STMicroelectronics has introduced a high-performance, analog class-D audio. This achievement is said to allow equipment manufacturers to combine superior audio quality with a small form factor in next-generation home and professional sound systems and active-speaker applications.
It is believed that, ST designers have managed to pack 320W of total output power - 160W on each channel - on an area of 100 mm2, giving ST's newest analog audio class-D amplifier a 20% power-density advantage over existing solutions on the market. The device's high-current capability is also supposed to enable the design of platform solutions where the speaker impedance can be simply changed - from 8 down to 2 ohms - without any power or current limitation. ST's newest amplifier also said to integrate a host of features that increase audio quality in the final application, including built-in suppression of pop/click noises, standby and mute functionality, and balanced input for best TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) noise rejection.
The TDA7498E amplifier claims to offer flexible audio-system configuration, in both stereo and mono modes, and also includes the mono parallel feature for driving the subwoofer/woofer channel in 2.1 sound set-ups. The device exhibits a signal-to-noise ratio of 100dB and provides four selectable, fixed-gain settings at 23.8dB, 29.8dB, 33.3dB and 35.8dB.
