​

Quick Navigation

Limited 3 Year Warranty

Echo warrants its products to be free of manufacturing defects for a period of three years from the date of purchase. Any product covered under a valid Echo new product warranty—where the damage is not caused by owner misuse or abuse (see Warranty Exclusions, below)—will be repaired or replaced by Echo free of charge. Please see the full Echo Warranty Policy for more information.

Regulatory Compliance Information

Echo Digital Audio has conformed and this product conforms, where applicable, to the European Union’s Directive 2002/95/EC on Restrictions of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) as well as the following sections of California law which refer to RoHS, namely sections 25214.10, 25214.10.2, and 58012, Health and Safety Code; Section 42475.2, Public Resources Code.As with the disposal of all old electrical and electronic equipment, this product is not to be treated as regular household waste. Instead, it shall be handed over to the applicable collection point for the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment.

CE Compliant RoHS WEEE

​

1. Introduction

The Echo ATS Test System is a USB 2.0 compliant audio test platform compatible with ASIO and WASPI drivers on Windows computers and Core Audio on Macintosh (Mac) computers. When coupled with a computer running test software, ATS forms a complete system for testing digital and analog audio electronics and acoustics in consumer and professional products. Echo ATS products are ideally suited for a high-volume production environment where testing occurs on a continual basis. Echo ATS combines the functionality of multiple pieces of test equipment into a single, integrated device for increased reliability at a reduced cost. In addition to audio testing, it has the capability to control measurement fixtures. Figure 1: Echo ATS Test System

​

2. Installation

​

Hardware Setup

​

Driver Installation

​

3rd Party Test and Measurement Software

The Echo ATS Test System may be used with a wide variety of 3rd party test and measurement software via the Echo ATS ASIO driver. Because ASIO is a digital interface, all levels are communicated between the hardware and software as digital values, and there’s no inherent conversion to actual analog I/O values when using an analog interface. To properly do the conversion, the software needs to know the correct scaling factor, which defines the relationship between analog voltage and digital full-scale level (0 dBFS). The scaling factors for different types of inputs and outputs are typically different. For example, the scaling factor of a line-level output will be different than for a speaker output, because the maximum voltage of a speaker output is much greater. Although scaling factors can be determined by experimentation using a calibrated voltage meter, we provide you with the correct scaling factors for our hardware, so that you can simply enter these values into the appropriate settings in the measurement software that you are using.

​

Scaling Factors Reference

​

3. ATS Control Panel

​

Overview

The control panel controls and monitors the following ATS hardware functions:

• Analog input and output gain
• Constant-current power to microphones
• TEDS data
• Level meters
• Firmware update
• WASAPI and ASIO driver settings
• Clock source and status
• Diagnostic logging and directory

The tabs and drop-down menus are described in the text that follows. If the control panel is not already installed, please see the Echo Driver Software section on page . The control panel is for ATS hardware control only. It does not perform any audio analysis. Channels Tab The Echo Acoustic Test System Inputs and Outputs are configurable for testing different types of devices (i.e., acoustic, line level, headphone, or speaker). When you configure ATS I/O for testing different types of devices, it adjusts the relative voltage and phase based on the desired setup.

​

Options Tab

The Options tab contains information about the connected ATS test system and allows various configuration options to be set. Its controls and indicators are described below.

​

Device

• Serial Number: Unique serial number for the device. This can also be found on the bottom of the unit.
• Firmware: Displays the current firmware version and allows you to manually update or revert to the factory supplied version.
• Auto-update firmware: When checked, you will be prompted to update the firmware if the control panel includes a later version than is already installed.
• Logging: Enables diagnostic logging. You typically do not need to enable logging unless requested by Echo support.
• Log directory: Directory where the log file will be stored.

​

Clock

• Source: Selects the clock source as Internal (the ATS’s built-in crystal oscillator).
• Sample rate: Shows the ASIO clock rate selected in the measurement software.

​

Control Panel

• Show window when ATS connects: Shows the control panel window when the ATS test system is connected.
• Show system tray icon: Shows the control panel icon in the system tray when running.
• GPU accelerated rendering: When checked, allows the GPU (graphics card) to offload from the CPU the task of redrawing of the control panel meters.

​

Driver

• Version: Currently installed driver version.
• ASIO name: Shows the name of the Echo ASIO driver as it will be displayed in the measurement software.
• Windows system audio (WASPI): Enables the Windows WASAPI audio driver. Leave this unchecked unless you are running software that only supports WASAPI and does not support ASIO.

​

File Menu

The File menu allows you to open and save sessions. An ATS session stores all the current hardware settings in a text file that can be used to reset the hardware to a previous state. Additionally, the ATS command-line application can read session files, so you can fully configure the ATS, save the configuration as a session, and then later load all those settings using a single command-line call. It is not usually necessary to directly edit the session file, as the easiest way to construct it is simply to set the control panel up as desired and then save the session. It can be, however, be easily edited in a text editor.

​

4. Analog Outputs

​

Overview

The ATS provides four configurable analog output channels with three distinct operating modes optimized for different test scenarios. Channels 1 and 2 are fully configurable between all three modes, while channels 3 and 4 are dedicated amplifier outputs.

​

Output Configuration

The output level of each channel is displayed both on a horizontal bar graph and numerically. Use the drop-down control to select the desired units (dBFS, percentage, or voltage).

​

Output Mode Specifications

Mode	Configuration	DC Offset	Max Output	Ground Connection
AMP	Floating differential	7.5V	12.4Vpp	Do NOT Connect
HP	Single-ended	0V	8.5Vpp	Required (shared)
LINE	Balanced	0V	22.6Vpp	Optional

​

Output Modes

​

5. Analog Inputs

​

Microphone / Line Inputs

Inputs with BNC connectors are available for connecting externally polarized or prepolarized constant current (CCP/IEPE/ICP, 4 mA) microphones, or unbalanced line-level inputs. Input gain control, constant current supply, DC coupling, and TEDS reading are available at each input and are under software control via the ATS control panel. The mic/line inputs are designed to accommodate a very wide range of input voltages, from extremely low-level dynamic microphones all the way to line level inputs. To cover such a wide range of voltages, five input gain levels (+0 db, +10 db, +20 db, +30 db, +40 db) are available. The gain settings are individually adjustable for each channel. Keep in mind that setting the input gain higher will also amplify the noise floor, so the best practice is to use the lowest gain setting needed for a particular application. This will result in the best dynamic range for the measurements.

​

Inputs Channel Tab

Input channels are similarly shown on the right side of the Channels tab. The input level of each channel is displayed both on a horizontal bar graph and numerically. Use the drop-down control to select the desired units. Mic/line inputs contain the following additional controls: Gain: Sets gain to +0 db, +10 db, +20 db, +30 db or +40 db to accommodate a wide range of signal levels. TEDS: Displays the TEDS (Transducer Electronic Data Sheet) information reported back from the attached microphone, if the microphone supports it. See the TEDS section below for more details. CC: Toggle the constant current supply (CCP/IEPE/ICP) to power prepolarized measurement microphones. DC: Toggle DC coupling Click the caret to expand or condense the channel display for each module type. In the condensed view, only the bar-graphs are visible.

​

TEDS

When the TEDS button is clicked, the TEDS data window will be displayed. If the attached microphone does not support TEDS, then a message “TEDS device not found” will be shown instead of the data. TEDS data is not automatically transferred to the audio analysis software—it must be copied and pasted or manually entered into the appropriate field(s). Data may easily be copied by clicking the icon to the right of each line. Sensitivity is displayed by default in units of Volt/Pascal. Some audio test software, such as Audio Precision’s APx500 Flex, requires the sensitivity data to be entered in units of Pascals/Volt (also called the “scaling factor”). Checking the “Show inverse units” checkbox at the bottom will switch the “Sensitivity @ reference condition” units to Pascals/Volt.

​

Impedance Measurement

The ATS provides real-time impedance measurement capability for characterizing speakers, headphones, drivers, and other loads across different frequencies. This feature works in either LINE and AMP output modes using Output 1.

​

How It Works

The impedance measurement system uses a four-wire (Kelvin) measurement technique:

​

Configuration

Simplified circuit diagram showing VMON and IMON configuration

​

6. Digital IO

The ATS includes SPDIF digital audio input and output on BNC connectors located on the rear panel. The system provides two input channels and two output channels that can operate simultaneously with the analog I/O.

​

Specifications

The digital interface uses consumer SPDIF format (IEC60958) with 24-bit resolution and supports standard sample rates from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz. The SPDIF signal is self-clocking, extracting timing from the digital stream itself. Digital channels map to the ASIO driver as:

• Input: Channels 9 and 10
• Output: Channels 5 and 6

​

Control Panel

In the Channels tab, the Digital In and Digital Out sections show real-time levels for channels Dig 1 and Dig 2. Levels display in either dBFS or percentage.
The Options tab contains a Digital IO dropdown menu to select between:

• SPDIF Mode: Standard digital audio operation
• Word Clock Mode: Synchronization input/output

​

Word Clock Mode

When set to Word Clock mode, the system can accept an external word clock for synchronization or generate a word clock output. The Options tab displays the detected input frequency when a word clock signal is present. A 75Ω termination option ensures proper impedance matching.

​

Aux (GPIO)

The ATS features 4 TTL level inputs and 4 open drain TTL level outputs capable of sinking up to 250mA of current on a female 9 pin locking D-sub connector. They allow sending and receiving switch closure information under program control for interfacing to other test or display devices. A simple application of this feature would be to illuminate a Pass/Fail light-bar based on test results. Navigate to the Aux tab in the control panel to monitor and control the auxiliary inputs and outputs.

​

Contact Information