XMOS Ltd., a pioneer of C-programmable event-driven multicore processors, has announced a multi-function audio platform intended to allow designers to provide higher audio quality in professional and audiophile products. The platform comes as reference design printed circuit board that provides audio-over-USB.
The board is based on the XS1-U8-64 microncontroller and 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.
The xCORE architecture offers low latency and determinism that makes it well suited to systems used for audio streaming and the MFA platform source code software can be customized using the xTIMEcomposer Studio tool suite.
We are at one of the music industry’s periodic tipping points – new services and products from players like Linn Records, B&O music service, PonoMusic and HD Tracks are springing up to satisfy the pent-up demand for high-resolution content," said Paul Neil, vice president of product management at XMOS, in a statement.
The XMOS Multi-Function Audio Platform is available immediately, with a rolling program of firmware upgrades enhancing the feature planned for 2014 and 2015.
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