Cambridge, UK based CSR has added Sonaptic’s SoundStage virtual surround system to its BlueCore5-Multimedia Bluetooth technology to provide users with an improved hi-fi stereo audio experience. Mobile Bluetooth products will now be able to benefit from a richer and more engrossing stereo audio performance.

Sonaptic uses advanced psychoacoustic processing in its software that creates virtual speakers to ‘place‘ the user right in the middle of the sound. This virtual surround experience can be delivered on standard Bluetooth audio devices running BlueCore5-Mulitimedia, and requires an exceptionally low memory and uses very little processing power, making it suitable for battery powered mobile devices, said CSR.

According to the developer, due to a high performance 24-bit 64 MIPS on-chip DSP, CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia platform is the only Bluetooth platform available which can support a variety of third-party audio enhancement algorithms. In addition, CSR said that BlueCore5-Multimedia also offers low power consumption and leading edge radio design. The radio transmits at +6.5dBm and receives at -90dBm which eliminates interference when listening to music or taking a call. When used in stereo headset applications, BlueCore5-Multimedia enables industry-leading battery life of more than 24 hours of music playback.

Glenn Collinson, executive vice president and co-founder of CSR commented, “Sonaptic’s SoundStage surround sound software is a great addition to the BlueCore5-Multimedia platform, enhancing mobile multimedia performance to give device manufacturers a differentiated product, and ultimately provide consumers with a much richer experience.”

“With the current fever for mobile entertainment devices, consumers not only expect feature-rich gadgets but a great sound experience as well,” comments David Monteith, CEO at Sonaptic. He continued, “By incorporating our cost effective software in CSR’s BlueCore, manufacturers can deliver superb audio quality, vastly improving the consumer experience and increasing demand for great content.”