Julian Dunn formed nanophon in 1998 after thirteen years experience of research and development in professional digital audio design.
1984BBC Designs
Department, London
The BBC is a very
large user of audio equipment. Until recent times they also had the engineering
resources to specify, develop and even manufacture equipment that was not
available in the marketplace. At BBC Designs Julian was involved in studio
sound equipment development and this focused on prototyping methods of working
with digital audio in the broadcast production chain.
1988Cambridge
University Radio Astronomy Group
As a step away from
digital audio Julian joined a team of engineers developing instruments for
the James Clark Maxwell
Telescope in Hawaii. This is a millimetre wave radio telescope and he
worked on the 345 GHz receiver used mainly for analysing the early stages
of star formation. Unfortunately the prevailing economic climate meant that
he had to go back to a real job before he had a chance to work ‘on-site’ (Hawaiinot
deep space!).
1989Prism
Sound, Cambridge
Julian joined Prism
as their first staff engineer and was there for nine years. He initially worked
a consultant and was responsible for the development of products for a variety
of clients. This included product design for audio equipment manufacturers
and the design and manufacture of custom products for broadcasters. When the
business focus moved towards products Julian was involved in the development
of a range of high performance converters.
1998nanophon,
Cambridge
Julian formed nanophon
in May 1998 as principal and chief engineer.
Publications
9 papers published as AES convention pre-prints or conference proceedings:
Jitter: Specification and assessment in digital audio equipment.
High dynamic range audio applications for digital signal processing.
Towards common specifications for digital audio interface jitter.
The diagnosis and solution of jitter-related problems in digital audio systems.
Jitter and digital audio performance measurements.
An investigation of the sonic differences between numerically identical compact discs.
The benefits of 96 kHz sampling rate formats for those who cannot hear above 20 kHz.
Sample clock jitter and real-time audio over the IEEE1394 high performance serial bus.
Julian has made contributions in the following standards that cover digital audio directly: AES3, AES5, AES17, IEC60958, IEC61606, and IEC61883-6.
He was the co-ordinator of the AES task groups that formulated the recent amendments to AES3 for jitter specifications and 96 kHz support and was chair of the AES standards working group on digital input/output interfacing.
He was a member of the British national committee for IEC TC100.