New Wondom ADAU1701 DSP Unit

[kemmler3D]

Would it be reasonable to mess with something like this instead of Camilla DSP from the point of view of someone who doesn't mind screwing around with software, but doesn't know electronics? https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805766033082.html

 

[Weeb Labs]

Would it be reasonable to mess with something like this instead of Camilla DSP from the point of view of someone who doesn't mind screwing around with software, but doesn't know electronics? https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805766033082.html

Perfectly reasonable. Please bear in mind that you will also need a USBi, which will cost an additional $20. I would suggest choosing the variant which includes the codec PCB, as it offers eight DAC channels and six ADC channels, all with optional differential output.

 

[kemmler3D]

Perfectly reasonable. Please bear in mind that you will also need a USBi, which will cost an additional $20. I would suggest choosing the variant which includes the codec PCB, as it offers eight DAC channels and six ADC channels, all with optional differential output.

Cool! I have messed with stuff like this before for my job, I believe I even used Sigma Studio (used to work on BT speakers and headphones) but there were always engineers around to make sure I was able to play with the DSP successfully. So, if I run into a situation where something needs to be wired up and there aren't instructions, I will find myself at the bottom of an unknown learning curve...

I've been wanting to get a digital-in-digital-out DSP unit going but haven't got around to it. Having it all in one package where I can just 3D print a housing seems pretty good.

Q) If I only want 2ch TOSLINK do I need the Codec board? 6i 8o sounds awesome for certain things, but in the immediate horizon I just want to use this for stereo EQ.

 

[net-david]

Digging a little deeper in, I found the AA-AP23123 uses an SGMICRO SGM8904 "line driver with integrated charge pump" between the ADAU1701's DACs and the PT2259 volume controls. This seems like great news because the SGM8904 can drive 3V RMS into a 2.5k load with a 5V supply voltage. Unfortunately, it appears they are running them off of a 3.18V supply, which is just above the minimum recommended supply voltage.

Also disappointing, the PT2259 volume controls are being supplied the same 3.18V, which is below their datasheet's 4V minimum specification.

I can't help wondering if the audio outputs performance couldn't be greatly improved by getting at least 5v supply to these chips?

 

[Weeb Labs]

Digging a little deeper in, I found the AA-AP23123 uses an SGMICRO SGM8904 "line driver with integrated charge pump" between the ADAU1701's DACs and the PT2259 volume controls. This seems like great news because the SGM8904 can drive 3V RMS into a 2.5k load with a 5V supply voltage. Unfortunately, it appears they are running them off of a 3.18V supply, which is just above the minimum recommended supply voltage.
View attachment 325267


Also disappointing, the PT2259 volume controls are being supplied the same 3.18V, which is below their datasheet's 4V minimum specification.
View attachment 325268

I can't help wondering if the audio outputs performance couldn't be greatly improved by getting at least 5v supply to these chips?

Almost certainly room for improvement with a few modifications.

In other news, pricing for these new BP1048B2-based products (no USBi required) is impressively low. Here we have one with Bluetooth and TWS support for under $15 and another one with onboard amplification for $9.

 

[Weeb Labs]

Cool! I have messed with stuff like this before for my job, I believe I even used Sigma Studio (used to work on BT speakers and headphones) but there were always engineers around to make sure I was able to play with the DSP successfully. So, if I run into a situation where something needs to be wired up and there aren't instructions, I will find myself at the bottom of an unknown learning curve...

I've been wanting to get a digital-in-digital-out DSP unit going but haven't got around to it. Having it all in one package where I can just 3D print a housing seems pretty good.

Q) If I only want 2ch TOSLINK do I need the Codec board? 6i 8o sounds awesome for certain things, but in the immediate horizon I just want to use this for stereo EQ.

The TOSLINK RX/TX is on the DSP board itself, so you do not need the codec board in order to make use of it.

 

[ClayR]

SPDIF would be nice but the ADAU1701 does not have onboard SPDIF RX/TX. Its ADCs and DACs (even cascaded) are perfectly adequate for almost any purpose and have been measured here. Four I2S IO are potentially internally accessible but this unit targets those in search of a more "plug and play" solution. It is effectively a cheaper, vastly more functional MiniDSP 2x4 (which also makes use of the ADAU1701).

WONDOM has a SPDIF in out board. It's made for their other products that have s2d connectors. But it could be soldered to the board. Or you could use a cat5 connector. There are several Wondom videos on Youtube with instructions. I have 1 on order. Have you put it to use yet? Do you think the analog output board would fit in the case? Here are some video links

 

[ClayR]

View attachment 307064

I received my unit this morning and disassembled it to evaluate the board layout. In short, this is a very nicely designed unit for very little money.


View attachment 307066View attachment 307067

All audio IO is exposed via three headers with very clear labelling. Even the default I2S format is specified on the silkscreen.



View attachment 307068

We even have onboard digital analog volume control in the form of a PT2259 for each output channel pair, with a PIC12 microcontroller to read the value of the volume potentiometer. This is unexpectedly sophisticated for a EUR 45 board and will serve to further reduce the ADAU1701 DACs' noise floor at normal listening levels.

I have not yet tested this unit but will be writing a Sigma Studio program for it momentarily.

I just ordered on and it should be here in 2 weeks. Isn't J106 the l2s connections? I'm just learning about that and don't know much about it. I read that some manufacturers use cat5 cable and connectors for it. . I see they offer several IO boards for that. Can I daisychain 2 or more input and output boards to the respective in and out buss? Could you get it up to the 8x8 capacity of the DSP? My plan is to use it in my car with a 2x1 setup. I may add an aditional output to go to seperate bass, treble and sub amps.

 

[Weeb Labs]

I just ordered on and it should be here in 2 weeks. Isn't J106 the l2s connections? I'm just learning about that and don't know much about it. I read that some manufacturers use cat5 cable and connectors for it. . I see they offer several IO boards for that. Can I daisychain 2 or more input and output boards to the respective in and out buss? Could you get it up to the 8x8 capacity of the DSP? My plan is to use it in my car with a 2x1 setup. I may add an aditional output to go to seperate bass, treble and sub amps.

It should be possible to slave one of these units to another and route the additional channels from master to the slave's DACs via TDM. This would require disconnection of the MCK oscillator on the slave. I would not recommend this approach unless you are very familiar with the ADAU1701 and the standards involved.

 

[net-david]

I just ordered on and it should be here in 2 weeks. Isn't J106 the l2s connections? I'm just learning about that and don't know much about it. I read that some manufacturers use cat5 cable and connectors for it. . I see they offer several IO boards for that. Can I daisychain 2 or more input and output boards to the respective in and out buss? Could you get it up to the 8x8 capacity of the DSP? My plan is to use it in my car with a 2x1 setup. I may add an aditional output to go to seperate bass, treble and sub amps.

You'll lose the front panel potentiometer and switch functionality if you add additional audio I/O to the AA-AP23123, the GPIO pins you need are already used:

There should be another MP# used for the front panel "signal" LED.

 

[ClayR]

I just ordered on and it should be here in 2 weeks. Isn't J106 the l2s connections? I'm just learning about that and don't know much about it. I read that some manufacturers use cat5 cable and connectors for it. . I see they offer several IO boards for that. Can I daisychain 2 or more input and output boards to the respective in and out buss? Could you get it up to the 8x8 capacity of the DSP? My plan is to use it in my car with a 2x1 setup. I may add an aditional output to go to seperate bass, treble and sub amps.

I would like to add more than 1 l2s devices. Where could I get info on how to properly daisy chain them?

 

[net-david]

I would like to add more than 1 l2s devices. Where could I get info on how to properly daisy chain them?

This diagram shows how to use 4 DACs with a ADAU1401/1701

 

[MCH]

not directly related, but what do you guys think of this one? same processor as the new minidsp HT. Not as cheap as the wondom but seems quite flexible, one can add inputs and outputs at will, that are balanced and also has spdif input. What is a bit scary is those warnings with the software.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32979626577.html

 

[Hue]

That is in line with my expectations. H2 is about 60dB down. The PT2259 is not a particularly high performance IC but this looks perfectly adequate for most purposes.

The analog output of the AA-AP23123 has very little headroom and overall has lower output obtained with the APM 2 attached to the AA-AA11428 extension board. Would be ideal to obtain a schematic of the AA-AP23123; particularly the analog I/O circuitry.

 

[net-david]

Sure/Wondom has published the default AA-AP23123 SigmaStudio project http://files.sure-electronics.com/download/ADAU1701_2IN4OUTUNIT_OpenSource_DemoProgram&HEX.zip on it's product page https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/800.

 

[KTOnexus]

Ich habe den neuen Wondom DSP gekauft. Ich möchte einen Bluetooth-Adapter über i2s anschließen. Wo kann ich das machen und wo ist der Datenpin?

 

[dyllangm]

Thanks for confirming @Weeb Labs, I was afraid you couldn't read from the EPROM to a project.

I'll make a simple in-out project and post the results, I was hoping for more output level than the ADAU1401 evaluation modules. I did get decent results when I skipped the EVMs onboard DACs and went with some PCM5102 boards.

How did you add the pcm5102 boards? I'm interested in adding these dacs from aliexpress so I can get more output voltage

 

[olieb]

not directly related, but what do you guys think of this one? same processor as the new minidsp HT. Not as cheap as the wondom but seems quite flexible, one can add inputs and outputs at will, that are balanced and also has spdif input. What is a bit scary is those warnings with the software.

View attachment 330988

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32979626577.html

This looks like a dream device.
But then

So it will get somewhat more complicated again to have a digital input.

 

[net-david]

How did you add the pcm5102 boards? I'm interested in adding these dacs from aliexpress so I can get more output voltage

I added the PCM5102 boards to an ADAU1401 evaluation module, not the AA-AP23123. You'll lose some of the front panel controls on the AA-AP23123 if you add DACs, see post #30 above.

I think a better solution to get more voltage out of the AA-AP23123 is to increase the voltage to the SGMICRO SGM8904 line drivers and PT2259 volume controls.

 

[ClayR]

I just got my DSP, but noticed I failed to order progrmer. Do you think this one would work? https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/703 It claims to work with SigmaStudio™, but Our dsp isn'ton the list for support for the bluetooth app, and I'm hesitant to sideload n app directly from a Chineese company nyway. Though phone control would be wsome. Does anyone know if it is posible that the Dayton app would work since the Dayton dsp also uses the 1701? Now that mny here hve experiance with theis DSP, could someone recomend prormer? THe main issue I have with the WONDOM ones is that they are bare bords