• Disclaimer: This Vendor's Forum is a paid-for commercial area. Unlike the rest of diyAudio, the Vendor has complete control of what may or may not be posted in this forum. If you wish to discuss technical matters outside the bounds of what is permitted by the Vendor, please use the non-commercial areas of diyAudio to do so.

Building an open embedded audio applicance.

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Here is a sneak peak - just finalizing parts selections and such. This is the Hermes module for BBB - it mounts onto the Cronus(not shown) - which can mount directly to B3/B3SE or be used with other DACs as well. :) No long connections to the DAC and there are optional uFL for the clock/data lines to the DAC as well as headers and terminals. Ignore the silk screen (not prettied up yet) and things may change very slightly but this is the beast. :D
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot (29).png
    Screenshot (29).png
    88.7 KB · Views: 714
Getting excited here!

I had to look up node.js!

Russ, any specific details you could give us as to these control/configuration functions? Just to tide us over until some actual hardware is available.

It's a bit crude at the moment - but the API does allow full DAC control (via i2c)

The web app (which utilizes the API) will evolve over time - but right now I have it handling:

  • Stereo and 8 channel Volume/Balance
  • Quantizer/symmetry
  • DPLL Bandwidth
  • Source Remapping

I will make the code open source when I am ready.

Also the schematic for the Hermes-BBB will be open and public as my contribution back to the community - for whatever it is worth. :)

Cheers!
Russ
 
Russ, or other ?

Is it possible, to make a small explain, of how these three cards function.
I am finding it a bit hard to follow, this thread now that besides cape, also is two other cards now.

Maybe one could explain like this :

1. Cape... Does this, are used with this etc... Ect...
2. Hermes does this, can be attached to this, and soo on

Hope i made my self clear... Just asking for a small guide into this.

Best regards, and best wishes for the upcomming hollydays :p
Jesper.
 
lykkedk: There are 4 components in the chain...

1) BBB as the source of I2S/DSD digital audio, it requires external clock
2) Hermes-BBB as the two-way signal isolator (clock signal in, audio data signals out, I2C in-out) and I2S/DSD switch
3) Cronus as the master clock signal provider and re-aligner of data signals from BBB to the master clock; there are two clocks available, one for 44.1kHz and other one for 48kHz frequency families
4) DAC as consumer of re-aligned data signals (and clock if needed)

Check also the original announcement: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twis...embedded-audio-applicance-36.html#post4115128
 
Here is a sneak peak - just finalizing parts selections and such. This is the Hermes module for BBB - it mounts onto the Cronus(not shown) - which can mount directly to B3/B3SE or be used with other DACs as well. :) No long connections to the DAC and there are optional uFL for the clock/data lines to the DAC as well as headers and terminals. Ignore the silk screen (not prettied up yet) and things may change very slightly but this is the beast. :D

Hi Russ,
this is really exciting news, thanks.

But what about us dual-mono users?
It seems that there is no easy stacking option in this case, just plain old doubled wires for i2s as before.
 
Thanks for the feedback!

For now it will be just like any other PCM/DSD source in terms of Dual mono. Personally I would either just split wire if short run or you could use two pair of teleporters. This would be ideal for a two case dual mono solution.

BTW the Teleporter has been updated for use with shielded Cat 5/6 there is a jumper to connect one end or both to GND.

There will be a little adapter PCB to plug in a Teleporter to the Cronus as if it were a B3. :)
 
Mockups

This might help make things more clear. These are some mockups we were working with to visualize how everything fits together. The images of the boards are not final in these pics, but fit and size are.

Hermes BBB (cape) and Hermes Amanero:

attachment.php



B-III stack with BBB/HermesBBB/Cronus/B-III/Legato:

attachment.php



Bonus picture... B-III Stack with HermesAmanero/Cronus/B-III/Legato:

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20141218_075040.jpg
    IMG_20141218_075040.jpg
    184.3 KB · Views: 894
  • IMG_20141218_074906.jpg
    IMG_20141218_074906.jpg
    195.5 KB · Views: 1,596
  • IMG_20141218_074941.jpg
    IMG_20141218_074941.jpg
    178.7 KB · Views: 960
Those pictures absolutely help! Thanks Brian. Am I correct that one extra power supply would power up the BBB/Hermes BBB/ Chronos stack? And, with the option of using teleporters, this could be housed in a second chassis? Would there be any performance hit in loosing the wonderful immediacy that the stacked option gives? With teleporters, I guess you'd loose the ability to use the Chronos as the master for the b3, if I understand all of this correctly.
 
I am wondering about the Hermes/Amanero. Is this to be used with the Amenero or does it replace the Amenero. Will it improve performance of the Amenero?

Thanks

It is used with an Amanero. It isolates it from the DAC (a good thing) and together with Cronus re-clocks it's output which definitely improves things. It also allows the DAC and the Amanero to share the same master clock.

There will also be other Hermes modules. :)
 
With teleporters, I guess you'd loose the ability to use the Chronos as the master for the b3, if I understand all of this correctly.

There is no performance hit for using the teleporters - in fact the added propagation delay is tiny (a few ns). The teleports can easily transmit the master clock too!!! So the cronus can definitely still be the master clock source for the DAC. I have actually used the teleporter this way many times - carrying master clock, bit clock, word clock, data. It works marvelously.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.