ENHANCED apt-X® BRINGS PRO AUDIO QUALITY TO CONSUMER DEVICES

Belfast, Northern Ireland – April 2007 – APT (Audio Processing Technology) Ltd today unleashed the real potential of Bluetooth stereo audio and brought professional audio quality to consumer devices with the port of its Enhanced apt-X® algorithm to CSR’s market leading BlueCore5-Multimedia platform.

Whilst demand for mobile audio devices has continued to grow at pace, the proliferation of wireless technology for high-end audio applications market has been constrained by the existing compression standard for Bluetooth, called SBC.

By offering Enhanced apt-X over Bluetooth, wireless audio device manufacturers have access to a high performance solution that not only delivers lower coding delay and higher error resilience but also offers a level of quality indistinguishable from linear/PCM audio.

Stephen Wray, Licensing Business Manager, APT noted, “Music lovers have been crying out for quality audio over Bluetooth. By partnering APT’s expertise in audio compression and CSR’s experience in the Bluetooth semiconductor market we have produced a powerful platform delivering professional audio quality to the mass consumer market.”

Wray continues, “Early listening tests amongst industry “golden ears” have proved extremely successful with many remarking on the substantial improvements in quality over existing standards and unable to distinguish between Enhanced apt-X and linear / uncompressed audio.”
Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President of CSR’s Wireless Audio Strategic Business Unit commented, “Our roadmap has been driven by overwhelming market demand for wireless audio products which can offer the same quality as their premium, wired counterparts. Given the high regard in which APT is held in the world of professional audio, they were a natural choice for our eXtension Partner Programme through which we offer, amongst other features, enhanced audio performance.”

APT’s apt-X technology is firmly established as the standard for audio transport in the fields of professional broadcast and film post-production. Now, as regular listeners become ever more sophisticated and demand higher quality on their mobile media players, additional channels of audio and the ability to interact with video, the consumer market is set to benefit from apt-X. The technology’s core strengths of low delay, impressive dynamic range, high error resilience and high audio quality make enhanced apt-X the perfect enabler for wireless headsets, speakers and other applications

About APT
Formed in 1989, APT (www.aptx.com) is at the forefront of its field, successfully developing and marketing industry-leading audio compression solutions. apt-X® algorithms have earned a reputation throughout the audio industry worldwide as the ultimate high-quality, low-delay audio data compression techniques available and are licensed to many of the world’s most prestigious OEMs in the broadcast and professional audio industry, security organisations and the consumer audio industry. Headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, APT has sales offices in Japan, Germany and the USA. APT distributes its products and technology through its direct sales force as well as through a network of specialised distribution partners in over 30 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

About CSR
CSR is the leading global provider of personal wireless technology and its product portfolio covers Bluetooth, GPS, FM receivers and WiFi (IEEE802.11). CSR offers developed hardware/software solutions, based around its silicon platforms, that incorporate, fully integrated radio, baseband and microcontroller elements.
CSR’s customers include industry leaders such as Apple, Dell, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTom and Toshiba.
CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA.
More information can be found at www.csr.com