Single-chip Audio Decoder Solution for MP3 Players Introduced
Submitted by: Dave Conabree on May 17th, 2001
Source: sigmatel.com
An audio decoder for portable and MP3-style personal audio players is available from SigmaTel (Austin, Texas).
SigmaTel's STMP3400 is a small, integrated solution for multi-format personal audio players. The SoC STMP3400 provides a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and DC/DC converter.
The STMP3400 solution is claimed to offer high audio performance with 18-bit DAC. The chip has a USB 1.1 interface for downloading songs and uploading voice recordings, in addition to standard SPI, I2C, I2S, and GPIO interfaces for communicating with other ICs. The small size and integration make it suitable for applications like portable handheld players, headphones, cellphones, and PDAs.
The STMP3400 enables maximum flexibility through it programmable digital signal processor (DSP) support MP3 decoding and Windows Media Audio (WMA) digital audio decoding in the future. The STMP3400 offers almost 15 hours of playback time on one AA battery. The integrated DC/DC converter is controlled by on-chip registers to decrease overall power consumption.
The SigmaTel audio decoder has been designed into the ATLMultimedia ET301ST MP3 player. The STMP3400 is currently available for design-in for $14 in 10,000-piece quantities. SigmaTel is a provider of integrated circuit (IC) design. For more information, visit SigmaTel's Web site at www.sigmatel.com.
