Survey for Model B Owners: Stereo Audio HAT

[CounterPillow]

Hello PINEfriends,

I'm considering designing a stereo audio board for the Quartz64 Model B, and wanted to gauge whether there's any interest in this.

The board would most likely be based around TI's PCM3060 audio codec, as it has good performance and mainline drivers. Additionally, an SPDIF output from the Quartz64 Model B's GPIO header would also be exposed as TOSlink. I also envision there being an external mute control based on the TI TS5A22362 to eliminate any power up/power down popping noises.

So here are a few questions for people to answer:

• If you are a current or prospective owner of a Quartz64 Model B, would you be interested in such a board?
  
• At which price point?
  
• How would you prefer your analog audio output, balanced with a hybrid XLR/6.35mm connector? Or single-ended/unbalanced with 3.5mm or RCA style connector?
  
• Do you want SPDIF as TOSlink or RCA?
  
• Do you need single-ended/unbalanced stereo analog audio input?
  
• What kind of heatsink do you use on your Model B?
  

[manning]

Bit late to the party, but in case it's still useful I've responded below.

If you are a current or prospective owner of a Quartz64 Model B, would you be interested in such a board?

Yes, but only once proper hardware-accelerated video decoding was implemented (e.g. netflix at full quality/speed through a browser), so I could replace my current setup (both video and audio use cases).   Unfortunately looks like 4k video decoding is still a way off.

At which price point?

Practically? Needs to be under the price of an equivalent USB DAC (under as the USB unit would be more flexible).

How would you prefer your analog audio output, balanced with a hybrid XLR/6.35mm connector? Or single-ended/unbalanced with 3.5mm or RCA style connector?

I don't think I have a strong preference.  A simple 3.5mm is slightly more practical, but it's also easy to adapt from a 6.35.

Do you want SPDIF as TOSlink or RCA?

TOSlink.

Do you need single-ended/unbalanced stereo analog audio input?

No.

What kind of heatsink do you use on your Model B?

None currently, although (an equivalent to) the smallest variety on the Pine64 store will come in time.