
LOAD
RMS
LOAD
V
200 mV
I
6.25 mA
R
32
=
W
SUP
LOAD
DDQ
I
7.25 mA
=
+
=
SUP
P
V
I
4.2 V
7.25 mA
30.45 mW
=
=
=
REG
SUP
P
V
I
1.3 V
7.25 mA
9.425 mW
=
=
=
REG
SUP
P
11.09 mW
90%
=
SLOS598A – MARCH 2009 – REVISED OCTOBER 2009................................................................................................................................................. www.ti.com
CLASS-G HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER
Class-G amplifiers use adaptive supply rails. The TPA6140A2 includes a built-in step-down converter to create
the headphone amplifier positive supply voltage, HPVDD. A charge pump inverts HPVDD and creates the
amplifier negative supply voltage, HPVSS. This allows the headphone amplifier output to be centered at 0 V and
eliminates DC blocking capacitors.
When audio signal amplitude is low, the step-down converter generates a low HPVDD voltage. This minimizes
TPA6140A2 power consumption while playing low amplitude, high fidelity audio. If audio amplitude increases,
either due to louder music or a transient peak, then the step-down converter generates a higher HPVDD voltage.
The HPVDD rise rate is faster than the audio peak rise time. This prevents audio distortion or clipping. Audio
quality and noise floor are not affected by HPVDD.
This adaptive HPVDD minimizes TPA6140A2 supply current while avoiding clipping and distortion. Because
normal listening levels are below 200 mVRMS, HPVDD is most often at its lowest voltage. Thus, the TPA6140A2
has higher efficiency than traditional Class-AB headphone amplifiers.
The following equations compare a Class-AB amplifier to a Class-G amplifier. Both operate with identical battery
voltage, load impedance, and output voltage swing. For this study case, we assume a normal listening level of
200 mVRMS with no DirectPath in order to simplify the calculations.
PSUP: Supplied power
VSUP: Supply voltage
ISUP: Supply current
VREG: DC/DC converter output voltage
PREG: DC/DC converter output power
VLOAD: Voltage across the load
RLOAD: Load impedance
PLOAD: Power dissipated at the load
ILOAD: Current supplied to the load
Given an amplifier driving 200 mVRMS into a 32 load, the output current to the load is:
(1)
Assuming a quiescent current of 1 mA (IDDQ) the total current supplied to the amplifier is:
(2)
The total power supplied to a Class-AB amplifier is then calculated as:
(3)
For a Class-G amplifier where the voltage rails are generated by a switching DC/DC converter, the supplied
power will depend on the DC/DC converter output voltage and efficiency. Assuming the DC/DC converter output
voltage is 1.3 V:
(4)
The total supplied power will be the DC/DC converter output power divided by the efficiency of the DC/DC
converter. Assuming 90% step-down efficiency, total power supplied to the Class-G amplifier is:
(5)
Class-G headphone amplifiers achieve much higher efficiency than equivalent Class-AB amplifiers.
14
Copyright 2009, Texas Instruments Incorporated