audio News - Page 22 of 25 - CNX Software

December 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

LG TONE Wireless Bluetooth Speakers & Earbuds Get Charged with a Neckband

Battery powered Bluetooth speakers are very common, and Bluetooth earbuds even more, but both are normally designed for different use cases. Last year ZAGG decided to bring both into a single product that you wear around your neck: Flex Arc Wireless Bluetooth earbuds + speakers now selling for about $56. The obvious advantage is that it includes larger battery than you can fit in earbuds and most Bluetooth headsets. ZAGG will soon be getting some competition as LG has designed two Bluetooth audio products leveraging your neck with LG TONE Studio (HBS-W120) equipped with a Hi-Fi DAC, 4 speakers, and two earbuds, and LG TONE Free (HBS-F110) with 2 “true wireless” earbuds that can be storage and charged in their neckband. The latter can also vibrate for incoming calls and text messages. An extra charging cradle is also provided for use cases when the neckband might not be convenient. LG […]

November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

You Can Buy AirPods-like Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds for $16 and Up

Most Bluetooth headsets on the market actually come with some sort of wire or holding mechanism, which may not always be convenient, for example I can’t use mine comfortably while lying down on the bed. But that to electronics miniaturization, companies have recently started to offer truly wireless Bluetooth earbuds, including Apple’s yet-to-be available $159 Airpods. This morning I noticed two similar products in new arrivals list, first with $59.99 QCY Q29 mini Earburds on GeekBuying, and then even cheaper, but not quite as good looking (and likely not so good sounding), “FreeStereo Twins Wireless Bluetooth v4.1 In-Ear Headset w/ Mic” on DealExtreme going for just $22.25 including shipping. Let’s start with QCY Q29 earbuds specifications: Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.1 with HFP, HSP, A2DP, AVRC protocols support; up to 5-10 meter range Built-in Microphone Charging port – pogo on earbuds, micro USB to storage/charging box Battery – 45mAh for up […]

November 18, 2016June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

$49 Dashbot Car Dashboard Assistant is Powered by C.H.I.P Pro Allwinner GR8 Module (Crowdfunding)

Most companies specializing in development boards may sell a few accessories for their boards, but usually leave product design to their customers. Next Thing Co. does that too, but the company also produces some products like PocketCHIP portable Linux computer & retro game console, and more recently Dashbot, a voice controller assistant for your car’s dashboard powered by CHIP Pro module. Dashbot hardware specifications: CPU Module – CHIP Pro with Allwinner GR8 ARM Cortex A8 processor @ 1.0 GHz, 512MB NAND flash, 256 DDR3 RAM, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 External Storage – micro SD slot Display – Red LED display Audio – 32-bit audio DSP for beamforming & noise suppression; fairfield audio pre-processor with 24-bit ADC; high fidelity MEMS microphone array (106 dB dynamic range) USB – 1x USB host port Power Supply – 5V via USB port or 12V via power port (aka cigarette lighter) + backup LiFePo4 […]

November 2, 2016November 4, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 152 Comments

Giveaway Week – Vana Player Linux Based HiFi Audio Player

After giving away a virtual reality headset on Monday, and a TV box on Tuesday, I’ll offer a very unique device for the third day of this giveawat week with Vana Player, an HiFi audio player based on Allo Sparky ARM Linux development board. Beside the development board the kit includes two audio DAC boards, a 30W amplifier, a reclocker board, a capacitance multiplier board, and accessories like an acrylic “case” and a power supply. The system is running Ubuntu 12.04 with Max2Play web interface to configure the system running a SqueezeBox server, Kodi and more. I found a few bugs during my review, but the company has now released a new firmware update that should fix many of the issues I encountered. All items shown above will be included in the package. Note that you’ll also need a 19.5V power supply, for example from an old laptop to power […]

October 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

VoCore2 WiFi IoT Board Launched with Audio, PoE & “Ultimate” Docks (Crowdfunding)

Vocore WiFi IoT board was popular at its launch in 2014 because affordable WiFi boards with I/Os were not common at the time, and it came with an Ethernet dock making it a complete router within a tiny and cute cube. The developers have been working on VoCore2 (aka Vocore V2) with a faster processor, more memory, a lower power consumption, a better WiFi signal, and more I/Os for several months, and have now launched the board on Indiegogo aiming to raise at least $6,000 for mass production. Vocore2 board specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7628AN MIPS processor @ 580 MHz System Memory – 128 MB DDR2 Storage – 16MB NOR FLASH, 1x SDXC via I/O pins Connectivity WiFi 802.11n 2T2R up to 300 Mbps with either 2 u.FL connector or 1 u.FL connector + on-board chip antenna (Max signal output >19.5dbm peak) 2x 10/100M Ethernet interfaces via I/O pins I/Os […]

October 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Two More Google Products: Google WiFi Mesh Router, and Google Home, an Amazon Echo Competitor

Google made a bunch a new product announcements with their Pixel phones, Daydream View VR headset, and Chromecast Ultra 4K dongle, but in this post I’ll write about two other new products: Google Home an Amazon Echo competitor powered by Google Assistant and supporting multi-room, as well as Google WiFi (Mesh) router aiming at providing WiFi all over the house by combining multiple WiFi routers. Google WiFi Router Most households now use a single router to provide WiFi to the home, but inevitably this introduce some dead or “slow WiFi” zones within the house. One way to work around this is to use WiFi repeaters, but it’s not always easy to setup and may lead to lower bandwidth. Google WiFi router uses a technology called mesh WiFi, where each router work together to determine the best path for your data using Network Assist technology to automatically choose and update the […]

October 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Review of Allo Vana Player Linux HiFi Audio System with Max2Play, SqueezeBox and Kodi

Last month I showcased what I called “Allo Sparky Audio Kit” with a DAC board (Piano), an amplifier board (Volt), and usually hard to find reclocker and capacitance multiplier boards (Kali & CM), all connected to Allo Sparky ARM Linux development board powered by Actions Semi S500 quad core Cortex A9 processor, and running Ubuntu 12.04. In the first post, I just described the boards, and showed how to assemble the kit, but now that I have received the user’s manual, it turns out the kit is actually called “Vana Player” and the provided Ubuntu firmware image runs Max2Play Browser based system that’s also available for Raspberry Pi and ODROID boards. Before starting the kit, you’ll need to connect speakers to Piano DAC board and/or Kali board, as well as a 19.5V power source such as a laptop power supply to connect to the CM board. I connected some USB […]

September 28, 2016September 28, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Tbee Android TV Box Supports Voice Command and Gesture Control

The first thing you notice with Tbee TV box is the beehives inspired hexagonal enclosure, as we’ve already seen with T95Z Plus TV box, but the features that really stand out are voice command, and especially gesture control thanks to the built-in microphone and camera. Tbee TV box specifications: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor @ up to 1.99 GHz with octa-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + SD card slot Video & Audio I/O – HDMI input, HDMI output Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver, built-in HD ready camera and IR receiver Dimensions – 28.5 x 8.5 cm (full package) Weight – 860 grams (full package) The box ships with an air mouse with QWERTY keyboard and its RF dongle, a HDMI cable, […]