This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Junluan Tsui

Comprehensive Analysis of Jieli Chip Models and Functions: Selection Guide and Key Points

I. Overview of Jieli Chip Application Areas

Jieli chips are widely involved in 8 major areas, including headphone chips, speaker – related chips, smartwatch chips, video – related chips, health – related chips, IoT – related chips, smart toy chips, and smart mobility chips. They play a crucial role in a wide variety of electronic products, endowing different types of products with specific functions.

II. Consideration Factors for Chip Selection

(I) Product Form

1. Bluetooth Headphone Category
   • Type Sub – division: It includes TWS, OWS, neck – band sports headphones, and over – ear headphones. Different types of headphones require different chips due to their different usage scenarios and design requirements.
2. Bluetooth Speaker Category
   • Diverse Products: There are small Bluetooth speakers, soundbar speakers, smart speakers, and the emerging Bluetooth karaoke speakers in recent years. Each type of speaker has different requirements for chip functions.
3. Audio Decoding Category
   • Product Characteristics and Selection: Products such as voice announcers and sound – emitting toys belong to this category. For MP3 decoding players with high – quality audio requirements, AC6082A or AD16N can be selected. For sound – emitting toys with relatively lower audio quality requirements, AD14N, AD15N, and AD17N are often used.
4. IoT Category
   • Scenario and Chip Adaptation: The application scenarios of IoT are scattered, and the products are rich. For smart home products that connect to APPs using Bluetooth, the AC632N series chips can be selected for Bluetooth BLE data transmission. For simple data transmission, the AC6328A with 8 pins is sufficient.

(II) Functional Requirements

1. Bluetooth Speaker Category
   • Function Refinement: Consider whether it supports functions such as AUX, U – disk, TF card, LED, digital tube, LCD screen, etc. At the same time, determine the number of chip pins according to the control and response requirements.
2. Bluetooth Headphone Category
   • Feature Consideration: Pay attention to the headphone pairing method, operation interaction method, whether it supports noise reduction such as ENC, ANC, and single – feed or hybrid – feed. For high – end requirements, the AC700N series can be selected. The JL701N series is a headphone and speaker chip with more powerful ENC and ANC algorithms, usually used in relatively high – end headphones or smart speakers, such as in applications like ear – return, hearing – aid, noise – reduction, low – latency, and one – to – multiple connection scenarios.

(III) Performance Requirements

1. Sound Quality and Sound Effects
   • Key Parameters: It is of great importance for audio products such as Bluetooth speakers and headphones. Pay attention to Bluetooth decoding formats (SBC/AAC/LDAC/LHDC), DAC capabilities (decoding ability, SNR parameters), and the chip’s noise floor. For mid – to – high – end products, supporting Hi – Res lossless decoding formats such as LDAC/LHDC can enhance the product’s competitiveness.
2. Processing Power
   • Indicator Elements: It includes CPU speed and RAM size. Projects with third – party algorithms are more concerned about these. The RAM situations of different Jieli series chips vary.
3. Storage Capacity
   • Internal and Extended Storage: Jieli chips often have an integrated internal Flash, which is used to store programs, prompt tones, etc. Common Flash capacities include 4Mb, 8Mb, 16Mb, 32Mb, etc. (divide by 8 to convert to bytes). If the built – in capacity is insufficient, an external Flash can be considered.
4. Power Consumption
   • Influencing Factors: It directly affects the product’s working duration, involving startup and sleep states, as well as code operation. Power consumption data is usually not provided in the specification sheet, and an ammeter is needed for testing.
5. Bluetooth Version
   • Essential for Bluetooth Products: Determine the chip’s Bluetooth version for products involving Bluetooth.
6. Relationship between Wafer and Performance: Chips in the same series of Jieli have the same wafer, thus the same performance. For example, in the AC695X series, AC6951C and AC6955F have the same chip frequency, RAM, and sound quality performance. When selecting, only consider whether the pin functions and performance meet the project requirements.

(IV) Cost

• Relationship between Pins and Price: In the same wafer series, under the premise of meeting product functions, generally, the fewer the pins, the lower the chip price. However, this is not absolute, as models with large – volume agency sales may have a cost advantage.

(V) Supply Stability

1. Product Lifecycle
   • Selection Suggestion: Chips have a certain market cycle. When selecting chips, it is advisable to choose those in the prime stage of their lifecycle and that have been mass – produced to avoid problems with non – core part numbers. Since consumer electronics have a short cycle and rapid product iteration, communicate with our company in a timely manner for the latest series.
2. Part Number Versatility
   • Stock Consideration: Universal part numbers have sufficient stock from the original factory because the original factory has minimum production requirements. If customers choose non – common part numbers, they must make advance stock – up plans.

(VI) Package

• Impact of Package: The chip package affects space, sample production, and production convenience. For products with high – space requirements, such as TWS headphones, QFN packages can be selected to save space. However, QFN chips are less convenient for soldering samples in the engineering production process compared to SSOP packages. In mass – production SMT processes, QFN packages have higher SMT efficiency, but also require higher – end SMT machines. Jieli’s commonly used packages include SOP8, SOP16, SSOP24, QFN20, QFN32, QFN40, LQFP48, and should be selected according to actual situations.

(VII) Others

1. Reliability and Stability
   • Scenario Adaptation: Since the chips are mainly targeted at the consumer and IoT markets, caution should be exercised when using them in industrial or automotive – grade scenarios. Check the chip’s operating temperature and humidity parameters.
2. Process Technology
   • Advantages of Process: The higher the chip process, the lower the performance and power consumption. The mainstream chip processes of Jieli have been upgraded to 40nm and 28nm.

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This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Junluan Tsui