MAX98390 Sound Studio - Override I2C Error

Hello,

Just to clarify. You are using your own PCB that has the MAX98390 and you are connecting to your board with a jumper from the eval board? You are not just using the AUDINT3 board to connect to your board but you have the AUDINT3 board connected to the eval board that is connected to your board. Is that correct? 

Dave T

Yes, that's correct.

We have a MAX98390 on our production board and are using the AUDINT3 board to connect to the bus. I'd like to use the GUI of both Max Studio and the MAX98390 application to perform tuning of our production board, in it's enclosure, with it's speaker and battery.

Yes, that's correct.

We have a MAX98390 on our production board and are using the AUDINT3 board to connect to the bus. I'd like to use the GUI of both Max Studio and the MAX98390 application to perform tuning of our production board, in it's enclosure, with it's speaker and battery.

Hello,

DSM Sound Studio is setup to evaluate and tune the MAX98390C/D with addresses of 0x70 or 0x72, if the software sees other addresses on the I2C line the software will flag it. This restriction is to ensure that the specific MAX98390 is being written to correctly. Sorry for this inconvenience.

Best regards,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Is there any way to disable this? 

Hello,

No, this restriction cannot be disabled in the software.

Thanks for the reply, however this is far from ideal. In our product the MAX98390 is downstream from SBC / LDAC or AAC decoding. The results are strikingly different from that of the development board, with its un-encoded (Signed Linear 32 / 16 bit PCM audio) from a PC...

Hello,

Let me discuss with the team to see if there is something that might be contributing to the audio difference.

Best regards,

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, we are trying to push the best quality we can at high volumes and SBC encoding over Bluetooth Classic isn't really isn't doing us any favors. Ideally we would like to tune things like DRC and the De-buzzer using Sound Studio while music is playing or a conversation is ongoing.

Hello,

Discussed with the team just now, Michael from the core design team will be responding shortly. He did tell me that DSM Sound Studio is designed to work only with the MAX98390C/D Evaluation Board, and the eval board was designed to be connected to the prototypes and wired out pre-production systems for tuning purposes.

Best regards,

Andrew

Hello Kevin,

DSM Sound Studio is designed to work only with the MAX98390C/D Evaluation System.

Main reason for this is because DSM Sound Studio requires the specialized hardware for the Characterization/Parameter Extraction feature to function properly.  

That said, however, the MAX98390 Evaluation System was designed such that it can easily be connected to any speaker to be used for acoustic tuning of all prototypes and mockups, final speaker designs etc. 

Using an acoustic mockup that is representative of the final acoustic system, the internal wires to the speaker need first to be electrically separated from the rest of the system, and then the speaker connections brought out externally using wires (acoustically sealed). The wires can then be connected to the output of the MAX98390 Evaluation System using the banana connectors or bare wires via J3 or thumb-screw terminals.

After parameter extraction is performed on this mockup, it can then be tuned using DSM Sound Studio and using any audio content.

Regards,

Michael

Hi MichaelT ,

Thanks for your prompt reply... So yes, we are aware we can tune it on the board in our enclosure. But things sound very different post SBC / AAC / LDAC encoding / decoding, as performed by a connected phone and our production board... Instead, we get a very different sound than the crisp PCM from the dev board, connected over USB. 

For example the DRC is completely un-needed with the dev kit, and our enclosure, but onto our production board it really helps, along with the debuzzer after all this SBC (from 20 years ago) encoding.

It's not possible for us to change one register, re-flash, and test. This would take years and the tool is right in front of us, with some weird restriction.

Are you guys able to comment it out and send me a build?

Unfortunately, we cannot comment and send a quick build. I will submit a request to the SW Dev Team for this modification for next release.

One possible way: feed the I2S signal from the source into the EVK, using AUDINT3 for I2C and not I2S. This can be done by physically disconnecting the AUDINT3 from the Development Board and wiring four signal jumpers between the two boards (plus GND). I2S can then be fed from any external source, as long as it is 1.8V level. DSM Sound Studio should work in this way.

See below diagram...

Regards,

Michael