USB Output Board

Hi folks,
Based on requests from the users, we have decided to design an output card with USB Audio Device capable of 8-channel operation. On top of that, there is a bank of asynchronous resamplers which will allow the USB Audio to run at fixed sampling rate set from the host PC. This will address the little issue of the USB Audio class, where the device cannot tell the host which sampling rate to set and it has be set manually prior to data transfer and every time the sampling rate changes. The ASRC bypass mode for bit-transparent transmission will be naturally supported too. Here is a preview of the board:



This board will basically turn the Vanity^PRO into 8-channel HDMI to USB Audio converter with ASRC option. If you are interested in this solution, please let us know either here on the forum or through the contact form. The board is expected to be available late September, depending on manufacturing turnaround and components availability.
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,
Pavel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2022 06:03PM by AP.

Hello, a quick update!
We have finished the hardware design with a few changes from the initial version. Now the board has two extra BNC/RCA connections, one SPDIF output and one SPDIF input. The output is connected to the USB interface for audio monitoring or synchronization of other external devices. The input then can be used as an alternative signal source and switched between HDMI/ARC/SPDIF/IN for increased flexibility.



Due to the parts cost, this USB board will need to be a paid option, not just one of the standard output module options included. The extra cost will only cover the BOM and manufacturing price difference, nothing huge.

If you are interested, please message us to reserve a board for you from the first production batch. Any questions, please ask.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Hot damn Pavel! That’s a really cool option! Along with the clock sync, this adds a lot of flexibility.

Is this card available?

If yes, where?

thank you

Hi all,
The prototype is still being in the manufacturing process due to component lead times slightly longer than expected. It will be probably another one or two weeks. Will keep you informed about progress. Please stgay tuned!
Best Regards,
Pavel

Ok

Does this USB electronic card make acquisition at the computer level?

Hi Fred,
The main idea behind this USB board is that one can use a PC for multichannel room processing, etc. So, this card, when connected to a PC, will look like a multichannel audio device and then you can use the audio in the PC for whatever you wish. Hope it answered your question.
Regards,
Pavel

yes, thank

Hello Pavel,
I might be interested in the new board as well.
I really liked the first version but I couldn't make it work well enough with the Okto 8.
Looking forward to hearing about your progress.
Thanks,
Steve from San Antonio

Hi Steve,
Thanks for checking in. We have just received the PCB samples. They seem to be well assembled and shortly we will start the USB audio software works. I will share some photos of the actual board later.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Here is the photo of the prototype



Regards,
Pavel

Hello

The photo of the prototype is 4 months old.

Is there a planned release date?

Hi Fred-ql,
We have a few modules with field-testers for us to collect as much real usage experience as possible before official release. It is the first product of its kind - HDMI audio to USB audio converter - and we want to make sure it works well in various usage scenarios. We will inform about the official release here and on the website. Thank you for the patience.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Hello

Now 1 year, any news?

Thanks

Hi Fred-ql,
Thanks for poking us here! The USB output board has been on a back burner for a while and we only had a few modules with people in field for testing and for us to collect some feedback. Incidentally, with getting parts and boards manufactured for the Power Supply unit (VanityPSU) the USB module is in the manufacturing process too. I know it has been quite some time and thank you for your patience. It should be ready for sale soon!
Best Regards,
Pavel

Hi Pavel
The USB Output Board was for a while now an often discussed topic. For my setting, rather than having the option to output via USB to PC/Mac, I'd like to have the possibility to use USB INput from a Mac/PC or - in my case - from a RoopieXL driven Raspberry Pi. That would give me the option to play roon multichannel in a digital setiing (with dsp / digital speakers from Genelec) and on the other hand watch multichannel concert movies via HDMI....
Is there an option to get USB into the Vanity....?
Thanks for your answer in advance.
Kind regards

Hi Misig1,
Thank you for your interesting questions. Let me ask a different one :-)
Cannot you use a HDMI output from your Mac/PC to send HDMI to the VanityPRO via HDMI mux? It would be probably easier than having multiple different sources to the VanityPRO (HDMI and US and the VanityPRO basically substituting a multichannel USB soundcard. Right now the USB output module has one output for monitoring purposes that can be manually switched between USB OUT and HDMI Audio.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Thank you, Pavel, for answering so quickly! Of course it could be done like that (via HDMI out of a Mac/PC).

My system actually doesn't include a proper PC/Mac but a Raspberry with Roon on it, sending the data to an Okto Dac via USB. For Movies/Concerts etc. I use an Apple TV 4K (with only HDMI). USB input therefore would have been an option to use both of these sources together, without another "switchbox" like an HDMI Multiplexer. As far as I know there ist no USB Interface on the market with 8 channel AES/EBU out (beside some quite technical approaches like Merging Hapi / Horus and the miniDSP Udio8 which is measuring not so well), so the Vanity Pro would have been the first one...

I'll try with HDMI output from the Raspberry, hoping the sound quality will be comparable to my actual system. Quality-wise would you expect any difference between HDMI out to vanity compared to a USB transport?

Thanks again!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2023 04:08PM by misig1.

btw..: I just realised, that Ropiee Xl is not working via HDMI....

Hi Misig1,
Thanks for the additional details about your system. I see what you are trying to achieve. I am afraid the USB module won't work the way you want. You basically require a multichannel USB audio interface and mux the digital outputs to your Genelecs. The only alternative I can see is to feed the Genelecs with analogue signal from the OKTO and hook the VanityPRO into the digital inputs and have the Raspberry pi driving the USB input of the OKTO. This way the OKTO would be the source selector between the two. We might take this scenario into account for the next generation of the product in the future, but for now I am sorry it won't work.
Regards,
Pavel

Do you have a deadline for your USB electronic card?


AP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Fred-ql,
> Thanks for poking us here! The USB output board
> has been on a back burner for a while and we only
> had a few modules with people in field for testing
> and for us to collect some feedback. Incidentally,
> with getting parts and boards manufactured for the
> Power Supply unit (VanityPSU) the USB module is in
> the manufacturing process too. I know it has been
> quite some time and thank you for your patience.
> It should be ready for sale soon!
> Best Regards,
> Pavel

Thank you Pavel! I'll try this method (though going analog to digital speakers is a kind of an weird thing).

Hi Fred-ql,
Now with the boards in production I would not hesitate to give an ETA for the boards to be on the shelf with our distributors. We should have the boards back in 2-3 weeks and if everything goes well (it rarely does though) we might be able to ship before we break for Christmas holidays. Alternatively, it should happen early January shortly after we wake up from the New Year celebrations.
I will keep this thread updated as soon as I have some news.
Thank you for your patience.

Best Regards,
Pavel


Fred-ql Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you have a deadline for your USB electronic
> card?
>
>
> AP Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > Hi Fred-ql,
> > Thanks for poking us here! The USB output board
> > has been on a back burner for a while and we
> only
> > had a few modules with people in field for
> testing
> > and for us to collect some feedback.
> Incidentally,
> > with getting parts and boards manufactured for
> the
> > Power Supply unit (VanityPSU) the USB module is
> in
> > the manufacturing process too. I know it has
> been
> > quite some time and thank you for your
> patience.
> > It should be ready for sale soon!
> > Best Regards,
> > Pavel

Hi misig1,
I appreciate it may feel weird, but I bet the OKTO would do a better job than the DAC built into the speakers. Although the speakers are "digital", the class-D amps still amplifies analogue signal, which needs to be converted from digital to analogue form by a built-in DAC. It would actually make a nice nice listening test exercise, if it sounds better with digital feed from the VanityPRO or analogue one from OKTO. Please feel free to share your experience here.
Best Regards,
Pavel

misig1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Pavel! I'll try this method (though
> going analog to digital speakers is a kind of an
> weird thing).

Hi Pavel, it's almost March now, any updates pls?

Hi seevic,
I know it has been a while and I appreciate everyone's patience. Please see the update on our Facebook. Long story short, the USB modules should be with JVB next week in full distribution.
Best Regards,
Pavel

I really like the idea but I'm AES/EBU. I would want to have my cake and eat it, too! Have both USB and AES/EBU options, otherwise I'd stick with AES/EBU.

I guess on the HDMI side, the HDMI is the master clock and the AES/EBU is a derived de-jittered output that's "synced" with the HDMI source.

It would be nice to stay bit-perfect:

With the USB, can you use asynchronous mode where the DAC receives sample rate information from the USB, the DAC has the master clock, and sends handshake signals to the USB source?

OR, In my monitor controller I can accept a wordclock so if the USB board can put out a derived and de-jittered wordclock and I can sync to the wordclock from the Vanity and get audio from the USB.

Hello,

I'm likely going to acquire a USB audio interface (Metric Halo LIO-8 mkIV) which has 8 AES inputs.

I'd like to know the advantages/disadvantages of the USB version versus AES (used in DoP)? (Considering that in any case, the signal will be handled by a PC.)
And, does an AES 192 kHz audio interface accept DoP?

Thanks in advance

Hi Bob,
I am afraid the USB Audio is not as clever as one would expect. The USB audio host has no way to be told the sampling rate from the USB device side. This is why one has to manually set the sampling rate manually each time it changes. The resampling stage on the USB module has been added just for the convenience of having the sampling rate fixed on the PC side. For bit accurate data transfer the ASRC must be of course disabled.
Regards,
Pavel

bobkatz Wrote:
-----------------------------------------------
> With the USB, can you use asynchronous mode where
> the DAC receives sample rate information from the
> USB, the DAC has the master clock, and sends
> handshake signals to the USB source?
>
> OR, In my monitor controller I can accept a
> wordclock so if the USB board can put out a
> derived and de-jittered wordclock and I can sync
> to the wordclock from the Vanity and get audio
> from the USB.

Hi Fred-ql,
The DoP support is probably equal, because you can get DoP over both interfaces. With the USB module you don't need any additional hardware and audio can go from the VanityPRO straight into a PC via USB. The is also the optional ASRC stage which allows you to fix the sampling rate with the caveat that the signal path is no longer bit accurate.

With some AES interfaces (and even USB ones) it is sometimes tricky, because declared support of 192kHz sampling rate does not automatically imply support of 176.4kHz which is required for DoP. So, please check the full compatibility in advance.
Regards,
Pavel


Fred-ql Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
>
> I'm likely going to acquire a USB audio interface
> (Metric Halo LIO-8 mkIV) which has 8 AES inputs.
>
> I'd like to know the advantages/disadvantages of
> the USB version versus AES (used in DoP)?
> (Considering that in any case, the signal will be
> handled by a PC.)
> And, does an AES 192 kHz audio interface accept
> DoP?
>
> Thanks in advance