January 10, 2011 – Wolfson Microelectronics ( www.wolfsonmicro.com ), a leading provider of mixed-signal semiconductors for consumer electronics, announced today the launch of a new family of HD audio products for desktop PCs and laptops. The innovative technology newly introduced by Wolfson targets the consumer electronics market, where the importance of audio quality is relatively undervalued, and will provide superior HD (High Definition) audio performance to desktop PCs and laptops.

Peter Frith, CTO of Wolfson, stated, “The PC audio market is currently demanding change. In particular, because PC audio quality has long been overlooked, consumers have had to settle for low-quality audio on their computers until now.” He added, “We have high expectations for Wolfson’s new HD audio product line, as it will provide top-tier audio quality comparable to video and image quality to desktop PCs and laptops.”

Wolfson’s newly released groundbreaking multi-channel HD audio devices, the WM8850 and WM8860, deliver the ultimate audio experience to the PC market. Not only music industry professionals, including disc jockeys (DJs), musicians, and producers, but also consumers will experience a new level of audio quality that they could never have experienced on their desktop or laptop PCs. In particular, when composing, producing, or listening to music on a PC equipped with Wolfson’s HD Audio, you not only have the experience of the music being played right in front of you, but also the experience of being in a soundproof studio where you can distinguish the sounds of individual instruments.

Regarding this, CTO Peter Frith said, “Desktop PCs and laptops play a key role in home entertainment systems where multimedia content such as music and video is rapidly consumed and created. Based on Wolfson’s 25 years of experience in the high-performance audio market, the new HD audio products will deliver the best audio experience in the next generation of products.”

Wolfson's HD audio solutions, the WM8850 and WM8860, provide superior audio performance, excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and low total harmonic distortion (THD), while also lowering Bill of Materials (BOM) costs and featuring small PCB footprints and ultra-low