YAYUMA AWARENESS LINE PROCESSOR

Transcription

1 YAYUMA AWARENESS LINE PROCESSOR A few weeks after the Audio Video Show 2016, the creators of the YAYUMA AWARENESS LINE processor visited the editorial office of INFOAUDIO.PL again, this time due to several presentations which were to be given in Warsaw. Intrigued by the device, we decided to connect it to our audio chain and first learn how to use it. The mysterious nomenclature The emotions evoked by the show and the premiere are slowly falling, so the time has come to organize the knowledge about the processor itself. Let s start with the name: PONA sound is the name of YAYUMA s patented audio technology. The patent describes the algorithm which compensates for the lack of interpretation of crucial laws of physics. ASP awareness line is the name of YAYUMA s processor from the mid-priced range which implements the algorithm of the PONA sound technology. Design and connection The processor from the Awareness Line series is a fully balanced device. Additionally, you can feed the signal from an RCA input, in which case the signal is symmetrized at the outset and later processed as symmetrical. The inside is as neat as a pin. You can easily distinguish the sections of the left and right channel. The central part of the device is occupied by a part of an extended power supply with a shielded trafo by the rear wall. The entire processor is modular in order to remove a particular module, simply remove the screws and take out the module from a relevant slot located on the backplane. At the back, you will find solid Amphenol sockets. The most crucial PCBs have highly aesthetic shielding with the company logo. Perfection in every way.

2 Above, you can see the meticulously designed and neat interior. Certain components are isolated with shielding cans, eight in total. As declared by the manufacturer, all components of the device have the best possible parameters. All circuit boards inside the device have gold-plated traces. The entire processor can be divided into two parts: analogue and digital. An audio signal passes only through the analogue part; it isn t digitized anywhere, and it is routed the shortest possible path. The digital part is responsible for controlling the analogue part. It is separated from the analogue and contains 11 microprocessors connected via SPI. The YAYUMA processor should be connected between the source and the amplifier or preamplifier. A brief physics revision lesson the physical premise of the discovery What is YAYUMA s innovation all about? Let s see a simple experiment first. Part I You need any given speaker, to which you will plug a voltmeter. A good idea is to prepare a smartphone with a video recording function or just a video camera which can capture speaker movements and voltmeter readings all at once. The procedure: press the diaphragm 1cm down, hold it for 2 sec, go up by 0.5cm, hold for 3 sec, press 1.5cm down, hold for 1 sec, and let go. Part II Connect your adjustable power source to the same speaker. The procedure: adjust the voltage, trying to repeat the values recorded in part I (you have it on camera). Check if you have managed to

3 recreate the diaphragm movements from part I (which is the reverse of the microphone diaphragm movement). I have to warn you in advance you won t be able to achieve the same course of diaphragm movement as in part I. This is not possible, because the laws of physics which apply to these phenomena are two different laws. To put the history of this discovery in a nutshell, here s the conclusion: using a microphone, you record the velocity of the diaphragm movement, while the speaker is trying to recreate the position of the diaphragm, having at its disposal the recorded velocity/speed of the diaphragm movement. Hence, modern audio equipment cannot use its full potential. It lacks a lot of crucial information, particularly in the field of high frequency. The YAYUMA processor changes the way things are controlled so as to combine these two laws. With this change, the speaker begins to repeat the movements of the microphone diaphragm, and more precisely the reverse of this movement. Therefore, the implemented PONA sound technology has nothing to do with loudspeaker linearization. As the creators claim: these are two separate issues, and the company plans to implement the latter in the near future. How the processor works To best illustrate what the processor actually does with an audio signal, we will use graphs. See the first graph below. The green colour shows the course of the recorded audio signal (velocity of the microphone diaphragm movement); the red colour is the velocity of the loudspeaker diaphragm movement in the classic system. Graph 1. The recorded audio signal vs the response from the traditional system. You can clearly see that a lot of information was omitted. Frequent vibrations of low amplitude are higher frequency signals. Additionally, the signal is shifted in time. The next graph shows the attempt to improve the situation by means of equalization (12 db). To no avail, however.

4 Graph 2. The recorded audio signal vs modification of the signal by means of equalization. The following graph shows the response of the speaker (red) with the PONA sound technology applied. The speaker mimics the recorded signal. The phase equalization of the two signal courses occurs. The only deviations, which have little effect on the end result anyway, are located in the vertical plane and derive from the non-linearity of the converters themselves. Only the linearization of the converters will make it possible to perfectly recreate the source signal. Graph 3. The recorded audio signal vs the response of the system using the PONA sound technology. User s Manual The device is navigated from a multi-level menu. The first level offers the following: Input change: RCA/XLR Turning the processor on/off Depth control useful for EQ distorted CDs Fader control to reduce the output signal level

5 In the submenu (SETUP), you can perfectly adjust the input signal level to the ideal working conditions of the processor, i.e. to a region of the smallest distortion. For this purpose, feed the supplied test signal (sine, 0 db). Set such a value of the input level so that when feeding the test signal, the first red LED lights up on the display. The processor has filters which remove the constant component and sibilants. You can also save or load your personal settings. The processor comes with an aluminium remote control stylistically referring to the design of the device. The remote is a faithful copy of the fragment of the front panel. It has identical functions, which means the device can be operated with the remote or the front panel. The two manipulators located in the recess are used to navigate through the MENU. Hold the right manipulator down for about 4 seconds to enter the sleep mode. Hold the same manipulator in the opposite direction to turn the device on. Menu As indicated at the beginning: the menu is not very complicated, and mastering its functions won t take much time. The manipulator on the left (value) changes the MENU parameters. Move slightly up to navigate through the MENU, change the parameters, increase the db value, or exit the submenu. Move slightly down to navigate through the MENU, change the parameters, decrease the db value, or enter the submenu. Use the manipulator on the right (select) to turn the device on (ON), to enter the sleep mode (OFF), and to navigate through the MENU.

6 When in the sleep mode: move slightly up to turn the device on (ON); Move slightly down and hold for a few seconds to enter the sleep mode (OFF); Move slightly up or down to navigate through the MENU. Connecting to the system The processor from the Awareness Line series is a fully balanced device. The Power Supply with the switch on the rear panel separates the input/output sockets installed identically for the left and right channel. To perform the start-up or to change a digital audio source, we recommend following the steps provided by the manufacturer. Go to the SETUP/INPUT level in the menu. Feed the test signal (provided on the USB key) to the input of the processor. Set the db level so that the green and yellow LEDs and the first red LED light up. This setup provides an ideal adjustment of the input signal to the operating parameters of the circuits inside the processor. If the second pair of red LEDs lights up (and, as a result, all LEDs are lit up), it means that system clipping has occurred, which might generate distortion. You can save the settings to the selected memory bank or set other start-up parameters before final saving. At any time, you can load previously saved settings from the memory banks.