Amplifier Module Delivers 15W Audio Power

NXT plc has announced a high-efficiency, USB powered stereo amplifier module that delivers boost audio power of 15W per channel from a standard USB port. Incorporating NXT's recently acquired Audium amplifier chip technology, the DyadUSB amplifier module is matched to NXT's Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) speakers, which utilize NXT's patented Bending Wave Technology, combining flat panel and pistonic sound generation, and is used by its customers to produce compact, wide bandwidth, wide directivity loudspeakers.

The optimization for use with BMR drivers includes the option of on-chip digital filtering for acoustic voicing, bass enhancement, stereo widening as well as driver protection, and implementation of a Zobel network to accurately match the driver's inductance to the amplifier's output drive. BMR drivers are widely deployed in consumer audio products ranging from high-end audiophile loudspeakers to mass-market, flat panel televisions.

The DyadUSB platform can be designed into compact desktop and travel speakers to deliver HiFi in computer-centric applications, where an external power source is undesirable. It is an ideal technology for notebook and netbook add-on speaker applications, where minimal power consumption is needed to extend battery life without compromising on audio fidelity, as consumers increasingly use computing devices for music and video entertainment.

The DyadUSB platform has been announced less than five months after NXT acquired IP from Audium Semiconductor, developers of the amplifier chip upon which the design is based. The Audium device is up to 20 times more efficient than competing parts. The chip employs power rail switching so that it operates efficiently from a low voltage supply most of the time. A boost regulator delivers a higher operating voltage to the output transistors on audio peaks. Other patented techniques minimise fixed power losses and output-dependant variable losses.

NXT