Digital Audio Veteran Peter Eastty Joins Apple as Director of SoC Audio Processing

Audio expert Peter Eastty of Oxford Digital Limited has left the company he co-founded to work for Apple. According to his LinkedIn profile, Eastty joined Apple in September of this year as the Director of SoC (System on Chip) Audio Processing.

eastty-linkedin
Eastty's career in digital audio spans more than 40 years, including oversight of a pioneering digital audio team at Solid State Logic, a 13-year stint at Sony as a chief consultant engineer, and more than eight years as CTO at Oxford Digital. Most of his work has focused on digital audio and digital signal processing for audio equipment.

"I’ve worked in the application of digital and computer technology to audio since I graduated from college and I still find the problems fascinating as well as the answers."

Details on Eastty's role as Director of SoC Audio Processing are unknown, but he likely is using his DSP expertise to improve the audio quality of Apple's hardware. Earlier rumors suggested Apple was working to add support for 24-bit audio files in iOS 8 and create a new 24-bit capable version of its In-Ear headphones, but those reports have not yet panned out.

Eastty is not the only audio pioneer hired by Apple in recent years. Back in 2011, Apple hired THX pioneer Tomlinson Holman to help "provide technical direction for the company in audio" as he reports on his LinkedIn profile.

(Thanks, Manu!)

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

blumpy Avatar
140 months ago
"...and create a new 24-bit capable version of its In-Ear headphones, but those reports have not yet panned out."

All headphones and speakers are analog. The digital conversion process needs to occur prior to amplification. So there's no such thing as 24bit capable headphones unless you're talking about digitally transmitting the data to the headphone via lightning or bluetooth. This is not a limitation of technology.... it is a limitation of human physiology unless you have a digital input implanted into your brain. So "digital" headphones convert the audio to analog and amplify the signal instead of your device. There's no gain for the end user to have the headphone convert the audio vs your iPhone unless you're headphone cable is 100ft long.

It doesn't matter, most people would not be able to tell the difference between 12, 16 or 24bit audio sources or 44.1k, 48k or 88.2 or 96k. This is not like the picture quality of SD, HD, 4k vs 8k

This is more like properly encoded H.264 vs H.265 vs AppleProRes with the same pixel count and framerate. You're not going to be able to tell the difference unless you've dropped a few hundred grand into a home theater setup and knew what to look for to see a difference. And even then there would no diminished entertainment quality between the various formats.

My point being that AAC 256kbps is not the weak link in your audio chain. It's your headphones or speakers. 192kbps lossy audio compression method far exceeds the reproduction quality of most headphones or speaker systems and 99.99% of people would never hear the difference unless switching between the same source at two different qualities in a properly designed recording studio.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peteullo Avatar
140 months ago
These kind of hirings make me happy... Apple's going back to their roots!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kariya Avatar
140 months ago
That beard makes him looks like some sort of Sage.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikeSmoke Avatar
140 months ago
This guy is part of the elite high end pro field. Not someone I would expect to be focusing on how to make iPad speakers sound better. I would hope the pro market is in for some future surprises.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CJM Avatar
140 months ago
Hmm.. With him and Trent on the team, I have some really positive feelings about the future of Apple audio quality.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rog210 Avatar
140 months ago
DSD playback on the horizon?! (I hope.)

I hope not, there are no real benefits over PCM and a whole lot of headaches.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)