@jmag99, if wish, can have my 4 eyes review the schematic in private. we are not audio developers but have reviewed the XHRA ref design to death.
the datasheet states in Section 8 of the datasheet:
To assure a low value, a pull-down resistor is required if other external devices are connected to this port.
So we have always understood this to mean that external parking resistors ARE required for the pull-down or pull-up since the external device is the mated SPI / QSPI flash
It will be interesting to check if the XMOS ref designs with the XCORE-200 series contain similar external parking resistors or not.
Even though it may sound redundant, apply a pull-down resistor of say 3k3-10k onto each of the following lines X0D06, X0D05, X0D04, respectively. Perhaps during boot time, the XU208 does NOT see all of these 3 lines as low and enters some goofy state (in a non-Disney way). What is the result if you do apply such external pull-down resistors?
USB Vbus has the recommended filter to limit the inrush current? **very important** else you will face field failures. for our USB designs, we use the Diodes Inc. USB load switch which has a number of nice features including soft-start, etc. in a single device.
SS (slave select) is pin X0D01 if using boot from QSPI master - is this the pin you are checking and remains low during boot time or even in reset?
anything else camped (other loads?) onto X0D01 pin?
the boot flash is enabled with the QSPI bit = 1 for QSPI mode? Although the XMOS processor needs to access the flash using X0D01 pin being high.
if possible, consider to configure the xmos cpu to boot from standard SPI flash and map the proper SPI pins on the XU208 -> just force the XMOS CPU to blink an LED or pulse a port pin so you can confirm the widget is operational. Be sure to apply a strong pull-up of 3k3 as noted in the data sheet to force the XU208 to boot from normal SPI flash (not QSPI flash).