Audio Category - Page 31 of 36 - CNX Software

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Phonoclipper PT-300 Plays Vinyl Discs, Records them to MP3 on USB Drives or SD Cards

If you are old wise enough to have a vinyl record collection, a Japanese company called Bearmax (or Kumazaki-aim in Japanese), has designed Phonoclipper PT-300 vinyl disc player and recorder that may make you want to listen your old songs again, or digitize them to MP3. PT-300 is powered by four AA batteries or 5V via USB, consumes about 3 watts, and output audio to a single 3W speaker, but you can also connect better speakers via two RCA audio connector. The top of the device features a small display, and control buttons. The vinyl drive system plays discs at 33 rpm or 45 rpm, and uses a sapphire needle. You can convert your vinyl records to MP3 files @ 128 Kbps on the SD cards (up to 8GB) or USB driver using the port on the side. The device measures 290 x 115 x 95 mm, and weights 950 […]

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

HDMI Audio in Linux is Now Working on Cherry Trail mini PCs, OpenELEC 7.0 Image Released

Since Intel has decided not to officially support Bay Trail and Cherry Trail processors in Linux, and focus on other priorities, people who have tried to use HDMI audio in Linux with mini PCs or TV sticks based on the processors have always had issues. There’s a workaround for Bay Trail mini PCs with Linux 3.16 kernel, but so far I’ve never seen a Cherry Trail system working with HDMI audio in Linux. Luckily, Pierre-Louis Bossart has been working on support, and Piotr kasprzak has tried HDMI audio support with OpenELEC 7.0 and a patched Linux Kernel 4.5.1, and confirmed it to be working on Tronsmart Ara X5 Plus and Wintel 10 Pro mini PC powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor. This can also be verified in the kernel log with dmesg:

[    6.417670] had: ******** HAD DRIVER loading.. Ver: 0.01.003
[    6.421553] [drm] mid_hdmi_audio_register: Scheduling HDMI audio work queue
[    6.459006] dw_dmac INTL9C60:00: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels
[    6.485499] dw_dmac INTL9C60:01: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels

[ 6.417670] had: ******** HAD DRIVER loading.. Ver: 0.01.003

[ 6.421553] [drm] mid_hdmi_audio_register: Scheduling HDMI audio work queue

[ 6.459006] dw_dmac INTL9C60:00: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels

[ 6.485499] dw_dmac INTL9C60:01: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels

If you want to try it yourself, you can download the OpenELEC image with the modifications. If […]

January 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Misfit Specter is a Bluetooth Headset with Fitness Tracking Functions

Smart wearables are quite a new type of devices, and I inf interesting companies are trying various solutions from the now ubiquitous smart watches and fitness tracker, to smart clothings such as connected T-Shirts. Misfit, a company specialized in wearables and fitness trackers, have decided it could be a good idea to have Bluetooth earphones that can track your activity and sleep, beside allowing you to listen to music, or answering calls.The company did not release the technical specifications, but Misfit Specter headset features the following functions: Connectivity – Bluetooth Smartpause magnetic ear buds Dedicated voice call microphone Stereo microphones for ambient noise Track activity and sleep – Monitor steps, distance, calories, and sleep duration and quality Battery – Good for 10 hours of music Since you are probably not going to wear earbuds 24/7, these are mostly useful while you exercise and listen to music, and while sleep tracking […]

January 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

AudioCast M5 is a ChromeCast Audio Alternative with Local Audio Files and Multi-Room Support

ChromeCast Audio launched earlier this year together with ChromeCast 2.0 in order to bring ChromeCast experience specifically to audio files via your speakers or audio system. Wireless audio streamer are not exactly new, and I’ve reviewed a few including SoundMate WM201, and the company behind the SoundMate models, UyeSee, has launched a new AudioCast M2 wireless multi-room sound streamer that looks familiar… The main features of AudioCast M5 are listed as follows: Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n with WPS button Audio Output – 3.5mm stereo jack Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port Multiroom streaming – Stream same song to all speakers, stream different songs to different speakers, stream same or different song to different group speakers using a single smartphone . Streaming from phone’s internal storage, UPnP/DLNA server, online music service including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more coming with Tital, Dezzer, GoogleMusic, Tunein, etc… Stereo Pairing – Turn two […]

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

GTEK GP100 Rugged Waterproof Bluetooth Speakers Can Be Used in the Bathroom and Outdoors

I normally put my smartphone on a shelf to listen to music while taking a bath or showering, and a few years back I thought about using Bluetooth speakers, but few solutions were waterproof, and/or the price must have been high, so I forgot about it. Following a post on ARMDevices.net about GTEK speakers, I found out there are now many waterproof Bluetooth speakers to choose from with prices starting as low as $7. But I found GTEK GP100 speakers quite interesting, as beside being waterproof (IPx7), there are also rugged and suitable for outdoor activities, come with a 3,000 mAh battery good for 8 to 10 hours, and can fit into your bicycle bottle’s holder. Some of key features of GTEK GP100 (GT-D201): Connectivity – Bluetooth 3.0 (Website also says Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR); 10 meter range Speakers – 2x 5W (or 3W?); 80db+ SNR; 80Hz – 18Khz frequency […]

September 30, 2015October 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ChromeCast 2.0 and ChromeCast Audio Announced for $35

Google released the original ChromeCast in 2013. The $35 device allows users to stream online video from your smartphone to your big TV, and since then Google and the community has brought various improvement to make more with the device, and thousands of apps can be installed in the little device. Google has now released a new ChromeCast, as well as ChromeCast Audio to stream audio to speakers. The hardware has been upgraded but the complete specifications are not available, but we do know ChromeCast 2.0 support 802.11 b/g/n and 802.11ac for higher quality 1080p video streaming, and Marvell tweeted about the new ChromeCast devices, so it’s likely another Marvell SoC has been used, maybe Armada 1500 Plus (88DE3108) [Update: ChromeCast 2.0 is based on Armada 1500 Mini Plus (88DE3006) dual core Cortex A7 processor] The new ChromeCast still works with iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Mac and Windows […]

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Mini Review of Semlamp SL-011 Audio Controlled Relay for Home Lighting

Last month, I wrote about Semlamp SL-012 a smartphone controlled light switch for 2 lamps that sells for about $11 on DX, and contrary to most others don’t use Bluetooth, nor Wifi, but instead a simple microphone. I decided to try it out by purchasing SL-011 model, controlling only one light, for $8.22 on DealExtreme. Semlamp SL-011 Unboxing and Teardown That’s the package with some instructions in Chinese. The device has black and red wires to connect to 220V on the right of the picture below, blue and brown wires to connect to the lamp, and a microphone attached via a white cable. It’s quite easy to take apart, as they are just two screws to remove, and you can easily pop-up the bottom part of the case to access the board. The top of the board features JQC-3FF 24V relay supporting up to 10A @ 277VAC, as well as […]

August 24, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO High-End Media Player is Powered by Sigma Designs SMP8758 SoC (Crowdfunding)

CloudMedia, previously known as Syabas, has been in the Linux media player business for many years, having developed various product based on Sigma Designs secure media processor. Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO is their latest media player, which the company claims have high-end audio and video quality thanks to an ESS SABRE Audio DAC, XLR connectors, and Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor and its VXP engine. Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO specifications: SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8758 ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU and VXP image processing engine System Memory – 2048 MB DDR3 Storage – NAND Flash for firmware, 1x SD card reader, internal SATA bay Video Output – HDMI up to 3840×2160 @ 30 Hz Audio Output Digital – HDMI, optical S/PDIF, and coaxial S/PDIF Analog – Stereo RCA jacks, XLR connectors, and headphones Audio DAC – ESS SABRE Audio DAC ES9018K2M […]