Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI) announced its second-generation asynchronous sample-rate converter – the AD1896 – the first sample rate converter to exceed 130dB signal-to-noise ratio and the first device to support the 192kHz specification of the latest DVD standards. The company is aiming this chip for applications extending beyond professional systems and including a variety of high-performance, audio consumer audio applications.

‘Our commitment to addressing every aspect of the signal chain, in audio, video and communications systems, is clearly consistent with the introduction of this new product,’ said Thomas Irrgang, Product Marketing Engineer, Digital Audio Group, Analog Devices. ‘The AD1896 provides the best total-harmonic-distortion-plus-noise characteristics available today, and does so over the entire range of its sample rates, which, not incidentally, is the widest range available – from 1 to 192kHz.’
The new product’s asynchronous conversion ratios – 1-to-8 upsampling and 7.75-to-1 downsampling – are said to enable it to convert the sample rates for virtually any application.

The AD1896 will be used in home theatre systems, studio digital mixers, automotive audio systems, DVD players, set-top boxes, digital audio effects processors, studio-to-transmitter links, digital audio broadcast equipment as well as digital tape variable speed applications.