FireWire audio enters the mainstream
MacWorld05, Booth 2538

FireWire audio is no longer the preserve of the professional audio sector. That will be a clear message to be taken from MacWorld05. The number and variety of external FireWire audio peripherals on show at this year's exhibition will be strong evidence that FireWire audio's pro-quality sound capability has finally entered the consumer mainstream.

A leading exponent of FireWire audio, Oxford Semiconductor will be promoting its OXFW970 FireWire audio controller IC and the generic benefits FireWire audio brings. The chip has enabled the introduction of a range of cost effective FireWire audio surround sound speaker systems, external sound cards and GarageBandT breakout boxes, many of which have their debut at MacWorld 05.

The high bandwidth and quality of service attributes of FireWire means it is ideally suited to the task of transporting pro-quality sound. Importantly, multi-channel FireWire audio peripherals not only provide a simple sound upgrade for notebooks, they also significantly expand the sound capability of desktops without any need to open the case. In many instances, FireWire's power carrying capability also means that FireWire audio peripherals do not require external power supplies.

Compatible with both FireWire400 (IEEE1394) and FireWire800 (IEEE1394b) buses, the OXFW970 handles audio data conforming to the IEC61883-6 transmission protocol and AM824 audio format supported by Mac OST X.

The Oxford chip samples 24-bit audio data packets at 96kHz and provides FireWire audio peripheral designers with four I2S stereo sound outputs, producing eight high quality digital audio outputs for 7.1 surround sound systems. For instrument and microphone line inputs, the chip provides two standard audio inputs.

The 100-pin TQFP packaged OXFW970 is a highly integrated, low cost device featuring an embedded ARM7 processor, high-speed buffer manager, RAM and 512kbits of on-board flash. Firmware upgrades are simple to implement using the chip's FireWire interface and utilities provides by Oxford Semiconductor.
FireWireT, GarageBandT and Mac OST are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.