A day at AES 2007: A selected pictorial tour

10/10/2007 2:06 PM EDT

It wasn't just end-user equipment at the show. Many major semiconductor, component and test equipment manufacturers that produce parts used in the design of pro and high-end gear were there as well. In fact, some of the best sound I heard at the show - not an ideal environment to be sure - was at a couple of these booths.

I began the day with supercapacitor maker Cap-XX, where I saw (and heard) a demonstration of how using supercapacitors to stiffen the power supply rails in mobile phones can improve the audio performance. The company also presented a paper at the show comparing the audio performance between a typical circuit in a mobile phone with one using a supercapacitor. For more details, see "Supercapacitors enhance audio quality and power in mobile phones," which appeared in Audio DesignLine earlier this year.

I also stopped by a few other non-semiconductor component makers at the show including transformer manufacturers Triad Magnetics and Lundahl Transformers, connector maker SwitchCraft, cable vendor Belden Cable, and control product vendors Bourns and Penny+Giles.

Many IC vendors were at AES in one capacity or another, including Analog Devices, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor, Cirrus Logic, AKM Semiconductor, THAT Corp., and Wolfson Microelectronics. National Semiconductor had recently introduced some new parts in its high-fidelity product family, which I was anxious to see, and was demonstrating them with a headphone amplifier at their booth.

Also shown at the booth were complete amplifier and DAC units - also based on the company's amplifier parts - that were designed and built by audio engineer Mark Brasfield, principal audio engineer at National. Mark was one of the founders of high-end audio company MSB Technology and is no stranger to audio design. I had a great time talking with him and am looking forward to more of the company's upcoming audio product announcements.

Another IC company with an actual sound demonstration in their booth was Wolfson Microelectronics. Wolfson recently announced their very interesting WM8741 DAC, which offers designers the choice of a variety of advanced digital filtering options. The WM8741 was chosen by high-end audio equipment maker Linn for use in their Klimax DS digital music player, which was being demonstrated in the Wolfson booth, to good effect.

I also stopped by Freescale Semiconductor's booth for a demonstration of the ToneCore DSP Developer Kit, a kit that lets software developers easily create custom guitar effects for ToneCore guitar pedals from music gear manufacturer Line 6. The kit includes a Developer ToneCore dock, which uses a Freescale Symphony audio DSP, which is then used to program a Freescale microcontroller-based ToneCore programmable module.

Elsewhere at the show, THAT Corp. was showing its family of dual balanced line-receiver ICs for audio applications. These devices maintain a high common-mode rejection ratio - typically 90 dB at 60 Hz - even under real-world pro sound environment conditions.

Finally, here are a few more interesting sights and products from AES 2007. (Note: Most of the photos included here were taken by Frank Notarbartolo, a musician/photographer friend (and associate in the publishing industry) who also happened to be attending the show.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Email me at rich.pell@verizon.net.