GreenZoner egypt: audio

Wolfson WM5110 audio chip outputs 'studio master' sound, may appear in next Galaxy S

192KHz, 24-bit, 5510, audio, hands-on, mobilepostcross, samsung, video, Wm5110, wolfson 5/17/2013 - GreenZoner egypt

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" itemprop="text" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Wolfson WM5110 audio chip outputs 'studio master' 24bit 192KHz sound, might appear in the next Galaxy S earson video" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/wolfson-lead.jpg" /></div>What you're looking at above is a demo board carrying a next-gen Wolfson  WM5110 audio chip for smartphones. This bit of silicon isn't in any  market-ready handsets just yet, hence the DIY setup, but given Wolfson's  well-cemented partnership with Samsung there's every chance this'll be  the audio hub in the next Galaxy S, as well as potentially in other  manufacturers' phones coming out in 2014.<br />  One of the WM5110's headline features is the ability to handle high sample rate  music tracks at 24-bit and 192KHz, aka "studio master" or "better than  CD quality" sound. Such skills are generally reserved for pricey  standalone DACs like iRiver's AK100,  which allows Wolfson to claim that this is the first implementation for  inside a smartphone. We have an ears-on video for you after the break,  but it's not much use for judging audio quality -- the event was too  noisy even for us to attempt that, so we'll just wait to do another audio round-up  in more controlled conditions -- but at least there's some proof of  principle. On the other hand, if you're unconvinced as to whether 192KHz  is even a <em>worthwhile</em> spec to have in smartphone, then read on to learn about some of the WM5110's other abilities, which have a more practical bent.<br />     This next-gen audio chip is actually a quad-core SoC in its own  right, with four digital signal processors (DSPs) onboard. Wolfson's CEO  Mike Hickey acknowledges that this makes the WM5110 "significantly more  expensive" than the WM1811  in the global GS3 or the WM5102 in the Exynos GS4, but says that the  hub will compensate for that by incorporating functions that make other  components unnecessary -- such as separate noise cancelling processors.  In fact, he says the four DSPs will themselves deliver far superior  noise cancelling for both incoming and outgoing sound (e.g. for the  person speaking and the person listening to a call), and we were shown a  demonstration in which the difference compared to the current-gen  Wolfson chip was definitely noticeable.<br />  <div class="more-info"><br /></div>Another advantage of the WM5110 is a low-power state that allows for  voice activation without draining the battery. This means that instead  of having to hit a button to start a voice recognition service like S  Voice, a WM5110-equipped smartphone would be permanently listening out  for your trigger phrase, and only when it hears that will it switch on  the application processor for more advanced voice recognition. According  to Hickey, this listening mode would only consume a tiny amount of  power -- taking as little as 12 minutes off a 24-hour battery cycle. In  terms of mainstream users at least, it's safe to say that this feature  could have far more impact than high bitrate audio.<br />        </div></div>

Wolfson WM5110 audio chip outputs 'studio master' sound, may appear in next Galaxy S

What you're looking at above is a demo board carrying a next-gen Wolfson WM5110 audio chip for smartphones. This bit of silicon isn...