Many Wolfson audio devices now have ground referenced headphone and line outputs, incorporating an innovative dual-mode charge pump architecture (Wolfson ?Class-W?) - to optimise efficiency and power consumption during playback.
The ground referenced output is achieved using an internal charge pump to power the headphone amplifier and means that there can be a direct connection between the Wolfson device output and the headphone load. This has several advantages compared to a VMID referenced output, including improved power consumption, better pop-click performance, and reduced overall cost of external components.
For stable audio performance with all types of headphone, a zobel network is required at any ground referenced output. If the zobel network is omitted, it is possible that charge pump switching frequency effects will affect audio performance.
This document describes why the zobel network is recommended and how the zobel network can work in the application.
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