The Pandora Sound Chip

[mrtymek]

I would love to know is Pandora suitable for High Definition sound. I mean playing CD audio quality sound, like FLAC files.
How's that? Did anyone who has leveled sound requirements test it in that aspect?
One way or another, I am going to get a Pandora, but it would be super-awesome if the Pandora would also be capable of giving me clear crispy sound output.

 

[tristan.clark]

The Pandora does have a Burr-Brown DAC IIRC, but I don't know if you'd get full audiophile quality sound out of it. It shouldn't have any problems running any codecs you might want to use.

 

[Enverex]

I would love to know is Pandora suitable for High Definition sound. I mean playing CD audio quality sound, like FLAC files.
How's that? Did anyone who has leveled sound requirements test it in that aspect?
One way or another, I am going to get a Pandora, but it would be super-awesome if the Pandora would also be capable of giving me clear crispy sound output.

99dB SNR, 24bit/48Khz sampling rates. Should be good. It's something MW said he was very interested in making as good as possible.

 

[mrtymek]

To be perfectly honest, as of now it's mostly 320 mps's, but I'm slowly migrating to original CD's, that's why I asked about FLAC. The Truth is, you can only tell the difference when compare to another source of sound, and for example, my Philips MP3 player sounds crispier, than my laptop sound chip. From what you have said i understood, that it should reach the level of a modern portable player?

My point is, I wouldn't like the Pandora to sound like a shitty cheap integrated sound card which I have allways hated.

 

[mrtymek]

Oh, that is what i needed to know

 

[WhiteBat]

*twitch* this has been covered many times before ^_^

take a look at some of these threads
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/44508-audio-hardware/page__hl__burr

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/45093-details-and-specs-of-the-pandoras-sound-card/page__hl__burr
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/46905-music-quality-flac-vs-mp3-on-pandora/page__p__705334__hl__burr__fromsearch__1
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/46093-with-pandora-work-well-as-a-media-player-like-mp3-and-mpeg4-ect/page__hl__burr
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/45954-pandora-as-a-digital-music-source/page__p__684580__hl__burr__fromsearch__1
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/45252-can-anyone-report-on-music-sound-quality/page__p__669183__hl__burr__fromsearch__1
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/45093-details-and-specs-of-the-pandoras-sound-card/page__hl__burr
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/49475-hardware-development/page__p__763717__hl__burr__fromsearch__1

 

[HaCo]

I'm happy someone started an Sound topic again so I can put a general question somewhere.

When you use the Pandora with an AC Adapter, will you hear the 50Hz in the audio (even very silent?)? Is it possible to have optical output (by homebrew or...)?

 

[dflemstr]

Is it possible to have optical output (by homebrew or...)?

You can always stream digital audio over WiFi or Bluetooth etc. And since the Pandora uses PulseAudio (provided that nothing has changed), you can connect to a Pulse server on a separate computer, where your sound can be remixed, resampled etc. You are in no way forced to use the sound card on the Pandora if you don't want to.

That said, I don't think there'll be any problems with the audio; if MWeston has done a good job, all of the relevant lines should be shielded.

 

[fuzzypinkunicorns666]

Is it possible to have optical output (by homebrew or...)?

You should be able to use a USB->optical adapter, so long as it conforms to the USB audio standard and doesn't require any weird drivers.

 

[marshal]

I'm happy someone started an Sound topic again so I can put a general question somewhere.

When you use the Pandora with an AC Adapter, will you hear the 50Hz in the audio (even very silent?)? Is it possible to have optical output (by homebrew or...)?

Your best bet is to look for a USB soundcard...You're certainly not going to have an optical output magically appearing by using homebrew software.

 

[atomicthumbs]

When you use the Pandora with an AC Adapter, will you hear the 50Hz in the audio (even very silent?)? 

no

 

[HaCo]

I'm happy someone started an Sound topic again so I can put a general question somewhere.

When you use the Pandora with an AC Adapter, will you hear the 50Hz in the audio (even very silent?)? Is it possible to have optical output (by homebrew or...)?

Your best bet is to look for a USB soundcard...You're certainly not going to have an optical output magically appearing by using homebrew software.

What I meant was some homebrew soldering...

 

[mrtymek]

The 50Hz appears only if your hardware is not being grounded. If it is, there will not be any 50Hz sound.
I had the same thing with my laptop, and an amateur audio installation. I could not ground my installation, since all the pipes in my flat were painted, but the problem has disappeared, when i've plugged the computer to a regular micro hi fi system. Protip - most sound systems have some electronical magic inside, that prevents that. If not, it's a matter of grounding your electrics.

And I'm sorry for not doing a deep search... apparently i just entered the word "sound" into search and got covered with driver and game sound threads

 

[WizardStan]

Even if not grounded, you shouldn't hear the 50hz as the power is being buffered through the battery, as opposed to just being inverted and used directly.

 

[Titcher]

I'm pretty sure the Pandora will only ever see DC signals and thus won't be inflicted by this Hz issue.

 

[dflemstr]

I'm pretty sure the Pandora will only ever see DC signals and thus won't be inflicted by this Hz issue.

Even if the Pandora only sees DC, that doesn't mean there won't be interference. If you have a semi-good rectifier, you'll get a full-wave rectified DC.

It'll in other words look like this:

(Function: "U(t) = -|sin(t)|*U0")
...which still produces a varying electromagnetic field.

And don't even get me started on half-wave rectified DC...

EDIT: More realistic graph.

 

[PoisonedV]

Woo! Another audiophile around here! High five!
For best sound, make sure you use special ERS paper and layer it in your pandora!

It's a shame the pandora doesnt have gold plated outputs, amirite?
us audiophiles

Just so I don't have to start a new thread, is there any way I can play all my vinyl records on the P???? (animal collective ofc)

 

[dflemstr]

Just so I don't have to start a new thread, is there any way I can play all my vinyl records on the P???? (animal collective ofc)

Yes. Take your nails (they should be long enough by now) and drag them across the vinyl. And that's it! You don't even need an actual Pandora unit!

 

[Nation.A.List]

Wow a Blue Peter HiFi, made from cornflake packets and sticky-back plastic.

 

[trendy]

Woo! Another audiophile around here! High five!
For best sound, make sure you use special ERS paper and layer it in your pandora!
http://a370.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_e611e2502b331768690d091f68124e19.jpg
It's a shame the pandora doesnt have gold plated outputs, amirite?
us audiophiles

Just so I don't have to start a new thread, is there any way I can play all my vinyl records on the P???? (animal collective ofc)

gold-plated... I doubt it would have made a difference in this case (PCM1773 + TWL4030). It's a shame it doesn't have minitoslink+1/8 combo.
USB should be enough if OMAP has a good implementation of it and your DAC/transport isn't bad either. And an RT patch at least.