Audio Category - Page 14 of 34 - CNX Software

July 26, 2020July 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Beelink GS-King X Review with Android 9 – Video & Audio Playback, NAS/File Server Function, and Benchmarks

Last month I received Beelink GS-King X for review and started with an unboxing and teardown to check out the hardware. I’ve now had time to test the device with Android 9 including the file server function, a key selling point since of the device since it supports up to two 3.5″ SATA drives internally. A Tedious and Frustrating Start Eventually, I managed to boot the TV box and access the launcher, but it was no pleasure cruise. The first time, I connected the power, there was nothing at all, with the LED turned off, and no noise from the device. I thought the device was dead. The company asked me to check the power supply, and indeed a quick check with a multimeter confirmed it was dead despite the blue LED (on the power supply) implying the contrary. Nevermind, bad things happen, and the company sent me a new […]

June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

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 & […]

June 18, 2020July 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Beelink GS-King X Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown

Beelink GS-King X is a 3-in-1 media center that works as an Android 9.0 TV box, a NAS with support for two 3.5″ hard drives, and a HiFi audio system with two ESS9018 audio DACs powering RCA and balanced audio outputs. The company sent a review sample, and I’ll start by checking out the hardware and accessories, show how to install the hard drive(s), and attempt to tear down the device to check what it’s really made of. Beelink GS-King X Unboxing There’s no mention of TV box nor Android on the package, just “STORAGE” and DTS plus Dolby Audio… The bottom of the package lists the Beelink GS-King X specifications which we already discussed in our previous articles. There’s a red ribbon that helps to take the device out of its package. I wish more companies would do this. Accessories include the voice remote control, an HDMI cable, a […]

June 8, 2020June 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

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 – […]

June 5, 2020November 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

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 […]

May 25, 2020May 25, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$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 […]

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

3.5mm/USB Stereo Microphone Could Make Cheap 2-Mic Array

We previously wrote about the possibility of using Sony PS3 Eye camera as an inexpensive 4-mic array as at the time (August 2019) it sold for $7.5, and can still be found for $13 on Amazon. But I’ve come across a potential even lower-cost option with a tiny stereo microphone that connected to the 3.5mm audio jack on your phone or computer and sells for a couple of dollars ($2-$5) on sites like Aliexpress ($2.15) or GearBest. There’s not much in the way of specifications: Uni-directional stereo condenser microphone Left and right channel stereo recording Gold plug for maximum conductivity and minimum noise Sensitivity – 38 ± 3dB Frequency Response – 100-15,000Hz Plug – L-shap gold-plat mini plug, 3.5mm Dimensions – 5.7 x 5.5 cm If you click on the GearBest link, you’ll find there’s both a “mobile phone ” version and a “PC” version. I supposed it was because […]

April 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ESP32-Korvo AI Development Board Leverages ESP-Skainet Voice Assistant

Last September, Espressif Systems unveiled ESP-Skainet voice assistant optimized for ESP8266 and ESP32 wireless SoC with support for WakeNet wake word engine and MultiNet speech commands recognition with the former requiring just 20KB RAM for one word, and the latter supporting up to 100 offline commands as long as you had 4MP SPI flash or more. At the time, it only supported the Chinese language and worked on the upcoming “LyraT-Mini audio board“, now available for $26.99 shipped but only including one microphone. Espressif Systems has now announced a better AI development board with ESP32-Korvo AI development board includes featuring a mainboard with ESP32 processor and an audio ADC, and a subboard equipped with a 3-mic array, RGB LEDs, and various buttons. ESP32-Korvo specifications: Mainboard Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER-B with ESP32 dual-core Wi-Fi / BT processor, 128 Mbit SPI flash, and 64 Mbit PSRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Audio […]