... we're still alive!

[fusion_power]

I see ED has updated and locked in the PYRA specs (except for the dimensions of the Pyra - not sure why this can still change)


Technical Specs:

• Texas Instruments OMAP 5 SoC
  • 2x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.5Ghz with NEON SIMD
  • 2x ARM Cortex-M4
  • PowerVR™ SGX544-MP2
  • Vivante GC320 2D Accelerator
• 2GB RAM, 32GB internal eMMC
• 720p 5" LCD with resistive touchscreen
• High-Quality speakers, analog volume wheel
• Headset-Port, Built-in-Mic, HDMI Video Out
• Various sensors (accelerometer, gyro-sensor, etc.)
• Vibration motor
• Ultra-portable: approx. 140 x 84 x 29 mm*
• Huge battery for a long battery life (6000mAh)
• Gaming controls (DPad, 4 shoulder buttons, 6 face buttons)
• Two accurate analog controls with push-button
• QWERTY keyboard with backlight
• Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2,4 and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 4.1
• Dual SDXC card slots, one internal MicroSDXC card slot (can be used for the OS instead of the eMMC)
• 2x Full-size USB 2.0 Host (one can be used as eSATA-with a small adaptor), 1x Micro USB 3.0, 1x Micro USB (Debug and Charging)
• Fully configurable RGB-LEDs for notifications
• Optional 3G/4G/UMTS and GPS module

What? No "blast processing"?

 

[Binky]

The audio on the Pandora is as digital as on the Pyra.
The DAC converts it to analog audio which is then routed through the volume wheel and to the speakers / headset.

The only difference here is that the analog audio does NOT get routed through the wheel (which should improve the quality, as there are less components), but the exact same volume wheel as we have on the Pandora provides different values (based on the position) to the DAC which changes the volume.

There are NO volume steps like with digital audio wheels, there is no turn-around-forever like with digital audio wheels.

So there's not really much difference.

Audio on the Pandora is also digital, before it goes into the DAC, or how did you think this works?

I've certainly had trouble in the past with audio stuttering (playing about 0.5s of sound on loop forever) until you either manually kill the relevant bit of audio transport software, or reboot

Am I right in saying that the position of the wheel (a potentiometer) is connected directly to the DAC, and also to the SOC as a general purpose input?

Does the volume wheel still work in the event of the operating system input-handling being broken/misconfigured?
If I put the volume wheel at its minimum setting, is there any way that sound could still be heard?

 

[Eight Bit]

Will the volume encoder be updated constantly or does it have to move before the (absolute?) values are transmitted?
[doublepost=1460211064,1460210993][/doublepost]Oops, did we open a cessepool here?

 

[TrashyMG]

Will the volume encoder be updated constantly or does it have to move before the (absolute?) values are transmitted?
[doublepost=1460211064,1460210993][/doublepost]Oops, did we open a cessepool here?

Like stated before it's not an encoder, it's a regular potentiometer, like you'd see in an analog volume control. So the ADC will read the current value of the potentiometer.

 

[EvilDragon]

Seriously, how often has the Pandora crashed on any of you continously playing an annoying sound where you needed to use the volume wheel to turn it down?
I'm asking about a FULL crash, not a program crash, as the audio daemon will still work when a game crashes.

 

[Swordfish II]

Seriously, how often has the Pandora crashed on any of you continously playing an annoying sound where you needed to use the volume wheel to turn it down?
I'm asking about a FULL crash, not a program crash, as the audio daemon will still work when a game crashes.

People do seem to get spun up about odd stuff

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Some how I prefer a true analog volume wheel so I can be 100% sure audio is off, or turn it down while the unit is still powered off but I guess I'll live with it being an encoder instead...

It'll read the value when it boots up and the audio will be muted. It's not an encoder it's an analog potentiometer connected to the DAC.

 

[TrashyMG]

It's not an encoder it's an analog potentiometer connected to the DAC.

ADC
Although I suppose the sound chip also has the DAC for audio output, so I guess it's partially true... but an ADC is what does everything volume wise.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Ah OK, I thought it controlled the DAC output so I assumed it was connected to that chip.

 

[TrashyMG]

Ah OK, I thought it controlled the DAC output so I assumed it was connected to that chip.

Well it does control the DAC and It's most likely the same chip, I'm just being more correct, because it uses an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) for volume control.

 

[notaz]

Ah OK, I thought it controlled the DAC output so I assumed it was connected to that chip.

ED's (and Nikolaus') plan is to make it software controlled, the software reads (monitors) the wheel and adjusts the volume.

Seriously, how often has the Pandora crashed on any of you continously playing an annoying sound where you needed to use the volume wheel to turn it down?

I think it's more about psychology, you can sit in some important meeting (or near sleeping babies) with a pandora in your hands and can be 100% sure any bugs or rogue code will never hit the speakers at full blast. With Pyra there will never be such comfort, it will have to be turned off in such situations.

It's also just plain impossible to do reliable software for such things, at least some problems Caanoo had with it's volume control will plague the Pyra too.

 

[Djoga'Ro]

I think it's more about psychology, you can sit in some important meeting (or near sleeping babies) with a pandora in your hands and can be 100% sure any bugs or rogue code will never hit the speakers at full blast. With Pyra there will never be such comfort, it will have to be turned off in such situations.

It's also just plain impossible to do reliable software for such things, at least some problems Caanoo had with it's volume control will plague the Pyra too.

If that's a major problem, you're meeting with the wrong people. And being near sleeping babies is a problem solved, when the device goes crazy.

My smartphone has no analog means of sound output reduction either, and there are still places, I can go.

 

[EvilDragon]

Isn't it normal (though pretty annoying) that every few seconds some smartphone plays a sound these days?

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Yes. The last time I went to a film THREE phones rang throughout the performance.

 

[Djoga'Ro]

Isn't it normal (though pretty annoying) that every few seconds some smartphone plays a sound these days?

To be fair it was about a device going crazy on the speakers and without hardware means to mute it. I brought up smartphones since they pose the same threat and there are some of those around. Still the problem worried about doesn't seem to be that common.

 

[_jr_]

Seriously, how often has the Pandora crashed on any of you continously playing an annoying sound where you needed to use the volume wheel to turn it down?
I'm asking about a FULL crash, not a program crash, as the audio daemon will still work when a game crashes.

Come on, you did claim Pandora superiority over other devices before using exactly this scenario. And it is a nice feature. Loosing it won't be the end of the world (and probably shaves a couple of $$$ from the sales price, allowing for the larger eMMC), but it will make the Pyra ever so slightly less cool.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

I've never had a phone disobey its audio settings ever. Even when it froze, if it was muted it would stay so.

 

[Eight Bit]

and can be 100% sure any bugs or rogue code will never hit the speakers at full blast. With Pyra there will never be such comfort, it will have to be turned off in such situations.

Exactly this! With phones it happened to me a couple of times that I had to muffle the entire device in my sweater because it suddenly started making noise at very inconvenient times (I work in a very quiet concert hall) because the volume control didn't work. This could be either noisy advertisement banners, alarms, incoming calls or text messages etc. It's only fair to mention though that the typical android phone has 3 or 4 different volume sliders for different audio generating processes and the volume rockers usually only control the active sound source, or just ringer volume when no audio is being played. This choosing which slider to control is a bit dodgy sometimes unfortunately.

With my Pandora I can indeed be 100% sure it'll be quiet. But no worries, I'll buy a Pyra anyway

 

[EvilDragon]

Come on, you did claim Pandora superiority over other devices before using exactly this scenario. And it is a nice feature. Loosing it won't be the end of the world (and probably shaves a couple of $$$ from the sales price, allowing for the larger eMMC), but it will make the Pyra ever so slightly less cool.

The superior thing is still the volume wheel with fixed values and no ugly steps like most modern devices have.

 

[fusion_power]

So the analog Volume Wheel of the Pyra is not even a analog volume Wheel?