Cirrus Logic’s smart codec takes Hi-Fi to mobile apps

Article By : Vivek Nanda

The low-power CS47L90 delivers "Always On" voice activation and Hi-Fi audio playback to smartphones.

Cirrus Logic's flagship low-power smart codec, CS47L90, offers mobile device manufacturers the ability to provide innovative voice features and a high-fidelity listening experience from smartphones.

"Always on" voice activation, noise reduction, active noise cancelation, echo cancellation and speaker protection features empower consumers with greater voice control over their mobile device while delivering a superior, noise-free audio user experience.

Cirrus Logic is targeting devices that allow just that with the CS47L90. The chip uses SmartHIFI audio playback, which is a combination of digital signal processing and analogue circuits to deliver an audio experience typically associated with high-end audio equipment. Cirrus Logic has also claimed that the CS47L90 consumes less power, both in standby and operational modes, to enable battery life savings.

*__Figure 1:__ Cirrus Logic has used a unique combination of DSP and high-performance analog circuits to deliver the Hi-Fi audio experience.*

"We combine ultra-low power sensing and voice detection with the algorithms needed to ensure that voice-recognition commands are executed accurately, without compromising performance or battery life," said Carl Alberty , vice president of marketing, Cirrus Logic in a press release.

The CS47L90 is supported on multiple application processor platforms, enabling a consistent feature set and performance across a wide variety of handsets from leading OEMs. A variety of interfaces allows for integration with all of the key components in the complex architectures of the latest mobile devices, including base band and applications processors, wireless audio transceivers, analog or digital MEMS microphones and boosted speaker amplifiers.

The devices support popular voice-wake trigger engines, including Google Hotword and Sensory TrulyHandsfree. Cirrus Logic is also has development tools available for custom solutions on the programmable DSP core.

Hi-Fi quality

Supporting 32bit audio playback and integrating low series resistance and low jitter clock circuits, the CS47L90 is designed to ensure that the hi-fi DAC and headphone amplifier circuits deliver a clean, transparent audio signal with flat frequency response all the way to the output of the headphone. The codec is smart in the sense that it makes dynamic adjustments to the audio playback based on the content being consumed.