SAN FRANCISCO -- Sept. 28, 1998 -- At the Audio Engineering Society (AES) conference here today, Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) highlighted its Crystal® audio technology and system-chip expertise with the introduction of the industry's most highly-integrated sample rate converter for consumer and professional audio systems. The new single-chip Crystal solution delivers the functionality currently performed by as many as three separate components. Moreover, the new chip's innovative architecture is capable of processing the widest array of audio standard rates ranging from 8kHz to 96kHz. As the only audio device that supports the variety of audio sample rates used across broadcast, compact discs, PC audio, movie soundtracks and professional audio systems, the CS8420 dramatically simplifies audio system design and eliminates compatibility issues.

In addition to providing the industry's first 24-bit digital sample rate converter, the new chip also incorporates a digital audio receiver and transmitter compatible with both professional and consumer audio standards (AES/EBU and S/PDIF respectively), significantly reducing the cost and size of audio system electronics. With its highly-integrated, high-performance functionality, the CS8420 offers audio system designers the flexibility to create consumer and professional audio systems that can process digital audio signals from any consumer or professional audio equipment, including audio mixing consoles, multi-track recorders, DVD authoring systems, studio-to-transmitter links and effects processor systems.

"The CS8420 offers more features than any other sample rate converter available in the market today. Using 0.35 micron technology and advanced Crystal algorithms, the CS8420 provides a level of integration that to date has not been achievable in sample rate converters," said John Paulos, vice president of audio for Cirrus Logic's Crystal Semiconductor Products Division. "This announcement expands the extensive portfolio of Crystal® consumer and professional audio products. Crystal now provides complete audio solutions, from input (Rx) to output (Tx), analog signal processing and conditioning (ADC, DAC, Codec), Digital Signal Processing (DSP), and control of all the varying sample rates (SRC) found in today's complex digital audio equipment."

Simplifying Professional Audio System Design

Offering a conversion rate of 8kHz to 96kHz, within a 1:3 to 3:1 ratio, the CS8420 provides by far the widest conversion ratio of any sample rate converter solution today. With the CS8420, digital audio data can be sent at any commonly used sample rate and the device will automatically convert the data to the sample rate required by the specific digital audio system. This simplifies the clocking architecture of the audio system because it only has to support one sample rate internally instead of the many sample rates recognized at the input.

High Performance/Quality Sound

Unlike more limited sample rate converters the new Crystal audio solution maintains the quality of the audio signal as it goes through the sample rate conversion process. The device supports 24-bit input and output resolution that allows customers to connect a 24-bit audio source or 24-bit audio D/A converter to the device without suffering any degradation in performance. Further, the CS8420 uses a correctly dithered truncation technique to also support output word sizes of 16- or 20- bits, maintaining audio quality across a variety of systems. In addition, with a 120 dB dynamic range, as well as a total harmonic distortion + noise (THD+N) of typically -117 dB, the CS8420 does not degrade the sound quality through the sample rate converter process, providing far superior performance compared to ‹- 100 dB of other commonly used solutions.

Another important function of a sample rate converter is to limit the bandwidth of the input signal when the input sample frequency is greater than the output sample frequency. The CS8420 is designed to modify the input frequency smoothly to avoid sound quality distortion due to aliasing.

Pricing and Availability

The CS8420 device, available in a 28-pin SOIC package, will be sampling in Q4, 1998 with production set for Q1, 1999. Pricing is $13.90 in 1000 piece quantities. Additional information on the devices and other Crystal consumer and professional audio solutions is available at www.cirrus.com.

Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of precision linear circuits and advanced mixed-signal system-level chip solutions, the latter which demand high-performance mixed-signal processing, embedded DSP, algorithms and firmware. The company's products, sold under its own name and the Crystal product brand, enable high-volume applications in mass storage, communications, consumer electronics and industrial markets. Additional information about Cirrus Logic is available at www.cirrus.com.

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Note to editors: Cirrus Logic is a registered trademark of Cirrus Logic Inc. All other product names noted herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.

Special Note:

Cirrus Logic is presenting a technical paper on the CS8420 at the Audio Engineering Society Convention, being held from September 26-29, 1998 in San Francisco. The paper is titled "A Monolithic 24-bit, 96kHz, Sample Rate Converter with AES3 Receiver and AES3 Transmitter" by Steven Harris, Gautham Kamath and Eric Gaalaas. Please contact AES at (212) 661-8528 or www.aes.org for more information or to obtain a copy of the paper.