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New FIFO buffer for RPI/SBCs

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S

smoothquark

Member
Joined 2010
cdsgames said:
In conclusion , the whole team is working to bring Katana to the next level. We know that we have a good implementation of the IC , analog stage will fallow.
Thx you for your patience and trust.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your honesty and the desire to to improve. It does not matter if a product has been brought out "too early", as long as there is adequate support and a way to correct things. It is inevitable that some problems will come to light.

Funnily enough, I had been actually planning to order today as well as order a raspberry mezzanine power supply to try.

If the boards are going to be modified can I please make the following plea?

1. Power - please consider having a single power input as you already have for those who only want to use a single PSU, but screw terminals or another standardised connector for those of who want to try more PSUs

2. Perhaps have something like the raspberry pi mezzanine board as an add-on ? I am still unclear whether it will work as a 3X PSU.

3. Personally, I don't like the RCAs on the side. Maybe have the RCA as an plugin board, but allow connectors to bring out the RCA on the back, above the RJ45 / USB ? Perhaps something similar with the XLR as well?
 
S

SonofThor

Member
Joined 2011
smoothquark said:
Thank you for your honesty and the desire to to improve. It does not matter if a product has been brought out "too early", as long as there is adequate support and a way to correct things. It is inevitable that some problems will come to light.

Funnily enough, I had been actually planning to order today
Click to expand...

I can only echo what smoothquark has said here, being in a similar position myself. Slightly disappointed that I'm going to have to wait a little bit longer for one (my own fault), but looking forward to getting an even better product when I do get one :)

I'm also not a fan of the varied power connection locations and different types - I'd rather they were all screw terminals personally
 
S

soundcheck

Member
Joined 2005
soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com
Hi folks.

Just a hint.

For those who are using piCoreplayer 4.0-beta .

To use the Katana 32bit volume control, which is highly recommended, you have to enter

"Master" in the field "ALSA volume control" under "Squeezelite Settings"
The entire chain will than work with just that ON-DAC volume control.


I'll update my Blog accordingly as soon as pCP 4.0 is officially released.
Pretty much all optimizations I'm outlining over there also apply to pCP4.0 and Katana.
 
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TimCurtis

TimCurtis

Member
Joined 2012
moodeaudio.org
Hi,

Here are some temps from my tests.

I'm seeing Pi-3B+ SoC core temp rise to ~71C over time when using the supplied Acrylic enclosure. Thats makes for a pretty toasty rig!

Removing the two long side panels yields ~61 deg C over time, a 10C drop and much cooler parts :) Use either of the following cmds to fetch core SoC temp:

a) vcgencmd measure_temp
b) cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Below is from a utility in moOde /home/pi directory to get basic system stats. It uses (b) above.

Enclosure - All panels
----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 71°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

Enclosure - Long side panels removed.
-----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 61°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

-Tim
 
K

ktham

Member
Joined 2010
@ cdsgames

For your consideration.

My first Katana was ordered from Allo and by the time FedEx had it at my door I had to pay the PST plus a handling fee. Not sure why the PST was due.

My second Katana was ordered from Buyapi.ca last week. They have been my go to store for all my Pi and Allo products and they do not collect the PST.

When Allo starts the RMA process for the Katana I feel that they should have a Canadian distributor of Allo products, like Buyapi.ca, handle the exchange. It is convenient, no extra customs paperwork and declarations, and more importantly no unsubstantiated expenses charged by FedEx.

I have no relationship with Buyapi.ca and only as a customer.
 
Last edited:
C

cdsgames

Member
Joined 2015
TimCurtis said:
Hi,

Here are some temps from my tests.

I'm seeing Pi-3B+ SoC core temp rise to ~71C over time when using the supplied Acrylic enclosure. Thats makes for a pretty toasty rig!

Removing the two long side panels yields ~61 deg C over time, a 10C drop and much cooler parts :) Use either of the following cmds to fetch core SoC temp:

a) vcgencmd measure_temp
b) cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Below is from a utility in moOde /home/pi directory to get basic system stats. It uses (b) above.

Enclosure - All panels
----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 71°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

Enclosure - Long side panels removed.
-----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 61°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

-Tim
Click to expand...


We modified the new casing already. Temp went down at least 5C
 
C

cdsgames

Member
Joined 2015
ktham said:
@ cdsgames

For your consideration.

My first Katana was ordered from Allo and by the time FedEx had it at my door I had to pay the PST plus a handling fee. Not sure why the PST was due.

My second Katana was ordered from Buyapi.ca last week. They have been my go to store for all my Pi and Allo products and they do not collect the PST.

When Allo starts the RMA process for the Katana I feel that they should have a Canadian distributor of Allo products, like Buyapi.ca, handle the exchange. It is convenient, no extra customs paperwork and declarations, and more importantly no unsubstantiated expenses charged by FedEx.

I have no relationship with Buyapi.ca and only as a customer.
Click to expand...


We will discuss with them and do so.
 
M

matthiasw

Member
Joined 2010
TimCurtis said:
Hi,

Here are some temps from my tests.

I'm seeing Pi-3B+ SoC core temp rise to ~71C over time when using the supplied Acrylic enclosure. Thats makes for a pretty toasty rig!

Removing the two long side panels yields ~61 deg C over time, a 10C drop and much cooler parts :) Use either of the following cmds to fetch core SoC temp:

a) vcgencmd measure_temp
b) cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Below is from a utility in moOde /home/pi directory to get basic system stats. It uses (b) above.

Enclosure - All panels
----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 71°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

Enclosure - Long side panels removed.
-----------------------
pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 61°C | RAM_USED: 19% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7l

-Tim
Click to expand...



Thanks for posting,
I do not think that a case for RPi and Katana does make sense at all.


Matt
 
S

SonofThor

Member
Joined 2011
SonofThor said:
Thanks for confirming. Is this likely to be a case of tweaking a couple of component values to get the best out of the board or more of a serious re-design?

Any idea on likely timescales or is it too early to say?
Click to expand...

Had a quick look at the Allo website and this pretty much answers my query (in case anyone else is interested):

Katana DAC

"The Katana is a complex DAC that offers multiple filtering and powering options.The pursuit of the best sound quality is what drives our design team and the reason behind our recent decision to halt manufacturing of the late KATANA.

A new version, the 1.2, is in the works and will only have a few components changed resulting in a subtle, yet necessary SQ improvement.

Please note the following:

No orders will be accepted for the next 14 days.
Already received your KATANA? A new one will be sent to you once the K1.2 is released.
Already placed an order ? You will be soon contacted by our customer support team.
Thank you for your understanding."
 
M

matt_garman

Member
Joined 2008
Paid Member
TimCurtis said:
Here are some temps from my tests.

I'm seeing Pi-3B+ SoC core temp rise to ~71C over time when using the supplied Acrylic enclosure. Thats makes for a pretty toasty rig!

Removing the two long side panels yields ~61 deg C over time, a 10C drop and much cooler parts :) Use either of the following cmds to fetch core SoC temp:
Click to expand...

Just curious, how are you configuring the CPU?

I'm using DietPi + MPD (and no Katana!), so not apples-to-apples... but I force the CPU to be at it's lowest speed bin, even for the core to which MPD is pinned. I'm not running any kind of web GUI on my Pi. MPD pulling music from NFS and decoding FLAC takes <1% of a single, under-clocked core.

I haven't done any temperature monitoring though, but intuitively, running the CPU as slow as possible will use less power which equates to less heat.
 
B

Blackfear

Member
Joined 2015
cdsgames said:
Just a quick update.


Modifications have been done to my test setup and there is a clear improvement.


Today I will be testing the new isolator. After finishing my testing , I will share my test setup for confirmation.


Still I am happy to say that so far SQ has improved.
Click to expand...
Hello, what kind of output buffer you designed after deal/cooperation with sparkos, it is some kind of HDAM circuit with diamond out buffer in class A or some other design ?? Thanks :cheerful:
 
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