As a leading audio product design company, Cardinal Peak is dedicated to helping brands bring their new audio products to market quickly. From pro audio applications with the highest levels of fidelity and lowest latency to consumer A/V product design, we do it all. Cardinal Peak’s deep experience with Audinate’s Dante, AES 67 and A2B speeds the development for applications with the most demanding use cases, such as conferencing and live performance. In the streaming audio space, Cardinal Peak manages HDCP and DRM, along with user accounts, content management, cloud cost optimizations and playlist recommendation engines.
Today’s consumer audio space continues to expand how end users can access audio content, from active noise control (ANC) headphones and truly wireless earbuds to smart speakers and car audio systems. While form factors are proliferating, we see commonalities in our customer’s needs, such as wireless operation, wireless synchronization, the addition of voice assistants and customized tuning capability. We have successfully supported dozens of consumer A/V product designs, including voice assistants, all wireless standards and ANC, along with a wide variety of differentiating end-user features.
Where We Focus Our Audio Product Design Expertise
Pro Audio
Cardinal Peak’s team of engineers develops products utilizing networked audio protocols, such as Audinate’s Dante, AES67, Analog Device’s A2B, AVB and others.
Streaming Audio/Video
We design streaming systems similar to Spotify and iHeartRadio, including developing cloud applications for managing user accounts, running recommendation engines, performing ad insertions and more. We also develop end-user apps for iOS and Android for consuming the audio streams.
Consumer A/V
We develop a broad range of products, from true wireless earbuds (TWE) and ANC headphones to Bluetooth smart speakers, sound bars and voice-activated products.
To learn more about Cardinal Peak’s audio product development experience, check out the Audio Engineering Society (AES) webinar Working with Design Houses to Bring Audio Products to Market which explains our role in audio product development as experts in the field ask questions.
Audio Product Design Case Studies
As one of the top audio signal processing firms, Cardinal Peak supports innovative audio product designs, including the projects below.
Case Study
Audio Engineering a True Wireless Earbud System
True wireless earbuds require two independent Bluetooth buds, a smart case and multiple sensors to connect and communicate effectively. Our engineer explains how an extensible two-domain state manager solves many of the Bluetooth product design challenges.
Case Study
Audio Developing iZotope’s Portable Recording Studio
As a talented musician in his own right, iZotope CEO Mark Ethier saw a need for a professional recording system in which technology didn’t get in the way of a creative moment.
Case Study
Audio Designing Wireless Earbuds & Headphones with Qualcomm Parts
Our wireless headphone and earbud design and development empowered a leading audio lifestyle brand with state-of-the-art Bluetooth headphones utilizing new immersive experience-enhancing technology.
True wireless earbuds require two independent Bluetooth buds, a smart case and multiple sensors to connect and communicate effectively. Our engineer explains how an extensible two-domain state manager solves many of the Bluetooth product design challenges.
As a talented musician in his own right, iZotope CEO Mark Ethier saw a need for a professional recording system in which technology didn’t get in the way of a creative moment.
Our wireless headphone and earbud design and development empowered a leading audio lifestyle brand with state-of-the-art Bluetooth headphones utilizing new immersive experience-enhancing technology.
Audio Product Design Service FAQs
What Audio Product Design Markets Do You Serve?
Although some may think that only music-related organizations can benefit from our expertise as an audio product design company, the fact of the matter is that businesses across industries can use our audio processing engineering services. These markets include streaming media, automotive, consumer, defense and aerospace, robotics, and health care.
What Goes Into a Standard or Streaming Audio Product Design?
When we begin the audio product design process, we work with the customer to understand their needs so we can help craft a seamless user experience. It is important to understand if the product fits into a larger product line or is a stand-alone offering. Is it a retail product that a customer needs to be able to run out of the box, or is it a professionally installed product that will be configured by an installer? Beyond the end user(s), what other product interfaces are necessary? Does manufacturing need testing and configuration tools? Does product support require the ability to push new firmware versions? While each audio product is unique, the process always starts with working to deeply understand the need for the product and how consumers might utilize the device.
What Audio Technologies Have You Worked With?
At Cardinal Peak, we have many industry partnerships with companies that bring significant audio IP to new product developments, including the following organizations:
- Analog Devices – We have deep experience with several of ADI’s audio products, including their SHARC and SHARC+ audio DSPs. Similarly, we have used ADI’s A2B for networked audio many times. Finally, we have developed custom waveform, multichannel, low-latency (submillisecond) wireless solutions using ADI’s software-defined radio components, such as Catalina and Navasa. We are proud to be an ADI Alliance design partner.
- Audinate – We have developed several professional networked audio products using Audinate’s Dante protocol. We have also developed products using the AES-67 protocol and AVB, which are similar to Dante. In fact, one of our staff won an Emmy for his contribution to the AES-67 standard.
- DSP Concepts – We frequently use DSP Concepts’ Audio Weaver to tune and optimize audio performance for products we design. We also often use DSP Concepts’ TalkTo IP when designing differentiated voice-controlled products.
- NXP – While we use NXP parts in a variety of audio product designs, we have utilized the iMX.8 and iMX.8 mini in our more UI-intense applications, such as those running Android or Linux.
- ON Semiconductor – For products limited on their battery size, we have been impressed with On Semiconductor’s BLE parts.
- Qualcomm – Over half of our audio designs have utilized Bluetooth SoCs from Qualcomm. We have dozens of engineers who spend most of their time designing Qualcomm-based audio products.
- Amazon Alexa – Voice control is common in many of our audio designs, and as an Alexa Voices Services Solution Provider, we have special access to deep resources in the Alexa group.
Audio Design Services Related Articles
Audio
Designing Auracast Products, the Future of Bluetooth Broadcast Audio
Auracast broadcast audio is transforming the way we share and enjoy sound. Join our audio product engineering expert as we delve into the Bluetooth technologies’ capabilities, implications and real-world applications in the future of audio.
Audio
How to Select the Best ANC Solution for Your Product
With a growing list of use cases calling for active noise cancellation technology, selecting the right solution for your product can be a challenge. Our expert engineer delves into the different ANC options and how to determine which option is best, as well as tips, tricks and best practices for implementing ANC into products.
Cardinal Peak News
Cardinal Peak and Audinate announce strategic partnership offering Dante networked audio and video solutions
Cardinal Peak and Audinate, the leading provider of pro audio and video networking technologies, announce a strategic partnership aimed at reducing time-to-market and development costs for new Dante-enabled pro audio and video products.
Auracast broadcast audio is transforming the way we share and enjoy sound. Join our audio product engineering expert as we delve into the Bluetooth technologies’ capabilities, implications and real-world applications in the future of audio.
With a growing list of use cases calling for active noise cancellation technology, selecting the right solution for your product can be a challenge. Our expert engineer delves into the different ANC options and how to determine which option is best, as well as tips, tricks and best practices for implementing ANC into products.
Cardinal Peak and Audinate, the leading provider of pro audio and video networking technologies, announce a strategic partnership aimed at reducing time-to-market and development costs for new Dante-enabled pro audio and video products.