Last year, OPPO revealed its own in-house image processor during OPPO Inno Day 2021 and for this year’s event, the brand unveiled MariSilicon Y, its second custom-developed chip. It’s not a second-generation imaging chip but instead, it’s a Bluetooth System-on-a-Chip (SoC).
The purpose of MariSilicon Y is solely to provide users with a better wireless audio experience, promising high-quality Bluetooth audio streaming capable of transmitting 24-bit/192kHz lossless audio. It claims to provide the fastest Bluetooth data rate at 12 Mbps, a 50% increase compared with “the highest spec Bluetooth SoCs on the market”.
The chip is one of the first to use TSMC’s N6RF process technology, resulting in 66% better power efficiency for improved battery life while taking up less space by being 33% smaller. OPPO also designed the chip with a built-in Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of computing at a rate of 590 GOPS.
OPPO is introducing a new audio codec to go with MariSilicon Y called Ultra Resolution Lossless Codec (URLC). Unlike LDAC, AptX, and other codecs, the company claims that URLC can achieve high compression while maintaining sound quality.
In addition, the custom SoC is capable of personalised spatial audio and what it calls “music extraction”. The latter uses AI to separate songs into different stems such as vocals, drums, bass, and such which enable users to mix the song to their liking. OPPO says this does not require any specific format but instead works with any audio file.
OPPO has not yet revealed which devices will be equipped with MariSilicon Y but it wouldn’t be surprising if the chip made its debut with the brand’s rumoured upcoming flagship, the OPPO Find X6. The event also saw the brand unveiling the OPPO Air Glass 2, an upgraded augmented reality device, and a 6-in-1 health monitor dubbed OHealth H1.
(Source: OPPO)
