Dimehead Nam Player - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: nikitasius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2025, 11:34:16 am
content: Hi folks, here we can discuss Nam Player solution made by Dimehead. I won't put it into "dodgy-technology" because i actually don't own this device and can't buy it physically (being banned by seller). Hope someone will review the hardware part so moderator can move this topic if needed. I will review the software parts.About the techNAM or `neural amp modeler` is a predictive tech to modulate "what signal could be?" from a different devices or rigs. It do the tests again and again to try to adjust params and emulate the original signal from the sound device.IR or `impulse response` bunch of samples which define how the output signal wasalwaysmodified by the audio device. Simply it takes your signal, mod it as it sounds from guitar cab from your hifi speakers.About the device (shortly)Main website is:https://www.dimehead.de/It require 9-24v range PSU w/ 4.5W of power.You can upload your NAM profiles and it can load IR files upto 4096 samples and 48kHz.All useful photos i got from their FB and from them,gdrivelinkAbout the device via web & communicationsBack in days (may'2024) it used only 3.5W (https://web.archive.org/web/20240518100431/https://www.dimehead.de/), now it use 4.5W. Old headroom of this device was just 4 dBu, actual (devs confirmed) is 8 dBuCompared to other solutions from the market their website have just a tiny amount of information. So i decides to chat with them to know better about.So lets try a teardown it a bit as we could even if they think it's not their target audience:They do outsource for their PCBs somewhere and they do final operations in Germany. Where is their outsource - idk.Solution is pretty fast, it gives 0.8ms latency maximum. Other market solutions (which are more complex) gives 1ms--3ms depending of the mode.Input voltage is between 9-24v. They do double conversion input -> 5v -> 1.8 & 3.3 & ±15.Why could they do it? Good friend of mine share an idea that probably schema don't have a "powergood" supervisor. There are some chips which have to be powered in special order, start from 5 for example and then the rest. In modern systems there are special signal which run it all once all voltages are setted up. It's called powergood. The power supervisor chip usually handle it. It seems that they are aren't installed this chip, so we have 5v and the rest. And if it's the case thats wrong, cause they have to turn-off in reverse order. We have to remove 15v and then 5v. Depending of layout and components 15v can jump to 5v line.The voltages have less than 10uV of noise after themI asked them for the photo and they are shared it with meAlso answered more questions and 1st "don't trust - don't buy" while their TOS mention this "2.1. The display of products in the online shop is to be equated with an invitation to place an order and not a legally binding offer.Service descriptions included in catalogues or on the vendor’s websites are not to be equated with either a promise or a guarantee."link/webarchivefrom todayThey are also confirmed that they use AK4558EN & OP1678Confirmed the new headroom size 8dBu (old was 4 dBu regarding the music forum herepost/topic/page12And you can't download and open linux based firmware on opensource components (except their module) or they will ban you, no matter you wanted to buy it this week.Firmware review & teardown will be in next post. I will review all opensource stuff and f briefly their own app. There are some great solutions and optimisations.

author: nikitasius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2025, 02:34:46 pm
content: TL;DR:Raspi4 on bcm2711RTOS Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro) 4.0.14factory 2048 sample IR profiles on a device which support 4096The firmwares are found herehttps://www.dimehead.de/firmware/Also i keep the copy of thesepublic fileson a public read-only gdrive herehttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1F81oPMX4k2fl2DXVtQYwa5-lTl9WUFlBand sync them time to time.The actual list isCode:7ef44c7b9e5ff138e65d443f8989377ce97dacc9334bc4f2e7a769b5ca5b6985 NAMplayer0.9.1.zip7818dfd1e2b30d8cf569845275d00f2226fc2c60de63605eefb25b1df87ecf32 NAMplayer0.9.2.zip02f03d9d47211432cd780fd0df37d612efd57c0527b86711428f2e072419c7ad NAMplayer0.9.3.zip6e893881e9d5f2181c33362e0d095026c5fe70d641298c53ed619d68677164c1 NAMplayer0.9.4.zipae692e02f6048523d624b5064d9e7cd3d4f072e0692d1fc35c608e95048f5ddd NAMplayer0.9.5.zip8dfdd8b967b6b96f241edddbd1668dee05c5f79e0cc4f4a2176436cdcd238512 NAMplayer0.9.6.zip33ef011390faad61066a56e9a8253cc91e222eccce42794b3946c19f489249ec NAMplayer0.9.7.zip5924bb6d456643371d5389fecf23b7dfd164e95e99cdb34409f6a0cb7e27f459 NAMplayer0.9.8.zip6a35e2dcfb92739312659217083c7173804e04dfc61cd6886e579479eb03c3d4 NAMplayer0.9.9.1.zip025fe6d581243e6c0145835096401bc340acc8258e6d6e78a8456c06f3e5fac3 NAMplayer0.9.9.zip90660fee56bb0085edb2a227d6a633fbb03b92fd52eb8c5aa391ea26659d2814 NAMplayer1.0.1.zip332b3c1bfc2252ed22a77e2b53b0ac55cb76cae2f2a14cb72f7df55e7f6ac24a NAMplayer1.1.0.zipaa26048499bc00c3d63e10b43722610109cdfd7f4a0d75e14afbcbe35abafaa7 NAMplayer1.1.2.zipLet's take the lastone and open it, the `NAMplayer1.1.2.zip`. Inside you have 3 files:Code:861d6d7b9ea22a3443e0958a856f59d6bad0a0d6d2aa2731a144aad768b39bc7 boot.img1e1761ce8942c56ed15d81cd8ca794261475ffd78070c6a3de452fa078100e32 boot.sig38804695d9d544e2a176723f19ec4f60af4ac9193f082165b3c6d7c96d37fede namplayer.fwwe're interrested by `boot.img` & `namplayer.fw`.I run a debian, so all happens under debian.Code:mkdir bootimgmount -o loop boot.img bootimgand boot.img is mounted in bootimg folder which is freshly created.inside we haveCode:d4eb975d2155940879fea0e9e524d128f0789745e19ea57f0b83d776154eebaa bcm2711-rpi-cm4.dtb1110b7fa27e7d1097c798b9d13affef44a0cb201b2ffbadbbc37521b67553697 cmdline.txtf42bdc49b1edea55ed7835b8dbd1fc1e6a8243c199b36048baee8fe0df8f5b98 config.txt8165504ba4c161f31ce22af614b29a1edaf044ee43658b493496a8dcba5704b5 fixup4cd.data19c4005fb581e5a23aec90e056905434c00eb7b50ef2a4a4cee193d1e9f668a Image.bin1478b85147164bda554825ec9d5818bfe56fa60bd113910031e90fbf5ab5bf90 image-updater.cpio.gz8e86f2f8d3cb8d5f9db4ab0decd13d8e704b1a01273c0b5d54a169be08c03849 start4cd.elf`bcm2711-rpi-cm4.dtb` contain hw list of devices. What can i see is they run 4 core BCM2711 ARM CPU on a BCM2835 chipset. That whole setup is based on `Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4` and comparing power consumption 4.5W from website it matching 4.5W of raspi4, boot args are `coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=1 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=0 spidev.bufsiz=12288`.If you want to know more you have to run `dtc -I dtb -O dts bcm2711-rpi-cm4.dtb` and browser a huge output.config.txt is basic they enable uart & otg modes, in cmd line they isolate cores 2 & 3 from kernel, so kernel can use only 2 cores from 4. 1st CPU optimisation.`Image.bin`, `fixup4cd.dat` & `start4cd.elf` are standard files for raspi. You can check them always btw. Latest originals are usually herehttps://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/tree/master/boot.We're interrested by `image-updater.cpio.gz`:Code:1.1M bin4.0K boot4.0K dev708K etc8.0K home4.0K init5.4M lib4.0K log_lock.pid4.0K media4.0K mnt4.0K proc4.0K run2.6M sbin4.0K sys4.0K tmp20M usr52K var`/etc/issue` tells us "Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro) 4.0.14", the Yocto Linux from Yocto Peoject or the RTOS they are spoke about. Good point!So here we see RTOS on Raspi4But where is the rest? Well the rest is in handmade scripts & `namplayer.fw` fileThere are few, we need `/usr/sbin/decrypt.sh` and the line #37. Idk if passphase is changed everytime, so i will write in general:open console in the folder w/ `namplayer.fw` & replace `IDONTBANPEOPLE` with their actual passphraseCode:mkdir firmwaregpg -qd --passphrase "IDONTBANPEOPLE" --batch namplayer.fw | tar x -C firmwareif you did all well and there are no surprise you will get the files inside `firmware` folderCode:696ac55e01d907e966f356c440f95715cd2f6aeed0bfbabd6a7526aa4f6c6332 boot.img3879c9bcd5a9c8e516f7cd064e686e92698e694d983c7ff1016b06047c9c818e boot.sig317771d33750f5bc6954e905c5dd04ca3f1259bb679bb478c83af3fd6b9193a2 rootfs.tar.lz477123b8e4bdbd54505bf6e8021527ac60281602a06fe307564532c4dba39dbca version.txtYeah! We have to mount again boot.imgCode:mkdir bootimgmount -o loop boot.img bootimgand we'll get the filesCode:d4eb975d2155940879fea0e9e524d128f0789745e19ea57f0b83d776154eebaa bcm2711-rpi-cm4.dtbb7ab18ce4680306c869343d565c69f13577728e5d91f99565d84ee84a7f5fb13 cmdline.txtcb3b769e44cc12e92bbc06f7d5ecd87efbe4d6023f4ad0fc77ab42332f49dbce config.txt8165504ba4c161f31ce22af614b29a1edaf044ee43658b493496a8dcba5704b5 fixup4cd.dat7c1f87cedb77df7cf3804ac40ff94010c2aeed96c36978e9ffc795fd03724ac3 Image.bin8e86f2f8d3cb8d5f9db4ab0decd13d8e704b1a01273c0b5d54a169be08c03849 start4cd.elfhere we see 2nd optimisation, after all is installed `isolcpus=1,2,3`, mean only 1 core from 4 is used by kernel now and 3/4 are by the software part (cause it have to run nam module and RT emulations!)The stuff we need is in `rootfs.tar.lz4`. Lets unpack it `lz4 -d rootfs.tar.lz4 | tar xvf -` and get list of files:Code:740K bin19M boot52M data4.0K dev396K etc8.0K home3.9M lib20K licenses4.0K media4.0K mnt4.0K proc8.0K run1.3M sbin4.0K sys0 tmp5.0M usr36K var4.0K version.txtWhat we did since? We few basic tools we have in our linux on this linux. The opensource OS. Great!They are aren't agree and i will tell you why:`/data/Factory` contain their factory presets (.nam / .ir / .reverb).Website says:> The NAM player features a powerful Impulse Response (IR) loader that supports IRs up to 4096 samples in length, providing incredibly detailed and accurate cabinet simulations.> The impulse response cab simulation supports wav files of a length up to 4096 samples at 48 kHz sample rate (will be resampled automatically). There is also a reverb effect, which can load impulse responses of up to 60 seconds.In a may'2024 they had also (webarchivelink ):> IR: Add a a speaker impulse response (up to 4096 samples @ 48 kHz = 85 ms)which is disappeared.Having this in TOS:> 2.1. The display of products in the online shop is to be equated with an invitation to place an order and not a legally binding offer. Service descriptions included in catalogues or on the vendor’s websites are not to be equated with either a promise or a guarantee.Doesn't assure me.So i took their file `1x12closed_EVM12_E906.ir` and imported as a RAW file in Audacity.and i see 43mswhich is value for 2048 sample IR.So i asked them why did they put 2048 files on a device which support 4096? And they are banned me.From my point of view:* support != useI wanted to know if namplayer use IRs as is or downsampling them.. for these purposes i have to disassemble `/usr/sbin/namplayer` file but it will be the only closed-source part of the system. So i won't touch it and it will economy my time. FIY Namplayer use NE10 which is under BSD-3, DRWAV under MIT and it call also SOXR under LGPL-2.1.From my personal points i love, truly love:Possible to load public NAMs & IRs via file transfersFirmware aren't weird proprietary and it's linux based so to we can mod it and make betterSuppose to be custom version of Raspi motherboard w/ 1Gig or ramWe can open device and mod the PCBWell drew UISmart idea w/ reverb (it's a sound pattern which the app mix w/ your sound in realtime,guess)Core isolation to run whole setup on 3 full coresAnd sure, this idea: examine the market, pickup the best ideas, make a commercial product and add personal touch. I like & respect it.But their reaction makes me sad and i know that i won't buy this deviceActually they are in silence mode. I don't see on website any updates.They must at least add:specify DAC/ADC bit/kHzspecify THDsspecify in clear english that device load the NAM profiles as is and use them without modificationsspecify in clear english that device load IR profiles upto 4096 samples at 48kHz and use them as it without downscaling samples and the only modification they do could be sample rate adjustement via soxr to match 48kHz if profile aren't match 48kHz.And, sure, remove:QuoteHonestly "Service descriptions" or maybe "Product"? Or whatever they wanted to say confuse me a lot. But the phrase in english which is pretty clear is "descriptions included in catalogues or on the vendor’s websites are not to be equated with either a promise or a guarantee." is pretty clear for me and unacceptable for commercial goods.

author: nikitasius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 09:26:38 am
content: My 2 cents:Just imagine how namplayer could be improved if it will be opensource & will have some ASM codeblocks? How it could be awesome if it will support external plugins. New groupd of people will buy this nerdy device and make their own plugins.NDSP or Kemper are proprietary and you just do/share presets. But here you can create an entire community around your device and your future devices! Dimehead should thank community for questions & help and not to ban.

author: nikitasius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 08:48:16 am
content: Hi folks, as i promised: i asked them 1 week ago share and confirm specs (the secret listi copied from theBoss website):OUTCode:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Email: 06/03/2025, 10:09Subject: Dimehead NAM Player information requestHello, MKFS electronics Gesellschaft mit beschränkter HaftungI expressly inform you that i request technical information about the device before i set up an order.The list of characteristics where guarantee is requested are:HardwareSampling FrequencyAD/DA conversionSignal processingNormal input levelMaximum input levelInput impedanceNormal output levelMaximum output levelOutput impedanceRecommended load impedanceControlsDisplayIndicatorsConnectorsPower supply (if not supplied, have to provide the requirements)Current drawPower consumption when in OFF modeAccessories (if exists)Options (if sold separately)Software (v1.1.2 (03.03.2025))EffectsMemoryTuner internal detectionNAM profile configurationmaximum possible configuration (dilations, neurons etc)post-modification (if applied after loading)IR profile configurationminimum possible configuration (sample number, sampling frequency, resolution)maximum possible configuration (sample number, sampling frequency, resolution)post-modification (if applied after loading)Legal documentsEMC/FCC certificate in PDFUser manualEU recycling manual/recommendationsRequested due "9.2. The goods supplied by the vendor are only subject to a guarantee if the customer was expressly informed of such a guarantee and the terms thereof prior to the commencement of the order process." from your "Terms and Conditions" .https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Themes/default/images/bbc/quote.gifSincerely,--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------INCode:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Email: 06/03/2025, 11:05Subject: Re: Dimehead NAM Player information requestHi Nikitasius,Please provide us with your full postal address so that we can have the documents legally served by our attorney.Best regards,Dirk--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------OUTCode:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Email: 06/03/2025, 15:04Subject: Re: Dimehead NAM Player information requestHi Dirk,Email work faster. I requested the information the way you offer it on your official website. So you could attach requested files here. Technical presentation & datasheets (not requested but i will friendly accept them) are usually have small size. If the information you will share confirm specs from your website i could buy the device. So you will get my home address for DHL to send me an item.Btw, from how in Germany attorneys are serving for tech docs / presentations? In my practice in France we're use them for TOS & Privacy purposes. Just curious.Sincerely,--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Well, i won't buy this particular device from these particular people.

author: Fragile_Guit
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 24, 2025, 06:42:32 pm
content: Hey Nikitasius,thanks for all the effort you have put in this. It's really sad to read how dimehead reponds to your messages. The device could be sooo much better if anyone could colaborate regarding the firmware. I own the device for almost a year and still wait for tiny features that could be developed in a few days I guess...CheersThe Fragile Guit