« | »

CSR plc Introduces CSR8670

CSR launches powerful, flexible, feature-rich dual-mode Bluetooth audio SoC with embedded Flash memory

1st September 2011

CSR plc have today released the CSR8670, the successor to the highly successful BC5-MM Bluetooth audio SoC. Unlike the older BC5-MM, the new CSR8670 supports dual-mode Bluetooth (that is, Bluetooth® Low Energy as well as Bluetooth® Classic) and incorporates a Flash memory into the Bluetooth controller chip (rather than needing an external Flash memory). The CSR8670 also includes a more powerful embedded CPU, a beefed-up DSP, support for up to six digital microphones and support for capacitive touch control.

The CSR8670 is being launched alongside it’s lower cost ROM-based equivalent part, the CSR8645. Both parts include support for CSR’s aptX™ high-fidelity audio technology and Clear Voice Capture (CVC®) acoustic echo and noise cancellation.

“The CSR8645 and CSR8670 provide flexible, audio system-on-chip solutions our customers can use to improve their competitiveness by creating more highly differentiated products and bringing them to market faster,” said Paul Wilson, Product Marketing Manager for Home business area at CSR. “With these two SoCs, we are setting a new standard for wireless audio quality, providing revolutionary consumer audio platforms that not only support traditional audio applications, but also enable entirely new consumer uses and form factors.”

The Wired Alternative
The CSR8645 and CSR8670 enable OEMs to easily create enhanced battery-powered wireless audio products that can also operate as wired devices that can be plugged directly into audio sources that do not have Bluetooth connectivity. The wired audio capability also allows a product to continue to be used when its battery runs down, or in situations where wireless operation is prohibited or impractical. With the CSR8645 and CSR8670, products can receive audio input through an analogue connection, such as a standard 3.5-mm audio jack, as well as through a USB connector, which has the further advantage of allowing the battery to be charged while listening to music.

High-Quality aptX Bluetooth Audio for Mainstream Products
The CSR8645 is the first CSR audio platform solution to feature aptX technology enabled in ROM, and marks a milestone in fulfilling the CSR promise to deliver its aptX high-quality audio technology to the mass market. The CSR8645 was designed to provide a superior audio experience with a rich assortment of essential, market-leading features—like fully configurable and tunable EQ with multiple presets—in a flexible, highly configurable ROM-based solution for more cost-sensitive, mainstream consumer audio products, where faster time to market is paramount.

The Best Gets Better
The CSR8670 is the most powerful, most flexible and most highly integrated wireless audio solution ever produced by CSR, with advanced features—like support for up to six digital microphones and capacitive touch control—customers can use to build a wide range of innovative and exciting consumer audio devices. With its compact packaging options and reduced need for external passive components, the CSR8670 can save manufacturers up to 60 percent of the printed circuit board area required by current solutions and enables minimum production costs.

With its integrated support for capacitive touch sensors, the CSR8670 enables aesthetically pleasing product designs with sleek touch-control interfaces. Sensor pads can be configured for slider or wipe-type operation. Overall control of the capacitive touch sensors is software controlled, making it easily configurable for each application.

The CSR8670 includes all the features of the CSR8645, but instead of a ROM-based solution, the CSR8670 includes embedded flash memory that supports maximum product differentiation by enabling OEMs to develop their own custom applications using the CSR software development kit and CSR eXtension Partner solutions coupled with bespoke software design to create products with truly unique features.

Enhanced Development Experience
The CSR8670’s dual-core architecture, which includes an applications processor and ultra-low-power Kalimba DSP, and embedded flash memory enable it to provide a very flexible solution for achieving the utmost in product differentiation. The enhanced Kalimba DSP coprocessor allows a broad range of signal processing functions to be performed simultaneously on data received through any of the inputs, including over-the-air, digital or analogue audio streams.

CSR’s comprehensive suite of configuration tools for the CSR8600 product family and audio development kit (ADK) for CSR8670-based product design enable manufacturers to develop highly differentiated, feature-rich solutions for wired or wireless consumer audio applications without incurring significant hardware or software development effort.

Through its eXtension Partner Program, CSR will deliver a wide range of third-party audio-enhancement software plug-ins for the CSR8670’s on-chip DSP, which will further reduce design cycle time by enabling consumer electronics manufacturers to select a broad range of solutions from several vendors and enjoy a range of benefits.

Availability and Pricing
The CSR8670 next-generation wireless consumer audio solution and the accompanying development kit and application software are available now in production quantities. Package options for the CSR8670 include a 6.5 x 6.5 mm, 0.5-mm pitch, 112-ball VFBGA, and a WLCSP for minimalist form-factor designs.

The CSR8645 is available now in sample quantities, with production volumes by the fourth quarter of this year. Package options for the CSR8645 include a 5.5 x 5.5 mm, 0.5-mm pitch, 68-pin BGA.