Microsoft began cooperating with Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics, a China-based multimedia IC design house, in 2007 in order to promote its self-developed sound enhancement solution PlayFX. As a result Fuzhou Rockchip integrated PlayFX technology into its audio-processing SoC (system-on-chip) solutions which have been widely adopted among more than 10 leading own-brand digital music player vendors in China, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Leading digital music player vendors adopting PlayFX SoC ICs include Onda, Newman, AOC, Teclast, Ainol and Ramos, the sources indicated.
Fuzhou Rockchip offered its first PlayFX SoC, the RK26, in 2007, and initially only two or three leading vendors in China supported the audio processor, the sources noted. Fuzhou Rockchip offered two follow-up models, RK27 and RK28, in the second half of 2008, resulting in adoption by many more vendors, the sources indicated.
The wide adoption of PlayFX audio processors in China is because Microsoft's PlayFX licensing is lower than royalty fees for comparable audio solutions, and so Fuzhou Rockchip's RK series audio processors are around 20% less expensive than other audio ICs, the sources explained.
There are many OEM makers of digital music players in China, and China-made players have more or less dominated many emerging markets such as Russia, India and Southeast Asian countries, the sources indicated.
Article translated by Adam Hwang
