Fuelling the move to high-fidelity audio
18 June 2014
XMOS today announces its Multi-Function Audio (MFA) platform, enabling designers to address the growing demand for higher audio quality.
XMOS today announces its Multi-Function Audio (MFA) platform, enabling designers to address the growing demand for higher audio quality.
A fully featured reference design that provides the core USB audio capabilities required in next-generation audio products, the MFA platform leverages XMOS technology already in use by customers such as Meridian, OPPO, Sennheiser and Sony.
Based on the xCORE XS1-U8-64 8-core multicore microcontroller, the MFA is a fully featured USB Audio Class 2.0 reference design that makes it easy for developers to quickly create great-sounding digital audio products such as high-end speaker docks, headphone amps and audio DACs. It is capable of PCM audio sample rates of up to 384kHz at 16, 24 and 32-bit resolution, Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and DSD-over-PCM (DoP) formats, and USB B and A connectivity in USB device or host mode. Developers can use the MFA platform to build products that exchange USB audio with a wide range of source devices including Windows and Mac PCs, portable music players, current and legacy Apple devices, and common Android tablets and smartphones.
Because it is based on programmable xCORE technology, the MFA can easily be customized with value-added features, while XMOS itself is constantly upgrading the core platform capabilities via a rolling upgrade program. Audio developers can therefore quickly create the exact combination of connectivity and audio features they require by customizing the MFA platform source code software via the industry-leading xTIMEcomposer Studio tool suite.
Audiophiles have long considered the xCORE range of multicore microcontrollers to provide an industry-leading solution for high-end digital sound quality. The xCORE architecture, with its unique combination of determinism, parallelism and extremely low latency, is ideal for high-quality audio streaming. As such, XMOS devices are already in use powering a huge range of audio products aimed at discerning pro-audio listeners, including offerings from Advance Acoustic, Behringer, Focusrite, HRT, Meridian, Musical Fidelity, Native Instruments, Peachtree, PS Audio and Vestax.
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