for existing applications. Soon,
consumer-entertainment systems, such as those packaged as
“home theater in a box,” will combine the functionality of DVD,
CD, digital and Internet radio, digital-TV reception, gaming, and
home AV networking. Consumers will realize the benefits of
digital AV technology and reduced system components with the
convergence of these products into one system. Multispeaker
audio systems, supporting the latest digital standards while
automatically calibrating themselves to the room’s acoustics,
complete the consumer’s digital sound experience.

Home networking is bringing greater convenience to phones,
mobile computers, and other data appliances. Rather than
sacrificing traditional sound quality as consumers demand
smaller form factors, lighter-weight digital audio schemes help
conserve battery power and extend usage time while delivering
enhanced sound. Handheld entertainment systems with
combined functionality, such as DVD/MP3 players or digital still
camera/audio recorders, will similarly benefit.

In PC applications, advanced digital audio enhances
presentations, live/recorded news media, videoconferencing
and, of course, gaming. When automotive systems adopt
end-to-end digital audio, they will provide outstanding sound at a
lower cost with reduced wiring. Currently, lengthy design cycles
prevent car manufacturers from installing the newest
technologies. However, dealers will begin connecting
aftermarket digital-audio systems to the factory-installed digital
network bus (IEEE 1394), providing consumers with the latest
audio equipment. Other features will include directional audio,
self-calibrating multi-channel systems, and digital noise
canceling.

Once digital technology extends all the way to digital speakers,
there’s no telling where the audio experience will go. Speakers
will appear that can be directly connected to LANs, or function
as Internet appliances. Single-chip implementations that will be
available in the next couple of years will make possible even
greater speaker miniaturization, enabling portable audio
systems to become wearable. The flexibility, features, and
quality of end-to-end digital audio are truly revolutionary, and the
revolution has only started.

Author information

Niels Anderskouv is Worldwide Digital Audio Marketing Manager for Texas
Instruments

http://www.commvergemag.com/commverge/issues/2001/200105/05guest1.asp