AMB Laboratories DIY Audio Forums

[Balcmeg]

Seems the first e1 with the dim leds are having troubles, so I should not bother with that one now. ?

Yes, sounds like the faulty one has a low supply voltage (bad 3.3V voltage regulator?).
By the way ζ1 is "zeta 1", not "epsilon 1", so if you want to abbreviate try "z1", not "e1".

OK z1 it is!

Tomorrow il try to replace the regulator on the second z1.

just now I managed to get a few minutes by the laptop and connected the widget, no success. its windows10 and i get the familiar sound as usual when something is plugged into the USB port, but i could not see that It showed up as being connected, not even any *new device* notice.

I need to check more tomorrow, and read up on z1 site - cant remember if i needed drivers or not.. and need some quality time to figure out where on windows 10 I find the right settings etc...

[amb]

You do not need a driver for UAC1 mode. Check your Device Manager to see if there is a "AMB Laboratories zeta1 USB-I2C Audio Widget" in there. The maximum sample rate supported in UAC1 mode is 48KHz.

For UAC2, you do need a driver for Windows (the Win Widget driver), and the Audio WIdget won't show up in the device manager. But you can play back files up to 192KHz sample rate using a compatible player (e.g., foobar2000) and select the asio_uac2 device.

[Balcmeg]

You do not need a driver for UAC1 mode. Check your Device Manager to see if there is a "AMB Laboratories zeta1 USB-I2C Audio Widget" in there. The maximum sample rate supported in UAC1 mode is 48KHz.

For UAC2, you do need a driver for Windows (the Win Widget driver), and the Audio WIdget won't show up in the device manager. But you can play back files up to 192KHz sample rate using a compatible player (e.g., foobar2000) and select the asio_uac2 device.

Hi, ok i did some testing:

z1:1 (need to name them somehow)
Is not read as a device in Windows as UAC1 or UAC2, no matter if driver is installed or not. Its not recognised as a device.
Same in Cubox/Kodi, no sign at all.
Red LED on board lighted constantly, UAC light switch colour when i switch mode.

z1:2
I changed voltage regulator, but all three LED are still dimly lit.
Recognised as Unknown USB device in Windows, but lot loaded into device manger, installing driver wont help. Tested both modes.
Same when connected to KODI.
Cant bee seen through the Audio Widget app either.

Some history as far as i remember.
z1:1
grew very hot - too hot to touch when installed. 3.3 regulator toasted and replaced. I think we came to the conclusion that it was a goner efter many measurements. (I think it was some component on G3 manin board that was the cause of the overload)

z1:2
Bought some 6 months later i think. Worked for a while, then flickered and died. As far as I can remember it did not grew hot like the first one.

Question is, can any of these be fixed or are they now toast?

[amb]

Measure the voltage at the following ζ1 U2 (TPS73633DCQR) pins. They should be close to these (relative to G):
pin 1: 5V
pin 2: 3.3V
pin 3: 0V
pin 5: 5V
mounting tab: 0V

Do this for both ζ1s to make sure at least you have the basic supply voltages right.

[Balcmeg]

Measure the voltage at the following ζ1 U2 (TPS73633DCQR) pins. They should be close to these (relative to G):
pin 1: 5V
pin 2: 3.3V
pin 3: 0V
pin 5: 5V
mounting tab: 0V

Do this for both ζ1s to make sure at least you have the basic supply voltages right.

Z1:1, pin 1 & 5 are 4.75VDC (the one where LED are lit normally)
Z1:2, pin 1 & 5 are 4.6VDC (the one where LED are dimmed)

All other voltages are ok.

[amb]

Both are slightly low, are these the same as what the associated σ25 outputs (I believe that's what you're using to provide LVDD, correct)?
I am curious why you would get different readings on the two ζ1s.

Also check the VBUS pin on the ζ1 board connector (pin 29), relative to G. It should be 5V when the USB cable is connected to the computer, and 0V when it's not.

[Balcmeg]

Both are slightly low, are these the same as what the associated σ25 outputs (I believe that's what you're using to provide LVDD, correct)?
I am curious why you would get different readings on the two ζ1s.

Also check the VBUS pin on the ζ1 board connector (pin 29), relative to G. It should be 5V when the USB cable is connected to the computer, and 0V when it's not.

Hi Ti,

σ25 outputs:
Directly on J14 - 4.98VDC
With J14 connected - 4.96VDC
With J14 connected and G3 turned on - 4.96VDC
With z1:1 installed and G3 turned off - 4.95VDC
With z1:1 installed and G3 turned on - 4.92VDC
With z1:2 installed and G3 turned off - 4.95VDC
With z1:2 installed and G3 turned on - 4.85VDC

z1:1 at pin 29 (VBUS) no USB connected - 0.01VDC
z1:1 at pin 29 (VBUS) USB connected - 4.95VDC
z1:2 at pin 29 (VBUS) no USB connected - 0.005VDC
z1:2 at pin 29 (VBUS) USB connected - 4.95VDC

[amb]

OK, those numbers all look reasonable. Somehow there is a voltage drop from γ3 J14 to the ζ1's VDD_5V0 board connector by around 0.25V-0.3V. The only thing that might drop voltage is the load switch IC (γ3 U20), but I don't expect the drop to be quite this much. At any rate, these are regulated down to 3.3V on the ζ1 board so it is not a problem.

Do you have access to a Linux computer? When you connect the USB cable to the ζ1, it should be quite obvious what (if anything) happens by watching the syslog (usually /var/log/messages).

[Balcmeg]

OK, those numbers all look reasonable. Somehow there is a voltage drop from γ3 J14 to the ζ1's VDD_5V0 board connector by around 0.25V-0.3V. The only thing that might drop voltage is the load switch IC (γ3 U20), but I don't expect the drop to be quite this much. At any rate, these are regulated down to 3.3V on the ζ1 board so it is not a problem.

Do you have access to a Linux computer? When you connect the USB cable to the ζ1, it should be quite obvious what (if anything) happens by watching the syslog (usually /var/log/messages).

No Linux computer around at the moment. But maybe I can get the same info from Macos, since it's Linux based.

Will take some time to research this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[amb]

MacOSX is based on FreeBSD, not Linux. I don't think it has the same kernel logging mechanism as Linux. But I am not a MacOSX guy so I can't give you specific pointers. Apparently, after plugging in the γ3 to the USB port, you should be able to open an audio configuration setting program, and see a list of available audio devices (amongst which will be the "zeta1 USB-I2S Audio Widget"). You choose the one you want to use for audio playback.

Other MacOSX users please chime in with help, thanks.