Comprehensive, Proven PSoC 3-Based Kit Offers Industry’s Fastest Path To Deliver Bit-Perfect Digital Audio to Music and Consumer Products
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced the availability of a new development kit that speeds design of digital audio accessories for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod products. The CY8CKIT-033A PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio Development Kit for Lightning includes license-free reference hardware, firmware, and iOS app software, providing the tools to develop MFi (Made for iPod | iPhone | iPad) digital audio accessories that are fully compatible with Apple’s all-digital Lightning connector, which is used for iPhone 5, iPad mini and other new Apple products. The comprehensive reference design enables the quickest path for MFi program licensees to develop consumer products such as speaker docks, headphones and game controllers, as well as music creation devices such as keyboards, mixers, guitar interfaces, microphones, MIDI controllers, and DJ turntables.
The consumer and professional audio markets demand bit-perfect quality, and the Lightning connector advances this trend by upgrading audio from analog to digital. Additionally, accessory developers must design at a breakneck pace to keep up with Apple’s product and software releases. Cypress’s reference design connects PSoC 3 to Apple devices instantly to enable developers to bring concepts to production within a matter of months. The solution is compatible with both Apple’s Lightning and 30-pin dock connectors, and with Cypress’s patent-pending USB audio clock synchronization and recovery scheme, PSoC 3 ensures bit-perfect audio with minimal external components at multiple sample rates (at standard intervals up to 24-bit audio, 48-kHz or 96-kHz sampling rate).
The CY8CKIT-033A kit works with any Core Audio or Core MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) iOS app, including Apple’s GarageBand, and music streaming apps like Pandora and Spotify. To jumpstart development with the Apple External Accessory framework, the kit comes with Cypress’s EA Console example iOS app, enabling bidirectional communication between apps and accessories attached to an Apple device. For example, EA Console can be used to deliver firmware upgrades from the Apple device to a connected accessory. The PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio solution integrates Cypress’s market-leading CapSense solution for capacitive touch-sensing buttons, sliders and proximity sensing to enhance the end products’ user interface and aesthetic appeal.
Features
- Made for iPod, iPhone and iPad
- Compatible with Lightning and/or 30-pin dock connector
- Compliant to Apple’s latest MFi Accessory Interface Specification
- Mac/PC connectivity via USB
- Self-powered, Apple-device-powered or USB-bus-powered
- Best-in-class USB Audio active power consumption
- USB audio streaming input and output, with patent-pending, bit-perfect USB audio clock synchronization and recovery scheme
- 16-/24-bit audio, 44.1/48 (and up to 96) kHz sampling rate
- USB MIDI input and output
- Compatible with Core Audio and Core MIDI compliant applications
- External Accessory framework for app ↔ accessory communication and interaction
- CapSense buttons and slider (e.g., audio playback and MIDI controls)
- Integrated over-current protection for iPad charging
- Multiple bootloader options (MFi, USB, etc) for seamless firmware upgrades
- Compatible with Android (USB MIDI, limited USB Audio)
- Expansion header for prototyping and development purposes
- Component/Composite video output
- Multichannel Audio ready with multiple I2S interfaces
- MEMS Microphone interface (PDM, I2S, Analog) ready
Availability
The CY8CKIT-033A PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio Development Kit for Lightning is now available to licensees of Apple's MFi program through Apple’s authorized MFi component distributor for $199.
