NEWS - Monday, December 18, 2000
Wolfson’s chip in Xbox
Microsoft has signed a deal with Wolfson Microelectronics, to provide the Xbox with analog audio D/A converters. Wolfson has made "a custom-designed audio subsystem composed of digital filter, D/A converter, analog filter and AC-Link interface that’s optimized for Xbox specifications." said David Milne, the cofounder, chief executive and managing director for Wolfson. He also stated that the custom WM9709 chip "offers much higher audio performance than a regular AC’97 codec provides on a PC and it is as good as the hi-fi audio of a DVD player." For the last six to eight months this 60 employees company has worked very closely with Microsoft. "We looked at their spec, proposed an architecture and defined the chip with them," said Milne and then made this remark. "For a relatively small company like us, developing a custom product for Microsoft is an exciting project."
Wolfson has already sent out a functional engineering sample of the WM9709. As of right now, Wolfson is a sole source for Xbox’s audio D/As and mass production of the chip is due to start in mid-2001.
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/
