U-HEAR – USB High-end Audio Receiver Firmware Solution
U-HEAR is a microcontroller-based audio streaming and processing solution for HiFi DAC and amplifier applications. It implements a USB audio class 2.0 compliant playback interface compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux hosts. For Windows, a bit-perfect, high-res audio driver is included.
Thesycon provides a firmware solution for selected microcontrollers. A customer is required to integrate the solution into the target hardware design. A typical application scenario is shown below.
Feature Summary – USB High-end Audio Receiver
USB Audio:
- USB audio class 2.0 compliant isochronous streaming
- Asynchronous clocking model, audio streams synchronized to master oscillator
- 32-bit PCM sample format up to 768 kHz sampling rate
- Native DSD up to DSD1024
- DSD over PCM (DoP) up to DSD256
- DSD support compatible with Windows driver and Linux
Audio Processing:
- DSP plugin interface for integration of custom up-sampling algorithm
- Integer or floating-point processing supported
- DSP parameter control via I2C or USB
DAC Output:
- I2S compliant digital interface for connecting a DAC
- 32-bit PCM format up to 768 kHz sampling rate
- DSD format up to DSD1024
Digital Output:
- I2S compliant digital interface for additional output such as SPDIF
- 32-bit PCM format up to 768 kHz sampling rate (can be limited to 192 kHz)
Digital Input:
- I2S compliant digital interface for connecting external digital sources such as SPDIF
- 32-bit PCM format up to 768 kHz sampling rate
- DSD format up to DSD1024
- Internal sampling frequency detector
Control Interface:
- Control and status register set accessible via I2C
- Interrupt line for notifications on status register changes
- Various output pins which reflect current status such as sample rate, PCM/DSD format, etc.
- Various input pins for configuration of firmware behavior
USB HID Consumer Control:
- Multimedia key events can be sent to the host for controlling a player application
- For example: Volume Up, Volume Down, Play, Pause, Fast Forward, Fast Backward etc.
- Key events can be summited by external controller via I2C
Firmware Update:
- Firmware update via USB supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Firmware update utility with graphical user interface available for Windows and macOS
Custom Extensions:
- Private control interface for external controllers/DSPs can be routed over USB
- Integration of additional control interfaces such as UART or SPI
Supported MCUs
- ST STM32H743 (32-bit Arm Cortex-M7 CPU core with FPU, 400 MHz speed)
Supported Operating Systems
U-HEAR works with built-in drivers on Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Linux.
To enable the full feature set, specifically native DSD playback, a custom driver for Windows 10 and 11 is available.
Software made in Germany
Our software is purely designed and implemented by our team in Germany - no outsourcing. Technical support is provided directly by the developers.
Licensing conditions & Prices
© 2023 THESYCON
