Welcome to the latest update on BackBeat G2!  A. Shipping At the moment we are cautiously optimistic that shipping will start in October. Why the delay? Unsurprisingly our two main battles are Covid and chip shortages: Covid Several of our suppliers in China had to shut down for several weeks due to covid outbreaks. This affected communications, design, and shipping. One of our key team members was very sick for a couple of months. We're very thankful that he and his family have recovered and are doing well. Chip Shortages This is a historic time in the chip supply business,...

Testing This has been an intense time for testing the individual components and putting them through their paces. Our DSP software allows us to rapidly add elements to our program that affect the thump intensity output force, response over frequency ranges, headphone volume and EQ, etc. This is our current DSP schematic: The original BackBeat G1 had a low-pass filter only in the signal chain. This provides a frequency response between approx. 20-200Hz. It also had a natural frequency resonance around 60-80Hz. The rumble response is significantly more pronounced around these frequencies. For G2, we've included a compressor in the...

Component availability Yep, we've been hit with the worldwide chip availability bug. Specifically, our Bluetooth Module provider is completely sold out of their modules, here in the US and overseas.  For the last 5-6 weeks we've devoted our time to evaluating alternate components. Think of the Module as a car that needs to get us from A to B. Instead of buying a Ford, we're designing our trip with a Tesla. We still need 4 wheels, engine/motor, steering wheel, etc to get to our destination, but what we use will be different than originally designed. PCB redesign  As such, we've...

No, we haven't hired the Predator....(yet) This image is courtesy of a FLIR (forward looking infrared) camera which picks up surface temperatures and, in this case, converts them to colors.   You can see the charging chip as the hottest component at 114F (46degC) with heat radiating out and dissipating into the PCB. This test is during a full recharging cycle and ensures we are well below chip junction and operating temperatures.   We've also confirmed proper Li-Ion battery constant current/constant voltage charging parameters.    The blue curve (current) shows constant current charging while the green curve (voltage) rises to its...

The brain of BackBeat is the Bluetooth module. The module has memory storage which will contain all the code for the components on the BackBeat circuit board.  Right now we're working on finalizing the Battery Charging chip registers:  These set the parameters for charging such as: -maximum charging current. -input voltage limit. -input current limit. -termination current limit. -enable and disable charging.   There's also a host of Status and Fault information which will help us diagnose battery/charging issues. This is all to ensure proper charging, safety, charging efficiency, and prolonged battery life.    The battery chip also integrates with...

Hi everyone! Hopefully you were able to get in on the Super Early Bird pricing during the month of February. We've had a productive month on G2 and here are some highlights:  Circuit Board At the moment we are performing several tests on our development boards.  As you've seen from our features page, G2 is a mix of analog and digital circuitry. We're running audio tests to verify the fidelity of the headphone output. The tests will determine if we need to swap out/resize resistors and capacitors in the circuit.  We're also testing the signal input circuit with several basses,...