Sony STR-DA9000ES - Manual (Page 26)

ES Receivers v1.0 Page 26
Other New Features
Analog Devices SHARC 32-bit decoding DSP
Back in 1998, Sony became the first consumer products company to
adopt the Analog Devices SHARC processor to a home audio product. In this
way, our TA-E9000ES preamplifier became the first home audio component with
a 32-bit floating point processor that had previously been limited to professional
equipment. The latest version of the SHARC processor is now back in the STR-
DA7100ES and DA9100ES, where it performs a full range of Dolby Digital® and
dts® decoding operations with awesome precision.
The Analog Devices SHARC DSP achieves true 32-bit floating-point
processing, for exceptional precision.
Just as important as the choice of DSP chips is the way it's integrated into
the overall system. To elicit the highest performance, Sony positions the SHARC
processor on its own separate circuit board, in Sony's "DSP isolation" design.
This prevents DSP noise from spreading into the main circuit board. To maintain
superb sound quality, Sony carefully configured the DC power and Ground
printed circuit traces leading into the SHARC chip.
CB Programming
The SHARC chip operates at a 200 MHz clock speed, 67% faster than the
decoding DSP used in Sony's previous best receiver, the STR-DA9000ES. But
the chip is even faster that its clock speed suggests. Because it offers a dual
processing core, it is effectively able to perform two operations at once.
Theoretically, this makes the new DSP 230% faster than the previous one!