ams Launches ANC Speaker Driver IC Optimized for In-Ear Devices
Differentiating technologies such as integrated bypass and power consumption minimization

A 'noise-free war' is taking place in the headset market.

A fierce technological competition is intensifying among audio solution providers to eliminate noise, with the market for aftermarket headset accessories worth up to 300 million units and in-box headset accessories worth up to 2.5 billion units.

Analog semiconductor company ams (CEO Jong-deok Lee) announced that it will strengthen its position in the noise-canceling IC market by releasing an Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) speaker driver IC (AS3412) within the year. The noise-canceling market is currently largely divided into a separate analog IC market and a DSP (digital signal processor) market for driving the software that generates speaker output signals. ANC accounts for approximately 10% of sales in the aftermarket accessories segment for headsets/headphones.

Naturally, curiosity about ams' new ANC solution also focused on how it differentiates itself from audio DSPs that have recently been enhancing noise-cancelling capabilities.


▲ ams strengthens the noise-canceling market by launching the AS3412 IC optimized for in-ear products in Q4.
From left in the photo: Vice President Jong-ho Lee, AMS Branch Manager Jong-deok Lee, Director Oliver Jones, and Engineer Martin Denda.

Lee Jong-ho, deputy general manager at ams Korea, said, "Ultimately, it comes down to flexibility." He added, "Software-based DSP systems inherently inevitably suffer from propagation delays. Eliminating these delays requires the use of more powerful DSPs, which in turn drives up the price. Furthermore, the system's bandwidth is limited and its power consumption is very high." In other words, ams speaker drivers use only purely analog circuits, enabling them to consume less than half the power of audio DSP systems.

Director Oliver Jones, who visited Korea to introduce the new product, also explained, “The purpose of an analog IC that is only for noise removal and a software-based DSP equipped with equalizer functions to improve sound quality are different.”

Topologies used in ANC systems typically include feedforward systems, where a microphone exposed to the environment picks up ambient noise, and feedback systems, where the microphone and speaker are positioned separately within the ear cup or internally. The AS3412, scheduled for release in the fourth quarter, is a feedforward (FF) type. The AS3412 is a more optimized product than the existing AS3415, significantly improving SNR compared to linear types, said Lee. Like the AS3415, it incorporates a bypass function.


▲Target market for ANC solutions, including wired, wireless, mono, and stereo accessories

ams' unique technologies in audio components include integrated bypass, quiet noise, and minimal power consumption. In particular, the integrated bypass function bypasses the amplifier when the device is turned off or power is lost, providing a line-in connection to the speakers, enabling operation without ANC. This feature eliminates external switches, reducing cost and PCB area.

CEO Lee Jong-deok stated, "Ams's differentiation strategy is to build a broad portfolio of active noise-canceling solutions, tailored to mono, stereo, wired, wireless, in-ear, on-ear, and over-ear solutions." He also stated, "We support a unique development environment using simulation packages and rapid prototyping tools."

Huawei and Lenovo to Feature Headsets for Smartphones

Meanwhile, ams announced in March that its speaker driver IC (AS3415) was used in a Huawei smartphone headset, and in September that it was used in noise-cancelling earphones for the Z1 smartphone from Lenovo subsidiary ZUK.

The ams ANC chip embedded in the headset supplied with Huawei's Ascend Mate 7 significantly reduces external ambient noise from low frequencies up to 3kHz, working in concert with passive noise cancellation where noise is absorbed through the in-ear lining surrounding the speakers. It also supports the ZUK Z100 in-ear headset, supplied as an accessory with the Z1 smartphone, to produce high-fidelity audio output unaffected by ambient noise.