Binaura A102AB Home theater System Review

System Overview

This Binuaral audio system is not overly large. The subwoofer and center unit fit nicely into a mondern living room. The main center unit has dimensions of 35cm X 11.4 X 14.55 and has a simple DIN cable connection for audio signals from the main subwoofer unit. The main subwoofer unit has dimesions of 15cm X 45cm X 38cm.
After reading the ideas behind Binuara design approach with this system, The output is very similar to a headphone technology in which each ear hears only one side of the audio program. Add in phase variations, binaural audio cues, dedicated center channel and subwoofer and you have a modern 5.1 virtual imaging system. Size is a plus for this configuration as the system doesn't need to be big to produce large sound fields. I feel that in this configuration the extreme rear image may suffer somewhat.


Electronics Overview

This system is very well built and the company made it exceedingly difficult to void my warranty. There was a tight modular approach the circuitry and loc-tite has been used on all inside fasteners. This system can produce high quality sound for music, movies and gaming, I was interested in finding out what was under the Binaura’s hood. From a basic internal examination, the system is comprised of three main audio processor IC’s. There is a digital audio receiver chip, a multi-standard decoder IC and a surround sound codec chip.

Cirrus Logic 96 Khz Digital Audio Receiver (CS8415A)



This chip accepts the digital input from the Coaxial or Toslink digital ports. It features low-jitter clock recovery and auto-detection of compressed digital standards. e.g. Dolby Digital and DTS are such standards. These units are common in A/V receivers and digital speaker systems.

CS8415A Specification Sheet

Cirrus Logic Multi Standard Decoder (CS493263)



This unit can decode multiple audio standards but Binaura used both Dolby Digital and DTS which are the two main DVD audio standards used for surround sound audio encoding. This decoder unit is a high performance 24 bit digital decoder IC which would be commonly found in home theater receivers and DVD players.

CS493263 Specification Sheet

Cirrus Logic 24 bit, 96 Khz Surround Codec (CS4228A)



This Encoder IC unit has a 100db dynamic range and -90 THD%+noise. This IC also features an independent volume control which for example allows the user to vary the volume on the Center channel and not the others. This audio chip would be commonly seen in DVD players or home theater surround receivers and other devices that need discrete analog output.

CS4228A Specification Sheet


Output Power Amplifers (TDA7269A)



This class AB power amplifier chip has a THD of 10% for the center unit(4ohm load) and ~0.2% for the subwoofer unit(6ohm) load at full Volume. The unit is in a Multi-Watt package as the power amplifiers are mechanically coupled to the beefy heatsink on the back of the unit. This amplifier is specially designed for high performance applications such as home theater A/V receivers and stereo television sets. This chip also features mute and Stand-by mode.

TDA7269A Spec Sheet