Come! Take you to the scene of this year's Asian Bluetooth Headset Exhibition

The autumn breeze is pleasant and the fruits are fragrant, and ADI is busy participating in offline exhibitions! At the (Autumn) Asian Bluetooth Headset Exhibition held in Shenzhen, ADI brought a new generation of low-power active noise reduction chips developed by ADI China Business Unit, with multiple key performance upgrades, presenting the "C-position show" of the exhibition.

Data shows that the shipment volume of Bluetooth audio devices reached 1 billion units in 2020, of which wireless speakers accounted for 90%. True wireless headphones (TWS) are fully favored by consumers, as can be seen from the hot crowds at the exhibition. Therefore, in order to create differentiated value points in the second half of the fiercely competitive TWS headset market, active noise reduction function is bound to become a "must-have" product function. As a global supplier of data conversion and signal processing technology widely recognized by the industry, ADI's new generation of ANC audio solutions displayed on site have the characteristics of low latency, low power consumption, and small size. According to customer needs, it can meet different design needs such as standard, mainstream, and special.

According to Sophie Mao, marketing manager of industrial medical consumer products at ADI China Division, ADAU1860 is a new generation of low-power active noise reduction chip launched by ADI. While reducing power consumption by 30%, it optimizes the voice-wake up design, has stronger DSP computing power, and provides rich ANC options and functions. It will be mass-produced in September 2021 and provide demos of Hybrid ANC and assisted listening functions.

Next-generation product ADAU1860

• Up to 768 kHz sampling rate  

Biquad filters, limiters, volume control, mixer

Support differential single-ended input switching

Support differential output, high performance HPAMP, support energy saving mode.

Up to 110dB SNR (AWT) / 95dB THD 

Measured 3uV noise floor

Low power mode: (25MHz / 50MHz @ 0.9V nominal)  

High performance mode: (100MHz @ 1.1V nominal) modes  

56pin, 0.35mm pitch, 3.02mm×2.58mm wafer level package.

The minimum end-to-end delay is 5us, providing the possibility of more precise noise reduction. 

Programmable and efficient FastDSP audio processor. 

3-channel low-latency 24-bit ADC, supporting 3 analog microphone inputs and 8 digital microphone inputs. • Excellent SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) 

High performance DAC.

Built-in high-performance Tensilica HiFi-3z DSP core. 

The power mode is specially designed for VAD and voice wake-up, with extremely low power consumption in the industry.

ADI uses a combination of ADC, DAC and DSP to ensure signal quality while demonstrating strong signal processing capabilities, and at the same time demonstrates its deep expertise in small chip packaging and low power consumption. In view of the two major development trends of the TWS headset market, which are divided into basic functional type and extended type, ADI also displayed a simplified version of ADAU1860, ADAU1850, at the exhibition site. The main difference is that the latter reduces the Hifi-3Z DSP and only retains the Fast DSP.

“Although the audio scene recognition of ADAU1860 has been reduced, it can still help customers achieve a very high level in ANC and meet their demands for product upgrades,” Sophie said on the spot.

Next-generation product ADAU1850

Provide low-cost, extremely small area, super sound quality ANC codec

Already in mass production and providing Hybrid ANC demo

28pin, 0.4mm pitch, 3.0mm×1.8mm wafer level package.

The lowest end-to-end delay is 5us, providing the possibility of more precise noise reduction. 

Programmable and efficient FastDSP audio processor. 

3-channel low-latency 24-bit ADC, supporting 3 analog microphone inputs and 4 digital microphone inputs. 

High performance DAC.

Provide ANC filter development tools to help customers generate filter parameters.

Provide ANC overall algorithm support and reference design.

• Up to 768 kHz sampling rate  

Biquad filters, limiters, volume control, mixer

Excellent SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) 

Support differential single-ended input switching

Support differential output, high performance HPAMP, support energy saving mode. 

Up to 110dB SNR (AWT) / 95dB THD 

Measured 3uV noise floor

The communication problem between the charging box and earbuds of TWS headsets is also a focus of the industry. In this regard, an interface chip DS2488 was demonstrated on site. The DS2488 1-Wire dual-port link is a simple bridge device designed to facilitate communication between two microcontroller-based subsystems. The DS2488 has a dedicated contact on each side of the bridge, which enables direct communication up to 512kbps for power transmission, small message exchange and status reporting for battery charging.

The dual-contact solution supports advanced TWS features. 

Full support for earphone and charging box detection functions.

The minimalist dual 1-Wire interface reduces cost and system complexity.

Ideal for battery powered consumer electronics. 

• Small message exchange between the charging case and the earbuds

512kbps high-speed pass-through mode for file transfer 

Delivers power to the headset battery charger 

3 GPIO pins provide selectable function control or status detection

 After detection, the 64-bit identification code (ROM ID) of the earbud can be read 

The operating power is generated by the parasitic power supply of the 1-Wire IOA line 

Detect when the charging box is plugged in or out 

Detecting a Depleted Charging Case Battery

Only one dedicated contact is required for communication and power transmission 

Allows two host controllers to arbitrate communication at 90kbps 

Supports read and write operations over a wide voltage range of 1.71V to 3.63V

1.6mm x 0.9mm x 0.33mm small WLP package, 0.4mm solder pitch 

1.71V to 3.63V operating voltage range 

IOA pin has high ESD protection: ±8kV HBM (typ.) 

-40°C to +85°C operating temperature range

In addition to the rich demo presentations on site, He Yuan, senior market application manager of ADI China, also delivered a keynote speech on "How ADI chips help create popular headphones". Based on industry observations and the challenges and pain points in the industry, he elaborated on the value of ADI chips, including low background noise, wind noise resistance, semi-in-ear real-time adaptive noise reduction functions, increased mass production efficiency, lowered customer development thresholds, etc.

He Yuan, Senior Marketing Application Manager, ADI China

ADI will work with manufacturers to help them convert customers with ANC needs and jointly promote the popularization of ANC functions in TWS headphones. I believe that with the support of ANC technology, TWS headphones will not only be an accessory to improve the quality of life in the future, but also an indispensable portal to the mobile Internet.