News

This week, Burr-Brown Corporation announced the PCM1733, a low-cost, CD-quality audio digital-to-analog converter (DAC) designed for high-volume, mass-market consumer audio applications.

The PCM1733 is a complete stereo audio DAC offering 18-bit/96kHz performance. As a result of the PCM1733's price/performance ratio, 96kHz sampling rates can now be included in lower-cost consumer audio systems. High-volume applications that demand CD-quality audio at a low cost include PC add-on cards, PC motherboards, digital satellite set-top boxes, and low-cost DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and CD (Compact Disc) players.

"Providing a CD-quality audio DAC under $2 gives audio designers higher overall system performance at a lower cost. This reinforces our industry-leading position for the best price/performance audio DAC solutions," said Mike Centorino, marketing manager of audio products at Burr-Brown. "In addition, the PCM1733 increases our presence in high-volume consumer audio markets."

The PCM1733 features an onboard 8x-oversampling digital filter with optional digital de-emphasis at 44.1kHz, and accepts digital audio sampling frequencies up to 96kHz. The DAC contains a 3rd-order delta-sigma modulator, digital interpolation filter, analog output amplifier, and accepts 18-bit input data in either normal or I^2S formats.

The world consumer audio market will exceed $52 billion in sales in 1998, according to Euromonitor's Strategy 2000 report. Moreover, the emergence of DVD technology (which combines CD-quality audio with digital video) as a rapidly growing segment in the consumer electronics industry will further accelerate the demand for systems that incorporate the PCM1733. The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) recently estimated that sales of DVD players will reach one million units during 1998, an increase of over 150% from 1997 sales.