Audiophiles around the world talk fondly about vinyl records that brought them "high-fidelity" music, not "digital approximations" of the real deal. You'll find the Internet dotted with forums still alive with the LP vs. CD debate. The LP fans cite its high-frequency response and the CD fans claim the digital world's comparative immunity to noise.

Vacuum tube amplifiers still find a niche market and command premium price points. Popular high-end audio amplifier brands even include a "pure" or "direct" option on their products, which they claim allows audio to be taken through pure analog amplification.

While audiophiles will continue to reminisce old technology, for the rest of us, consumer electronics is definitely moving toward digital A/V media. But is "digital" really all digital?

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas held in January seemed to go digital in a big way. The focus this year was on networked digital media, with products making it easier for us to take our information and entertainment with us—around the house and out in our pockets. The DVD disk wars heated up between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as both camps announced marketing plans this year. There were several digital audio/media player releases, with at least one challenging the iPod's dominance. Announcements at the show related to VoIP telephony, Intel's new dual-processor laptop platform, digital imaging products and high-capacity HDDs—mostly digital products or technologies.

Even the amplifiers are becoming more digital. Several vendors have been offering class-D amplifiers for some time, but a few have recently made efforts to correct problems with these amps. In a class-D amplifier (the "D" stands for "digital") output transistors operate like switches—off or on—and this increases efficiency, which in turn means less power consumption and smaller heat sinks. Class-D amplifiers, however, succumb to distortion from errors in power-supply regulation and timing.

Companies like Zetex Semiconductors plc and Jam Technologies Inc. claimed to have solved this problem. Last year, Zetex talked about a "class-Z" amplifier that uses a "digital feedback loop" to deliver quality expected from linear amplifiers. Jam Technologies recently announced class-D amplifiers that directly decode a digital audio stream without intermediate D/A conversions—i.e. there is probably no analog feedback.

The upcoming IIC-China show in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing to be held on March 6-14 is also likely to highlight enabling technologies for digital electronics. Maxim, National Semiconductor, Systech, Ark Pioneer Microelectronics, Averlogic, Philips Semiconductor and Renesas are expected to present ICs for digital video applications, including HDTVs and LCD panels. Companies like SigmaTel, Freescale, Intel, Analog Devices, Anyka and Sharp will target portable multimedia players. And there will be several companies, including Infineon and Marvell, that will showcase products related to connectivity—3G cellular systems and WLAN.

While digital technology is finding its place in an analog world, analog is here to stay. The "digital" LCDs need driver ICs; the "digital" sound card in your PC needs ADCs and DACs or codecs; the HDDs introduced at the CES need motor-control circuits; and the 3G cellphones use RF chips. Analog technology is, at the very least, a partner in the digital success.

But is analog still king? Let's just say that with new process technologies emerging to help get the analog part on chip with the digital, I'm confident this partnership will grow stronger.

Email the Editor

Back to top