Wolfson creates ‘first audio SoC’ for mobile devices
Wolfson Microelectronics has integrated five discrete parts into what it calls the first audio SoC. The device, called the WM5100, features a high multichannel audio hub with transmit and receive path noise cancellation, as well as Wolfson's myZone adaptive Ambient Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology. Also featured is a 75MIPS dsp developed in house.
Chief commercial officer Andy Brannan said the move had been made in anticipation of a booming market for high quality audio devices in a range of portable equipment. Partly, the WM5100 has been developed because traditional SoC vendors haven't been able to do the job as well. "We have seen SoC vendors integrating more and more functionality," Brannan observed, "but that trend is being reversed because audio doesn't fit well in their devices. That's our big opportunity."
Described as the culmination of two to three year's work, the WM5100 is said by Brannan to be 'much bigger than products Wolfson has made in the past'. And it also marks a move in the analogue:digital balance. "In the past," Brannan said, "our parts were big A, small D. This is more like 50:50."
