speaker News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 5, 2024October 24, 2024 by Sayantan Nandy - 8 Comments

ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit combines XMOS XU-316 and ESP32-S3 for advanced voice processing, Home Assistant integration

Seeed Studio’s ReSpeaker Lite Series includes the ReSpeaker Lite 2-Mic Array and Voice Assistant Kit, featuring the XMOS XU-316 AI sound chip for advanced voice processing and integration with Home Assistant via ESPHome. It’s perfect for smart home control with far-field voice capture and noise cancellation. The kit combines the ReSpeaker Lite dual-microphone array with the XIAO ESP32S3 module for voice recognition, noise reduction, and processing. It supports WiFi, BLE 5.0, and has a 2.4GHz rod antenna. It also offers I2S and USB connectivity for use with microcontrollers and SBCs, making it ideal for smart voice assistants and home automation. We’ve previously covered the NXP i.MX RT106F & RT106A/L, where NXP i.MX RT106A can run voice assistant software with features like acoustic echo cancellation, ambient noise reduction, beamforming, barge-in, and playback processing. We’ve also written about other ReSpeaker boards, such as the ReSpeaker 4-Mic Array board, ReSpeaker Core board, and […]

May 31, 2024May 31, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

M5Stack CoreS3 SE cost-down ESP32-S3 IoT controller features a 2-inch touch display, a microSD card slot, a speaker, two microphones

M5Stack CoreS3 SE ESP32-S3 IoT controller

The M5Stack CoreS3 SE, also called M5CoreS3 SE, is a cost-down version of the M5Stack CoreS3 IoT controller based on the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller with a 2-inch capacitive touch display, a microSD card slot, a USB-C port, a speaker, two microphones, and one Grove connector for expansion. The M5Core S3 SE loses the DIN Base so the associate features are gone and DIN rail mounting is not possible by default anymore. That also means the M5Stack CoreS3 SE controller is about twice as thin, and the color is also different (medium grey vs black grey). Major internal changes include the removal of the camera and the three sensors found in the original model. M5Stack CoreS3 SE specifications with highlights in bold and strikethrough showing differences against the CoreS3 model: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN16R8 CPU – Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with AI vector instructions up to 240MHz, RISC-V […]

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rockchip RK3528 Android 13 TV Box doubles as a Bluetooth speaker

H96 Max M7 Android 13 TV Box Bluetooth speaker

The H96 Max M7 is a Rockchip RK3528 TV box running Android 13.0 that mostly differentiates itself from competitors with the integration of two speakers allowing the box to be used as a Bluetooth speaker. The rest of the specifications are pretty standard with up to 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 4Kp60 HDMI video output, video playback up to 4K at 60 fps or 8K at 23 fps, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, and a single USB port for extension. H96 Max M7 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3528 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor GPU – Arm Mali-450 GPU VPU H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC up to 4Kp60 or 8Kp23 AVS2 up to 4Kp60 VC1, MPEG-1 MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVS up to 1080p60 System Memory – 2GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash; microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 Audio Dual-speaker home theatre system […]

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 […]

January 4, 2018January 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

$129 Allwinner R18 based 3-Mic Far Field Amazon AVS Development Kit in the Works

Allwinner-SoC-Only-3-Mic-Far-Field-Dev-Kit-for-Amazon-AVS

Several companies are already offering development kits for Amazon AVS (Alexa Voice Service), but as we’ve seen in the past, those are rather expensive with far-field kits such starting at $349 with kits such as Synaptics AudioSmart 4-Mic Development Kit, or Intel Speech Enabling Developer Kit, and hands-free kits being barely cheaper at $299 and up. But there will soon be a cheaper solution, as Allwinner and SinoVoIP (aka Banana Pi) are working on “SoC-Only 3-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit for Amazon AVS” that includes 3 microphones, and works without special DSP, relying instead on Allwinner R18 processor’s audio codec and capabilities. Allwinner SoC-Only 3-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit for Amazon AVS (aka R18-AVS-EVK) specifications: SoC – Allwinner R18 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.15GHz with Mali400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI Audio – 6x Microphones, 2x AEC, AUX and headphone output; GMEMS voice […]

November 21, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Nexell NXC100 Voice Recognition Chip, NXP4330Q Processor, and ALTO Development Board

I wrote about NanoPi Fire2 & Fire3A boards based on Nexell S5P processors a few days ago, and at the time, as I checked out Nexell website, I found out about the company’s NXC100 Voice Recognition SoC that can be used in 4-mic array board. The chip can then be connected through SPI to a host processor, and Nexell appears to have a NXP4330Q Smart Voice kit based on their quad Cortex A9 processor of the same name. But since documentation is really limited, I looked for more details, and came across NXP4330Q based ALTO board design by InSignal, which sold the Exynos powered Arndale boards a few years back. Nexell NXC100 Voice Recognition SoC The chip is the only product from the “A.I related” section of therir website, but more are likely to come out as the company is working on GP-GPU (General Purpose GPU), machine learning, and even registered […]

October 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Intel Speech Enabling Developer Kit Works with Alexa Voice Service, Raspberry Pi 3 Board

We’ve known Intel has been working on Quark S1000 “Sue Creek” processor for voice recognition for several months. S1000 SoC is based on two Tensilica LX6 with HiFi3 DSP, some speech recognition accelerators, and up to 8x microphones interfaces which allows it to perform speech recognition locally. The solution can also be hooked to an application processor via SPI, I2S and USB (optional) when cloud based voice recognition is needed. Intel has recently introduced their Speech Enabling Developer Kit working with Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) featuring a “dual DSP with inference engine” – which must be Quark S1000 – and an 8-mic array. The kit also includes a 40-pin cable to connect to the Raspberry Pi 3 board. Intel only provided basic specifications for the kit: Intel’s dual DSP with inference engine Intel 8-mic circular array High-performance algorithms for acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction, beamforming and custom wake word […]

September 28, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Amazon Introduces Echo 2, Echo Plus, Echo Connect, and Echo Spot Alexa Devices

Beside their “all-new” Amazon Fire TV 2017, Amazon has made a bunch of other announcements mostly related to their Alexa services with four new or updated Echo devices: the “all-new” Echo, the Echo Plus, Echo Connect, and the Echo Spot. 2017 Amazon Echo (aka Echo 2) The new second generation of the Alexa based Echo has a new smaller design, improved sound with Dolby processing, and a lower price at just under $100. Some of the key features include: Speakers – 2.5″ woofer and 0.6″ tweeter Connectivity Dual band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi for streaming music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, etc…, controlling smart devices Bluetooth LE Audio 3.5mm audio jack 7-mic array using beamforming technology and enhanced noise cancellation. Improved wake-word (“Alexa”) detection Various designs with 6 different fabrics Dimensions – 148 x 88 x 88 mm Weight – 821 grams The Echo can make free calls to the US, […]