Today we gonna to learn more on the core of MP3 player, digital audio decoder. MP3 is a lossy compression audio format. Thus, the audio decoder of the MP3 players take an important role. A decent audio decoder should minimize signal distortion compare to its source during the reproduction. And we will look at few big brands in popular in the market. The first will be SigmaTel, the one that just taken over Rio.

SigmaTel have gained the first place in the flash-based MP3 player market segment with its STMP34XX and STMP35XX series. SigmaTel is the first to provide single chip solution. With all-in-one features and “not that bad” sound quality, SigmaTel’s chips have gained lots of favors of many manufacturers. It minimizes the cost of production and also allows smaller size to be done!

In shorts, the advantages of SigmaTel chips are:

• All features on single chips
• Lower system cost
• Supports various flash storage mediums
• Can be operated by different battery configuration
• Low power consumption, up to 35 hours of operation on a single AA battery (STMP34XX series)

Well, STMP35XX is the replacement of its predecessor, STMP34XX with even more features! These include:

• On-chip Hi-Speed USB
• Even lower system cost
• Battery re-charge functionality
• Even lower power consumption, up to 50 hours of battery life using a single AA battery

Basically, the SigmaTel STMP34XX and STMP35XX are good decoder as they have balanced solution between cost and features. Well, when we mean quality wise, SigmaTel still have to work more on it!

If you are looking for feature-rich and price-wise, then you need a SigmaTel-based MP3 player such as Samsung Yepp 55 Series, MSC h128 and MobiBlu DAH-800.

In next part, we will look at iRiver’s favourite, Philips decoder.

{ SigmaTel Audio Decoder }