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503 InnoValley E Bldg., 255 Pangyo-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Tel: +82-31-8018-7334 Fax: +82-31-8018-7330

email : jay@radsone.com

This document contains confidential information that is proprietary to RADSONE Inc.

No part of its contents may be copied, disclosed, or conveyed to any party in

any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from RADSONE Inc.

Copyright © 2016 by RADSONE Inc. All rights reserved.

Bluetooth 24bit Audio

Jay Yoo and Woo-Suk Lee

Radsone Inc.

Confidential and Propriety

• Motivation

• Comparing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Audio

• Bluetooth 24bit technology

– Problem and Solution

• Radsone examples

– Analog gain/differential Bluetooth 24bit headphones

– Power efficient Bluetooth 24bit speakers

• Conclusion

Overview

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• More wireless audio products are proliferating

• Especially, Bluetooth audio market grows rapidly

– About 40 % CAGR up to 2020, 20~30 B USD

• Bluetooth headset market is also growing. E.g. LG

Tone+ headset sells millions per year

• In Bluetooth, market demands more quality sound

• 2016 will be the turning point of Bluetooth sound

• Should Hi-Fi makers prepare this wave of Bluetooth?

Introduction and Motivation

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High quality wireless audio should be difficult?

No options for easy and high quality solution?

DLNA, Cast for audio, AllPlay, Play-Fi …

High quality, but too many techs and difficult to use

Smartphone OS API level support

Convenient but low quality

Wireless audio

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Major changes in Bluetooth audio 2016

Apple iPhone7

Removes 3.5mm output

Major players joins in Bluetooth 24bit

Qualcomm, Sony, Samsung

Bluetooth 24bit will be game changer!!

Easy usability + 24bit high quality + Apple’s impact

Reportedly 3.5mm will be

removed in iPhone7

Apple already registered

Trademark ‘AirPods’

Sony LDAC/Samsung UHQ

24bit Bluetooth codec

Qualcomm CSR

Announces ‘aptX HD’

at CES 2016

Big opportunity for Bluetooth

Headphone/speaker

aptX HD will be free

for Smartphones;

Enabled by software update

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 6

LG G5

aptX HD encoder

World first product using aptX HD

LG Tone Platinum (headset)

aptX HD decoder

- Qualcomm did not release aptX HD officially yet.

- Encoder will be included in Snapdragon for Source device (under development).

- Sink device development tool ADK 4.2 will be released this September.

** For LG’s headset, Radsone developed software using pre-released aptX HD decoder

Already in production from

March, 2016

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 7

• aptX HD is software codec for Bluetooth

• aptX HD encoder is for Bluetooth source device

• aptX HD decoder is for Bluetooth sync device

• aptX HD encoder license is free!

• Almost Android smartphones can be upgraded freely – No information about whether Apple will use it or not

• aptX HD decoder license fee will be under $1

• Currently CSR8675 is the only chip supporting aptX

HD decoder for Bluetooth sync device

Qualcomm Bluetooth 24bit

CSR8675 is a

Qualcomm

Bluetooth chip

with aptX HD

decoder

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• Wider dynamic range complementing playback of Hi Res audio

content

• 24bit audio resolution maintained end to end.

• SNR of 129dB (cf. aptX 93dB)

• Lower THD benefits playback of standard resolution music libraries

• Moderately increased bit rate (576kbps) compared with classic

aptX (384kbps)

• aptX HD is aimed at high end stereo headsets & wireless speakers

in a point-point application

• aptX HD licensing currently includes classic aptX for Bluetooth

ensuring backwards compatibility

aptX HD

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 9

CSR8675 chip for Sync device

6.5 x 6.5 x 1.0

mm,112-pin

BGA

Pin compatible

with CSR8670

Increase DSP

performance

up to 120 MIPS

(8670: 80MIPS) On chip DAC

still 16bit Increased MIPS allows for more audio processing algorithms

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 10

• CSR8675 still uses 16bit on-chip DAC

• Actually downgrades at analog converting stage!

• However, it supports 24bit digital output

• So, there should be some engineering to make full 24bit audio path

• CSR8675 digital output + external DAC required for Hi-Fi headphones

and speakers

CSR8675 is not enough for Hi-Fi

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24bit

Qualcomm BT 24bit chip

24bit aptX HD decoder

16bit

On-chip DAC 16bit

24bit aptX HD encoder

Problem

24bit

Qualcomm BT 24bit chip

24bit aptX HD decoder

24bit

On-chip DAC 16bit

24bit aptX HD encoder

Solution

24bit DAC

External 24bit DAC

Problem and Solution

DAC Power off on-chip DAC is possible

when using external DAC

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 12

Qualcomm CSR BT 24bit chip

24bit DAC

Clock Power

aptX HD decoder + Radsone DCT

24bit aptX HD

BT 24bit

How to make a better solution

• Bit clock from CSR chip has a little jitter. So, independent clock generation

is necessary for jitter free design

• Also elaborate power scheme is required for better performances

• Even better if consider high quality audio processing using available MIPS

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Examples (1)

• For full 24bit Bluetooth headphones

• Radsone works with several hi-fi audio makers in Japan, Korea, US

• Productions scheduled during second half this year

• Evaluation board available from Radsone Inc.

• Analog volume control, dual DACs for differential outputs,

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Examples (2)

• For full 24bit Bluetooth speakers

• Evaluation board available from Radsone Inc.

• 8675 + External DAC + Power efficient output stage

• Speaker calibration features

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LG G5

(24bit source via aptX HD)

Full 24bit Bluetooth

sync demo board

Demo

3.5mm Heaphone

Available at Radsone (Hall4, V18)

Confidential and Propriety. RADSONE Inc. 16

• Bluetooth audio is most fast growing sector in audio businesses

• Bluetooth is not any more low quality solution

• Qualcomm Bluetooth 24bit aptX HD codecs will be available this year

• So, 2016 will be a turning point in Bluetooth sound quality

• Radsone is a partner company of Qualcomm and the first company developed Bluetooth 24bit software for LG Tone Platinum.

• More over, Radsone is licensing its sound improvement algorithm DCT to several vendors. DCT is a registered IP in Qualcomm Bluetooth

• Also, Radsone has already prepared Bluetooth full 24bit module for Hi-Fi headphone makers. We’re ready to support Hi-Fi makers.

• Catch this big change!

Conclusion

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Thank You!

Contact: Jay Yoo ( jay@radsone.com )