Welcome to the New Asahi Kasei Microdevices Audio Room!
December 2024
Meister's Tutorial #02
Asahi Kasei Microdevices Audio Room
In June of this year, we established a new development base in Shin-Yokohama featuring a newly constructed Audio Room. This space allows for hands-on testing and tuning of prototypes and products under the VELVET SOUND brand. It’s designed not only for audio product developers, but also for audio enthusiasts to experience the depth of AKM’s dedication to sound quality.
Purpose of the Audio Room
VELVET SOUND aims to create a sound experience that feels “as if you were there” for the original performance, with a commitment to preserving the original sound. We believe it’s essential for our customers to understand the entire process, from the design technology of audio ICs to system design, equipment selection, and the tuning of listening environments. This comprehensive expertise is the foundation of our pursuit of superior sound quality.
As part of this mission, we’ve developed in-house audio demo systems featuring AKM products, creating an ideal environment for evaluating the sound that we aim to deliver. The new Audio Room is more than just a facility for evaluating VELVET SOUND products; it is also a space in which to deepen your understanding of the acoustic environment that is so essential to the listening experience. We invite visitors to this special space to immerse themselves in the world of VELVET SOUND.
Concept of the Audio Room
Adjusting the acoustic treatments with help from NOE
The new Shin-Yokohama Audio Room was created in collaboration with Nihon Onkyo Engineering (NOE), an experienced partner who provided extensive expertise in realizing our vision. When they asked us what kind of room we wanted, our response was “a listening environment that mirrors the perspective of musicians and performers.”
The Audio Room at AKM’s previous headquarters in Hibiya aimed to replicate the acoustics of a concert hall’s audience seating. This created a great listening experience, but the longer reverberation characteristics of that space presented challenges for the more critical listening required for the evaluation of audio ICs and demo systems, prompting us to seek a listening environment that minimized the impact of the acoustic space in order to closely mimic the relative positions of musicians and performers.
Challenges in Achieving Ideal Sound Quality
Creating the perfect Audio Room required multiple trials and adjustments. The most challenging aspect was controlling the low-frequency range, a common hurdle in acoustic design.
Given that we couldn’t modify the building structure of the office building and had to work with a low ceiling (about 240 cm), we opted for angled ceilings to reduce standing wave effects.
Initially, while the use of certain acoustic materials reduced reverberation, low frequencies remained uncontrolled. One of our reference tracks for evaluation was Holly Cole's "I Can See Clearly Now" (from the album Don’t Smoke in Bed), which features a deep double bass. However, in the initial setup, the double bass sounded muddy, with lingering “booming” instead of tight, clear notes. After consulting with NOE and adjusting the placement and quantity of absorptive, reflective, and diffusive materials, we managed to enhance the low-frequency performance, achieving a clearer “thump” for the double bass rhythm.
At one point, we increased the height of the absorption panels to 240 cm for better aesthetics, but this inadvertently shortened high-frequency reverberation too much, causing the sound image to shift backward. To resolve this, we combined diffusive and absorptive materials, successfully isolating low-frequency absorption while maintaining the desired reverberation characteristics and sound imaging.
1. Initial setup - double bass sounded muddy with lingering booming.
2. Tentative adjustments to front wall treatment…
3. Final configuration achieved a clear thump for the double bass rhythm.
Future Prospects
We have overcome these challenges and achieved an ideal Audio Room. We hope you will visit this space to experience the immersive audio world provided by VELVET SOUND.
We are committed to leveraging this Audio Room for product evaluation and for the further development of high-quality products that exceed our customers’ expectations. Stay tuned for future releases!
Tomonori Sato, Audio Meister
Marketing & Sales Center, Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation
Sato entered Asahi Kasei Corporation in 1998. Since then he has been involved in the development of ICs for audio equipment and internationally pioneered the planning of 32-bit DACs and ADCs. In 2009, he became the Audio Meister of Asahi Kasei Microdevices. Since then, he has brought into the world the VELVET SOUND series of DAC chips, including the AK4490, AK4497, and AK4499. They are used in numerous pieces of audio equipment. One of the recordings he uses to review sound quality is the 1988 Philips Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals performed by Argerich, Kremer and others. His hobby is making speakers and he uses an exclusive Fostex unit to listen through his own enclosures.
