Sonical and XMOS collaborate for Headphone 3.0 at CES 2024

The outcome of this collaboration will result in a quantum shift in wireless audio quality and put the feature set of wearable audio devices in the hands of the consumer.

The joint development focusses on a wireless dongle which will enable Hi Res (24/96), uncompressed Linear audio stream to stream wirelessly from a PC to a headset (or other playback device). The wireless technology can be low power Bluetooth enabled (BLE) or ultra-wideband (UWB). With UWB, in addition to precise reproduction of High Resolution audio at 24Bit, 96 sampling Frequency, the technology will also support latencies under 5 milliseconds. These performance figures render the solution capable of addressing the very demanding Musical Instrument (MI) and Live Performance markets.

Gary Spittle, CEO Sonical, states that: "The platform unlocks a wide range of new product experiences using a low latency wireless connection for premium audio devices. The DSP is a critical component as it makes products a lot more than ‘wireless DACs’. By making the device ‘Appable’ through downloadable plugins, we have enabled limitless possibilities."

Prior to the advent of Headphone 2.0, wireless devices were hard configured at point of manufacture and severely limited (primarily due to Bluetooth Classic) in terms of latency and audio quality. The high-profile joint development between Sonical and XMOS breaks down these barriers to ensure a superior user experience for the device owners and simultaneously opens up previously unattainable markets.

Aneet Chopra, EVP Marketing and Product Management at XMOS, states: "We are delighted to be working with Sonical on the development of their wireless (UWB/BLE) dongle. This will usher the next generation of audio experiences and use cases for various devices including headsets. The device benefits from the low latency multiple threads available with our xcore.ai platform, simplifying the integration of critical DSP functions with predictable hard real time execution. This is great for audio platforms like Sonical. We look forward to the roll-out of this innovative solution and seeing the broad range of subsequent applications."