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Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

jamesbvaughan.com

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Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#111

Post by IshKebab »

criddell wrote: post #87
laurencei wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah - I actually asked on the Discord if anyone was selling them pre-made - I would buy some if available. I dont have time/tools etc to do this.

If it’s $200 in parts then a premade item would be at least $400 and probably $500. There probably isn’t much of a market at those prices. The bill of materials needs to come way down to sell it for much less than that. Buying the parts in hobbyist-level bulk (100 pcs) probably would only shave $100 from the final price.

Easily $600. Especially considering how niche this is.

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#112

Post by RobotCaleb »

stavros wrote: post #110
taneq wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, this has been on my to-build list for ages, right up there with the 6 axis “3D mouse” build. I love the attention to detail.

I made a SpaceMouse the other day, it was really easy, mostly just the print. It took around an hour to assemble everything, I think? It also worked very well.

Which one did you make?

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#113

Post by jdsully »

jamesbvaughan wrote: post #36
swyx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

spotify has so many user hostile practices that I am completely mystified why the majority of the population seems to prefer them in a world where youtube music exists.

The only competitor that I've given a fair shot is Apple Music. I'm not thrilled with either. Between those two, Spotify wins solely for Spotify Connect. I much prefer the way it works to AirPlay. I haven't really tried YouTube Music, but I'll give it a go. I've been meaning to try out Tidal too but haven't yet.

With youtube premium you get no ads on youtube and youtube music. Its a great deal.

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#114

Post by stavros »

RobotCaleb wrote: post #112
stavros wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a SpaceMouse the other day, it was really easy, mostly just the print. It took around an hour to assemble everything, I think? It also worked very well.

Which one did you make?

This one is my make:

https://www.printables.com/model/908684-spacemouse-mini-slim...

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#115

Post by msephton »

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...

Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

- This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#116

Post by vunderba »

netsharc wrote: post #86
albert_e wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow! I had dreamed of physical "analog" controls as a standard feature on keyboards and input devices for various applications -- would be great productivity booster for power users. I wish this catches on and gets mass adoption.

Logitech has such a keyboard: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/craft.920-...

Nice - be interesting to see what kind of integrations they have for the knob (at a bare minimum I better be able to play break out and scrub video in da Vinci).

I use a Keychron Q2 which has a dial at the top-right - it's mostly pretty good though I wish it were a little bit easier to program and of course it doesn't have haptic feedback.

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q2-pro-qmk-via-wi...

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#117

Post by auc »

albert_e wrote: post #49
laurencei wrote: post #32

Hey OP - if your thinking about a smart knob with haptic feedback etc - check this open source project out that you can build yourself - its amazing: https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob Video demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip641WmY4pA&t=1s

Wow! I had dreamed of physical "analog" controls as a standard feature on keyboards and input devices for various applications -- would be great productivity booster for power users. I wish this catches on and gets mass adoption.

The Das keyboard has a volume knob that’s pretty nice

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#118

Post by globular-toast »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #96
Endurancee wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality of active speakers are really good these days, they have matched amps and speakers from neumann, genelec etc also has active crossover which is superior than any passive setup. Mature market sure, but even companies like KEF who didn't offered or focussed much on active systems, have growing range of options now.

Nobody is arguing their quality is bad, but that amps die long before speakers die. Do passive speakers even die? Also, online services built into these will die before the speakers do.

Passive speakers can often be repaired anyway. My oldest pair is from 1972. It's had new tweeters and I've refoamed the woofers.

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#119

Post by layer8 »

christina97 wrote: post #76

For those considering buying speakers: (1) do it, (2) get passive ones and a separate amp. Honestly it’s such a mature market that buying these active speakers just creates e-waste. Keep the e-waste to the amp. You can get really solid speakers for $300 and a cheap amp with BT for $50-100, replacing them basically independently depending on your needs.

Active crossovers usually sound better than passive ones, and with active speakers the amp is generally better matched to the drivers. In addition, speaker design keeps evolving, as does people’s budgets, so it’s likely you’ll want something else in 10-20 years.

I also never had an amp fail other than by cranking it up too high with the wrong speakers.

Re: Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

#120

Post by rahimnathwani »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #23
jamesbvaughan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case, I was using the optical out from a WiiM mini into a Yamaha amp. I don't know much about digital audio, but I know that I was able to control the volume of the WiiM's digital output with that setup. On the other hand, I use a Schiit Asgard at my desk, where I have it connected to my Mac via USB-C. In that setup, I have no control over the volume level going in to the Asgard. MacOS just disables the softw…

I think for a WiiM mini to control the volume on the digital output, it would need to scale down every sample. This is probably fine over some range (it has a 24 bit output, so putting the volume at two thirds, would still result in 16 bits, the same as CD). But I'm curious what would happen at very low volumes, e.g. if you're down to only 4 bits.

Too late to edit my original comments. I am clearly mistaken about the relationship between amplitude and perceived loudness.
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