John La Grou
imersiv
Diamond Springs, CA
Multi-Path is a new audio digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) architecture that improves today’s best DAC performance by 100X (40dB) or more. Noise, linearity, and dynamic range are so advanced that today’s finest test equipment cannot fully measure it (40nVrms broadband noise floor). This 100X breakthrough represents the greatest single objective improvement in the 140-year history of audio technology, according to the inventor.
“The idea literally came to me in a dream, in 2013,” said John La Grou. “I had been thinking for a long time on ways to reduce systemic noise in audio conversion (analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog). One morning, the fundamental architecture appeared in a sort of half awake, dream-like image. It was quite vivid. I went to the office that morning, cleared my white board, and sketched out the entire rudimentary architecture. A few months later, I submitted the first provisional patent draft. It has taken 12 years to bring the original idea to market.”
Multi-Path topology breaks an incoming audio signal into two or more dynamic pathways. The lower pathways are managed for extreme low noise, while the higher pathways are managed for extreme high levels. Combining these pathways results in an audio dynamic range more than 28-bits, or 170dB. Today’s very finest DACs rarely achieve anything close to 130dB. These improvements are entirely a result of a profound reduction in electronic self-noise (reducing today’s common 4.0uV to an astonishing 40nV, broadband, unweighted).
When asked about the challenges he faced during design and development, La Grou said, “Everything about this project is unique. There are no textbooks. We are writing the textbook. And I can’t tell you how many times we almost gave up. On a regular basis, we had to invent new audio design and engineering practices. We’ve had to invent new multi-path test procedures and parameters never before imagined in audio engineering, giving them acronyms like DSNR, CLE, PIM, and SRM.”
“Our primary IC provider (AKM) literally burned down in 2020, which set us back an additional two years in re-design,” added La Grou.
This technology was recently awarded three U.S. patents, along with foreign patents, and is now in beta testing with 50 of the world’s top audio mastering and mixing engineers, with unanimous adulation.
“Our primary dealer (Sweetwater.com) is preparing to go live with the new product,” said La Grou. “By the time this goes to press, we hope to be in-market. Multi-path audio is the next design paradigm of all audio architecture, including microphones, preamps, ADCs, DACs, and power amplifiers.”
Multi-path architecture can also be applied to almost any high-definition signal path: medical imaging, seismic test, audio test equipment, and so much more.
“We are currently working on multi-path ADC and power amp circuits. Our ultimate goal is to reduce the global audio noise floor by 100X: from micro-volts to nano-volts,” added La Grou.
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