Barix has introduced MPEG-4 HE-AAC v2 compression in its new Exstreamer IP Audio decoder. The aacPlus-capable Exstreamer-110 will be introduced at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, this April.
The enhanced compression capability is designed to help broadcasters distributing content over the Internet to significantly reduce bandwidth or improve audio quality.
“Radio broadcasters can achieve the same quality as MP3 and significantly reduce their transport costs by cutting the required bandwidth in half using aacPlus version 2 in the Exstreamer-110,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, founder and chief executive of Barix.
“The alternative,” said Rietschel, “is to significantly raise the audio quality by using the same bitrate with aacPlus v2 compression as previously used with MP3. This means broadcasters that upgrade from a 128 kbps MP3 stream to a 128 kbps aacPlus v2 stream will experience exceptional audio quality.”
The new Exstreamer-110 also features a backlit LCD to display stream metadata or file information, and a built-in relay to trigger an emergency alert system (EAS) stream, station identification or local announcement.
