Los Angeles — High Resolution Technologies (HRT) will go to International CES to launch a series of compact digital sound processors to improve the resolution, spatiality, dynamics and realism of music played from smartphones, tablets, laptops and portable devices, the company said.
The $69-suggested HRT dSp connects to Android devices and PCs, and the $69 i-dSp works with Lightning connector-equipped Apple products, including the iPhone 5 and 6, iPod Touch and current iPad models. Both ultra-compact models incorporate proprietary digital sound processing and a high-performance headphone amplifier. They ship in January.
The dSp and i-dSp are compatible with all audio formats residing on the connected device, including high-resolution 96kHz/24-bit files.
The dSp’s UAC (USB Audio Class) interface receives USB audio (PCM) from the host device, including from Android devices running the latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) OS, which offers native support for USB audio via accessories such as the dSp, said CTO Kevin Halverson. The dSP supports all USB Audio Class 1.0 sample rates and bit depths including up to 96 kHz and up to 24 bits.
“Earlier versions of Android OS did not have native USB audio-device support, but some third-party media players added this capability, and some devices included their own USB host stack (required to support a USB audio device).”
The i-dSP also receives PCM from a Lightning-connected Apple mobile device.
Both feature extremely low power consumption for extended playing times. Both support all audio formats, including MP3, AAC, FLAC, PCM, Apple and Windows lossless as well as all streaming audio and video formats. Both are firmware-upgradeable to accommodate future updates.
