Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Khadas Tone 2 Pro mini desktop Hi-Fi system supports MQA decoding, balanced RCA outputs

Khadas Tone 2 Pro mini desktop Hi-Fi system supports MQA decoding, balanced RCA outputs

Khadas Tone high-resolution audio board was introduced in 2018 for audiophiles wanting to design their own DIY HiFi system using Khadas VIM/VIM2 SBC, or connect it the USB version of the board to other single board computers. The company is now about to launch Khadas Tone 2 Pro mini desktop Hi-Fi system based on the same ESS ES9038Q2M DAC, but a faster XMOS XU216 capable of handling MQA decoding, and equipped with balanced RCA outputs, as well as an I2S USB-C port. Khadas Tone 2 Pro key features and specifications: Multicore MCU – XMOS XU216 with 16 real-time logical cores on 2x xCORE tiles; up to 1000 MIPS DAC – ES9038Q2M 32-bit stereo mobile audio DAC Amplifiers – 4x OPA1612 operational amplifiers, 3x buffer amplifiers Seamless hardware MQA decoding Native DSD512 decoding, PCM decoding up to 32Bit/384kHz. Left and right balanced RCA jacks for transmitting a balanced analog signal via Line-out. 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone jacks Rotate-push encoder […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Qualcomm QCC5141 Earbud reference design supports TrueWireless Mirroring and Hybrid ANC

Qualcomm QCC5141 Earbud reference design supports TrueWireless Mirroring and Hybrid ANC

Qualcomm has recently unveiled an earbud reference design based on the company’s QCC5141 low-power premium-tier Bluetooth SoC that supports TrueWireless Mirroring and Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). What are TrueWireless Mirroring and Hybrid ANC? Qualcomm TrueWireless Mirroring technology relies on only one earbud to maintain the Bluetooth connection with the smartphone, while the secondary bud mirrors the connected bud.  If the connected earbud is removed, the secondary earbud assumes the connection with zero interruption. The technology enables both a better, more stable connection and lower power consumption Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is designed to provide high-quality immersive experiences and enable natural leak-through of noise to allow for awareness of surroundings. Qualcomm ANC is fully integrated into this QCC5141 chip to reduce the complexity, cost, and PCB space of adding ANC to earbuds and hearables. QCC5141 Earburd Reference Design Key features and specifications: WiSoC – Qualcomm QCC5141 single-chip Bluetooth SoC with power management, dual audio DSP @ 120 MHz, application […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on $16 Banana Pi BPI-EAI80 Cortex-M4F Board Embeds AI Accelerator, WiFi Module

$16 Banana Pi BPI-EAI80 Cortex-M4F Board Embeds AI Accelerator, WiFi Module

Last April, we wrote about Edgeless EAI-Series dual Arm Cortex-M4 MCU equipped with a 300 GOPS CNN-NPU for AI at the very edge as we had discovered the chip in an upcoming Banana Pi board. It turns out Banana Pi BPI-EAI80 development board powered by Edgeless EAI80 AI microcontroller has just launched for $16 on Aliexpress, or you could get a complete kit with a touchscreen display,  a camera, and a USB power supply for $80. Banana Pi BPI-EAI80 development board specifications: System-in-Package – Edgeless EIA80 dual-core Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 200MHz with 300GOPS AI accelerator (CNN-NPU), 384KB of SRAM including 256KB for CNN-NPU, and 8MB SDRAM Storage – SPI flash Display I/F – LCD connector up to 1024×768 Camera I/F – 1x DVP camera interface Audio – 2x onboard microphones Connectivity – 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFI 4 using ESP8266 module USB – 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port Expansion 40-pin GPIO header (multiplexed with LCD interface) CANBUS 2.0 A/B header Debugging / […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Up2stream Mini & Pro v3 Audio Boards Add Bluetooth 5.0, USB Sound Card Mode and More

Up2stream Mini & Pro v3 Audio Boards Add Bluetooth 5.0, USB Sound Card Mode and More

Rakoit launched Up2stream WiFi audio board in 2018, followed by Up2stream Pro board in 2019 with additional Bluetooth, Ethernet, and USB interfaces. Those boards are designed to bring network connectivity to speakers for audio streaming. The company has now launched updates with the launch of Up2stream Mini v3 and Up2stream Pro v3 connected audio boards. Both Up2Stream Mini v3 and Pro v3 have gotten similar updates with the ability to use the board as a micro USB sound card so you can directly plug it into a PC to make it work as a USB DAC. The boards also added SPDIF out, an ADC KEY input for external buttons, two I/O for extensions such as volume knobs. Up2stream Mini v3 now includes both WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Shared key features and specifications of the boards are as follows:  Audio Output – 3.5mm audio jack and header (shared), I2S & S/PDIF (44.1 kHz) headers Input (Pro v3 only)–  3.5mm audio […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Beelink GS-King X Android TV Box, Dual HDD NAS & HiFi Audio System Launched for $250

Beelink GS-King X Android TV Box, Dual HDD NAS & HiFi Audio System Launched for $250

Beelink GS-King X is an Android 9.0 TV box and a NAS with two 3.5″ SATA bays powered by Amlogic S922X-H processor combined with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC flash that was unveiled last month with some blurry renders. We now have for the details about the device, which has started to sell for $249.99 plus shipping on GeekBuying when using a “Fixed Priced” coupon, in my case 4ATAOTO6. Updated Beelink GS-King X specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X-H hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G52MP4 GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm process System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot, 2x 3.5″ SATA HDD drive bay for up to 32TB storage in total Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 Video – AVE-10 engine with 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding up to […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on M5Stack Atom Echo Coin-Sized Bluetooth Speaker is Powered by ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP

M5Stack Atom Echo Coin-Sized Bluetooth Speaker is Powered by ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP

M5Stack has just launched Atom Echo, a coin-sized programmable Bluetooth speaker based on Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-on-package. The company sent me an early sample to play with before launch… but let’s have a look at the specification before checking the device further. Specifications: SiP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240MHz Wi-Fi, BLE 4.0 and 4MB flash Audio 0.5W/NS4168 I2S speaker SPM1423 PDM microphone Expansion 5-pin + 4-pin headers with 6x GPIOs, UART, 5V, 3.3V, GND 4-pin digital Grove header with 2 I/Os, 5V and GND Misc – RGB LED (SK6812), Function (Top – G39 pin) and reset buttons (side), IR LED Power Supply – 5V/500mA via USB-C port Dimensions – 24 x 24 x 17mm (plastic material) Weight – 10 grams The Bluetooth speaker is really small, but you may think CNXSoft has big hands and fat fingers so it makes the speaker smaller than it really is, so I also a photo of the […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on $13 RPI_AC108 Audio Board Ships with a 4-Mic Array for Raspberry Pi

$13 RPI_AC108 Audio Board Ships with a 4-Mic Array for Raspberry Pi

X-Powers is a subsidiary of Allwinner, better known for its PMIC chips for Allwinner Cortex-A processors., but we also discovered X-Powers AC108 quad-channel ADC chip for microphone arrays in 2017. Soon after, Seeed Studio launched ReSpeaker 4-Mic Array for Raspberry Pi, but I had completely forgotten about the audio chip since then. That’s until this morning when I came across RPI_AC108 audio board also coming with four microphones and several LEDs. RPI_AC108 specifications: Audio X-Powers AC108 quad-channel ADC with I2S/TDM output transition 4x MEMS microphones Expansion 2x Grove interfaces (1x I2C, 1x GPIO port using pins 12 & 13) 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header working with Raspberry Pi Zero / Zero W / 2B / 3B / 3B + / 4 and other compatible development boards Misc – 12x LEDs (APA102) connected over SPI, GPIO5 enables power Dimensions – 65mm x 65mm x 9mm The board gets its power (3.3V and 5V) from the 40-pin header, and communicate with Broadcom BCM2xxx processor using I2C […]

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Posted on by Sponsored Post - Comments Off on Sponsored: Wondershare UniConverter is an All-in-One Video Converter, Recorder and Editor

Sponsored: Wondershare UniConverter is an All-in-One Video Converter, Recorder and Editor

You may have multiple programs or plugins to manage your videos, one to download videos from the web, one to edit your own videos, a separate video converter, etc… and they may have incompatibilities, leading to some painful headaches. Available for both Windows and Mac OS, Wondershare UniConverter should make handling videos much easier as an all-in-all video suite that allows you to convert, edit, and download videos, as well as burn video DVDs and transfer videos to mobile phones and other devices. Key features of Wondershare UniConverter include: Video conversion of 1000 formats at up to 30x faster speed without quality loss, and with the ability to greatly reduce video size. Video Editing with support for Cropping & trimming Saturation, brightness & contrast adjustment Special effects such as BW filter, Raindrop, and many other filters Watermarks, either text or images Adding external subtitles from local files (.srt, .ass, or .ssa) or online sites Editing/adding audio tracks Videos downloading from […]

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