Wolfson Microelectronics has launched low power codecs designed to enhance the audio performance and extend the battery life of portable applications.
The WM8944, WM8945, WM8946 and WM8948 are targeted at portable applications including digital still cameras, digital camcorders and voice recorders. The WM8944 and WM8945 are mono low power codecs, with a touch panel controller included in the WM8945, while the WM8946 and WM8948 are stereo low power codecs, with the WM8948 featuring a touch panel controller.
Among the key features of these products is the company's ReTune filter, which enables customers to improve the frequency characteristics of the device housing, microphone and speaker, and provides enhanced record and playback performance without requiring expensive hardware modifications.
The devices also provide a high level of feature integration including speaker, video and microphone amplifiers, and an LDO regulator, which simplify system design, increase noise immunity, lower BOM cost, and minimise the total footprint of the audio solution. A range of audio enhancement features are also included to improve the sound quality during recording in portable devices, including dynamic range control, a stereo-widening algorithm, five notch filters, five-band programmable equaliser, and programmable wind noise filter.
The products also include a digital microphone interface, enabling the transition to MEMS-based microphones with high noise immunity. Software compatibility across the product family enables system designers to adopt a platform development approach for multiple models. For example, in digital still camera applications, the devices enable system designers to simultaneously develop the audio solution for mono and stereo models, with and without touch panel control.
