Developed entirely in-house by its engineering team, Outline’s Warped Finite Impulse Response (WFIR) filters are now protected by a domestic patent.
WFIR filters are one of the key features found in Outline’s Newton FPGA processor. Its design and computing power – in a single rack space, networkable chassis – reportedly provides the perfect ecosystem for WFIR filters.
According to its developers, WFIR filters offer fundamental technical improvements over traditional FIR filters in that they operate on a semi-logarithmic scale, similar to the nature of human hearing. This means that they are able to maintain high filtering resolution over the entire audio range, even in the case of increasingly high sampling frequencies.
WFIR technology also allows the use of raised cosine filters which provide an enhanced level of accuracy in equalisation. They do require up to three times the computing power required for traditional FIR filters, but in turn they provide up to 10 times the resolution on mid-low frequencies. They are also not subject to the latency artifacts suffered by FIR filters.’
While the technical performance and characteristics of WFIR filters can be definitively demonstrated by testing them on an Audio Precision rig, for users in the field they deliver clearly audible advantages in real-world situations, prompting one UK Newton owner to comment: “WFIR filters are something that need to be heard to be believed.” His experience mirrors that of many Newton users worldwide who have discovered the unique equalisation performance created by Outline’s engineering team.
