audio News - Page 4 of 22 - CNX Software

March 30, 2023April 25, 2023 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

Arylic BK501/651 bookshelf speakers integrate high-end AMT tweeters (Sponsored)

Arylic is better known for its connected audio devices such as the Arylic A50+ wireless amplifier or S50 Pro+ wireless stereo pre-amplifier, but the company has now launched its first passive speakers with the Arylic BK501 and BK651 bookshelf speakers that integrate high-end Heil AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeters. The BK501 is a pair of 5-inch speakers with 80W peak power, while the BK651 is a pair of 6.5-inch stereo speakers delivering up to 100W peak power. The specifications table below shows how both models compare. Both speakers support Treble up to 40kHz to feel detailed treble clarity and brightness, 180° wide soundstage, feature a fiberglass mid-woofer and received FSC Environmental Certification. Both designs include an MDF (medium-density fiberboard) cabinet with 15mm thick walls for the KB501 and 18mm thick walls for the BK651. Arylic says the Heil AMT tweeter found in its speakers uses a folded Kapton ribbon diaphragm […]

March 29, 2023March 29, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

XIAO ESP32S3 board gets some senses with a camera and microphone module, plus a round touchscreen display

Last week, we wrote about the new XIAO ESP32S3, a tiny ESP32-S3 board from Seeed Studio. The company has now launched the XIAO ESP32S3 Sense adding a camera and microphone module connected through a board-to-board connector, as well as the Round Display for XIAO that can help people easily create wearable devices with a touchscreen based on any board from the XIAO family. XIAO ESP32S3 Sense XIAO ESP32S2 Sense specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 dual-mode (Classic + BLE) connectivity Storage – 8MB SPI flash, microSD card slot Antenna – External u.FL antenna USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming Camera – OV2640 camera sensor up to 1600×1200 resolution Audio – Built-in digital microphone Expansion I/Os 2x 7-pin headers with 1x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 11x GPIO (PWM), 9x […]

March 8, 2023August 14, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Banana BPI-P2 Pro headless SBC features RK3308 CPU, PoE Ethernet, WiFi 5, audio jack

Banana Pi BPI-P2 Pro is Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 SBC for headless applications with a PoE-capable Ethernet port, WiFi 5, a USB port, an audio jack, and two GPIO headers for expansion. You may think the Banana Pi guys have gone crazy by calling such entry-level level SBC “Pro”, but that’s because the company previously released the BPI-P2 Zero and BPI-P2 Maker single board computers based on Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, so the BPI-P2 Pro is indeed an improvement albeit with some caveats. Banana Pi BPI-P2 Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with built-in VAD (Voice Activity Detector) System Memory – 2GB LPDDR2 SDRAM [Update: According to Rockchip RK3308 specifications, the maximum memory capacity is 512MB, so Banana Pi may have meant 2 Gbit instead, meaning 256MB of RAM]. Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output – […]

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Allwinner R128 wireless SoC features 64-bit RISC-V core, Arm Cortex-M33 core, and HiFi 5 audio DSP

Allwinner is mostly known for its low-cost Arm processor running Android or Linux, but the Allwinner R128 is a wireless audio SoC with a C906 64-bit RISC-V application core, an Arm Cortex-M33 real-time time core, a HiFi 5 DSP, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The SoC also comes with 1MB SRAM, up to 16MB flash, up to 32MB PSRAM, display and camera interfaces, support for microphone arrays, and plenty of I/Os that should make it suitable for smart speakers and other voice-controlled home appliances with or without display. Allwinner R128 specifications: Application core – Xuantie C906 64-bit RISC-V core clocked at 600 MHz. DSP – Cadence HiFi 5 audio DSP clocked at 400 MHz Communication core – Arm M33 Star (Cortex-M33 from Arm China?) core clocked at 240 MHz with Trustzone support Memory 1MB SRAM 8MB, 16MB, or 32MB PSRAM (SiP = System-in-Package) OPI PSRAM controller Storage QPI flash […]

March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi board launches with STM32H7 MCU, up to 76 I/O pins

Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi board brings the STM32H7 dual-core Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller found in the Portenta H7 boards to the larger Arduino Mega/Due form factor with up to 76 GPIO pins. As its name implies, the board also comes with a WiFi 4 (and Bluetooth 5.1) module, as well as an audio jack, a USB Type-C port for programming, a USB 2.0 Type-A host port, and extra connectors for a display and a camera. Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi board specifications: Microcontroller – STMicro STM32H747XI Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 200 MHz MCU with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 8MB SDRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI NOR flash Connectivity – 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 65 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.1 BR/EDR/LE via Murata 1DX module Display – 20-pin header (J5) Camera – 20-pin Arducam camera header (J6) USB 1x USB Type-C port […]

March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

LILYGO T-TWR is an ESP32-S3 board with an SA868 Walkie-Talkie module

LILYGO T-TWR is an ESP32-S3 development board fitted with an SA868 Walkie-Talkie module and a UHF or VHF antenna, a speaker, a microphone, a small 0.96-inch OLED, and a 18650 battery holder, plus some I/Os for expansion. Equipped with an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-16NR8 module, the T-TWR offers WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a dual-core processor with 16MB flash and 8MB PSRAM, and enables users to design their own Walkie-Talkie, while its expansion capabilities allow the control of devices. LILYGO T-TWR specifications: Wireless module – Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 module with ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microprocessor @ up to 240 MHz with Vector extension for machine learning, 16MB FLASH, 8MB PSRAM, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 LE/Mesh Display – 0.96-inch OLED with 128×64 resolution based on SSD1306 I2C display driver SA868 Walkie-Talkie module based on RDA1846S chip Bandwidth: 12.5 kHz/25 kHz Sensitivity: -124 dBm Support 1.6W or 1.8W mode. The latter is not recommended due […]

February 17, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Ploopy – 3D printed open-source hardware headphones feature Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, TI PCM3060 24-bit DAC

I don’t think I’ve ever written about open-source hardware headphones. But that’s precisely what Ploopy offers with an amplifier based on a Raspberry Pi RP2040, a Texas Instruments PCM3060 24-bit DAC, and an amplifier circuit, as well as 3D printed parts and open-source firmware written in C. As we’ll see further below the project is reasonably well documented, and you can either build it from scratch, purchase a fully-assembled kit, or something in the middle. I suppose you could even do some knitting since woven covers are part of the build just in case making your own PCBs and 3D printing parts are not your things. The electronics are comprised of two boards: The Gould amplifier board with the Raspberry Pi RP2040, Texas Instruments PCM3060 24-bit 96/192 kHz DAC, and several TI OPA1688 audio operational amplifiers The Mazzoleni driver flex boards going into the left and right rings with a […]

February 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

The Wi-R protocol relies on body for data communication, consumes up to 100x less than Bluetooth

The Wi-R protocol is a non-radiative near-field communication technology that uses Electro-Quasistatic (EQS) fields for communication enabling the body to be used as a conductor and that consumes up to 100x less energy per bit compared to Bluetooth. In a sense, Wi-R combines wireless and wired communication. Wi-R itself only has a wireless range of 5 to 10cm, but since it also uses the body to which the Wi-R device is attached, the range on the conductor is up to 5 meters. While traditional wireless solutions like Bluetooth create a 5 to 10-meter field around a person, the Wi-R protocol creates a body area network (BAN) that could be used to connect a smartphone to a pacemaker, smartwatch, and/or headphones with higher security/privacy and longer battery life. One of the first Wi-R chips is Ixana YR11 with up to 1Mbps data rate, and they are working on a YR21 […]