Product category:
Analogue and Mixed Signal ICs
News Release from: Wolfson Microelectronics | Subject: WM8746 and WM8756
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 30 August 2001
Six-channel DACs bring pro-audio to
consumer kit
The WM8746 and WM8756 six-channel audio DACs from Wolfson Microelectronics provide the same high performance audio found in high-cost, high-end stereo systems to the consumer audio space.
The WM8746 and WM8756 six-channel audio DACs from Wolfson Microelectronics provide the same high-performance audio traditionally found in high-cost, high-end stereo systems to the consumer audio space Both support 192kHz playback for DVD-Audio
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 13 Apr 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Stereo DAC supports Direct Stream Digital
Wolfson Microelectronics has unveiled its first stereo DAC with support for the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) audio data format.
Additionally, the WM8756 supports Super Audio CD (SACD) playback.
It is the first device in Wolfson's family of six-channel audio DACs to offer SACD support.
"Companies like Mark Levinson and Harman Kardon have long used our audio components in their high-end stereo systems", said David Milne, Wolfson's managing director.
"With these new audio DACs we are trying to bring that same audio quality to the home audio and theatre systems".
SACD differs fundamentally from all other existing digital audio formats in that it uses a single-bit stream of data oversampled at very high speed.
Many audiophiles prefer the resulting listening experience to anything that can be achieved using the traditional PCM schemes, ranging from 16bit words at 44.1kHz sample rate for CD to 24bit data at 192kHz for DVD-Audio.
"Super Audio CD is considered by many to be the wave of the future", continued Milne, "because its ability to record and reproduce sound is closer to the original analogue signal than either CD or DVD formats".
The WM8756 is a high-performance six-channel DAC aimed at surround sound applications requiring SACD playback.
The device has separate input pins for 64x DSD bit-stream data and PCM data at sampling rates up to 192kHz.
PCM data can be received in a number of common digital audio formats including DSP, I2S, left or right-justified modes with word lengths ranging from 16 to 32bit.
Using Wolfson's proprietary multibit sigma-delta DAC architecture, the WM8756 achieves class-leading linearity with total harmonic distortion at -97dB.
The device runs on a single 3 or 5V supply and is housed in a 48-pin TQFP package.
The WM8746 is a PCM-only version targeted at high-end surround-sound applications that do not require SACD compatibility, such as digital broadcast receivers and DVD-Audio.
It offers the same six-channel audio quality as the WM8756, but does not support the DSD data format, and is supplied in a smaller 28-pin SSOP.
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