FREMONT, Calif. -- April 27, 1998 --Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) today continues the expansion of its industry-leading CrystalClearTM brand of PC audio products with the announcement of its new SoundFusionTM PCI audio accelerator (CS4614). Based on the company's innovative SoundFusion DSP technology, the CS4614 delivers an unmatched PC audio experience while providing complete support for DOS legacy applications with integrated CrystalClear Legacy SupportTM (CCLS).

Moreover, with many existing 3D games requiring legacy hardware compatibility, the single-chip CS4614 with integrated CCLS delivers rock-solid compatibility for users with existing libraries of titles and applications that won't run without legacy support.

"Today's announcement clearly illustrates our intent to leverage Cirrus Logic's audio market leadership into the emerging PCI audio space," said Art Swift, vice president of business development for Cirrus Logic's Personal Computer Products Division. With the integration of CrystalClear Legacy Support and our award-winning SoundFusion DSP technology, the pieces are in place for Cirrus Logic to aggressively target the PCI audio market.

SoundFusion Technology

Cirrus Logic's SoundFusion DSP technology is based on the company's innovative SLIMDTM (Somewhat Long Instruction Multiple Data) architecture which allows add-in manufacturers and OEMs to provide specific features and scalability not found in fixed-function solutions. The concurrency capability of the SoundFusion DSP core allows functions typically found in costly, multiple-device designs to be provided by a single chip. This differs from many fixed function solutions, which heavily rely on host signal processing for one or more key functions. Cirrus Logic's SoundFusion DSP core is a powerful platform that will play a key role across multiple product lines in the company's strategy going forward.

At the heart of the SoundFusion CS4614 is a powerful 255 MIPs DSP engine and highly- efficient PCI interface, that provides add-in card manufacturers, OEMs and consumers with a home theater-class audio experience on the PC. Specifically, the CS4614's SLIMD architecture, programmable DSP engine and DMA interface reduce the host CPU overhead required to manage the concurrent processing of multiple audio streams required by today's multimedia applications. Accordingly, OEMs and add-in card manufacturers, integrating advanced audio capabilities into their next-generation PCs, can optimize audio system performance in support of emerging PC games and multimedia applications.

SoundFusion CS4614 Features

• DirectSound, A3D and Hardware Acceleration – New interactive PC games such as Electronic Art's "Moto Racer" and Lucas Interactive's "Shadows of the Empire" use Microsoft DirectSound3D or Aureal's A3D application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide a fully immersive audio experience. The SoundFusion CS4614 accelerates these industry leading API's to deliver high-quality 3D positional audio while offering a significant reduction in host CPU loading.
  
  
• CrystalClear Legacy Support (CCLS) – The CS4614 integrated CCLS delivers legacy support for both Windows DOS box and Real Mode applications through an advanced single- chip implementation. In addition, the CS4614 also supports industry standard PC/PCI and DDMA to provide OEMs and add-in card manufacturers several options to ensure legacy support.
  
  
• 64 Voice Wavetable Synthesis – The SoundFusion CS4614 audio accelerator features a Fat Labs Approved wavetable synthesis engine for delivery of interactive audio soundtracks. The CS4614 delivers crystal-clear musical reproductions that satisfy even the most discriminating audiophile.
  
  
• AC'97 2.0 Support – The SoundFusion CS4614 audio accelerator supports the multi- vendor AC'97 audio codec specification. AC'97 is designed to significantly raise the quality of digital-to-analog signal conversion in PCs by separating the codec from the digital controller IC. For example, when combined with the CrystalClear CS4297 audio codec, the audio subsystem offers an industry leading 96 dB signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio for pure sound.
  
  
• Standards Compliance – PCI Power Management (PPMI), Advanced Power Management (APM), Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), as well as Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT driver support enables PC OEMs and add-in card manufacturers using the SoundFusion CS4614 audio processor to meet all of Microsoft's PC97 and PC98 requirements.

Pricing/Availability

The SoundFusion CS4614 PCI audio accelerator will be sampling in June with production quantities set for July 1998. The device is available in a 100-pin MQFP package and is priced at $15.00 in 10K quantities.

Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of system-level integrated circuits that demand high- performance mixed-signal processing. The company applies its system expertise to enable high- volume applications in data storage, networking, and multimedia for both computing and consumer electronics markets as well as ultra-precision data acquisition applications for industrial automation and instrumentation markets.

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* Cirrus Logic is a registered trademark and CrystalClear, SoundFusion and CrystalClear Legacy Support are trademarks of Cirrus Logic, Inc. All other product names noted herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.