Electronic – What’s the difference between bluetooth-soc chips and bluetooth modules

bluetoothembeddedsocsystem-on-chip

I'm currently shopping for a Bluetooth transceiver to play around with.
After doing some research, I think there's a bit of crucial terminology that I'm missing.

Specifically, there's two products that I'm looking at:

BC127
Csr8675

Are they intended for different purposes?

From what I can tell, they're pretty similar in functionality and both have mass production in mind.
Yet the BC127 is 2 times the physical size of the Csr chip, as well as being 2 times the price for a single unit.

And on their respective webpages, the Bc127 is referred to as a module while Csr chips are referred to as 'audio system-on-chip' or 'audio platform'?

Is there any intrinsic difference between the two?

Best Answer

The reason the CSR chip is referred to as an "audio platform", is that in addition to the Bluetooth capability, it also includes a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), stereo DAC and ADC, and a battery charger. It is clearly intended to be used for products such as a wireless headset or headphone.

The BC127 module also has a DSP and DAC, but no ADC (so it is intended for output only audio applications, like a wireless headphone). It includes an antenna; the CSR does not.

Both are dual-mode: classic Bluetooth and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), and support many other protocols besides audio.

The CSR would be a bad choice for you by itself, as it comes in either a 112-ball BGA, or WLSCP package, neither of which are hobbyist friendly. You would need to buy some sort of development board or breakout board; theirs is $800.

The BC127 is a better choice, but once again, the module by itself with castellated pins with a 0.8 mm pitch is not particularly easy to work with.

I suggest you look at SparkFun's offering of Bluetooth breakout boards; while you can buy the BC127 module by itself (cheaper than Digi-Key BTW), you are better off buying a breakout board which is easier to work with.

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