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Tablets to external USB DAC

post #1 of 38
6/18/11 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 

Other than iPad via its USB Camera kit,

does anyone here know which one of these tablets can connect to an external USB DAC?

Galaxy Tab, Acer Iconia, Dell Streak, HP Touch, etc?

It will only be used as transport for playing my media files.

 

Thanks

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post #2 of 38
6/18/11 at 9:57pm

From what I've gathered from a quick search, the iPad has larger storage space, and better battery life than any other tablet. I'm curious, why you're looking elsewhere.

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post #3 of 38
6/18/11 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 

Why not iPad:

 

1. It sells for around 750-800 bucks here in my country (bundled with blablabla provider's stuff :) ).

2. 10" inches is somewhat too big for me (i don't play games and I don't intend to watch movie on this tablet), that's why I included 7" Galaxy tab and dell streak.

3. Storage on other tablets actually can go bigger, they support external flash storage card.

4. 50% (or more) of my music stored as FLAC, converting them to ALAC or WAV surely takes a lot of time.

5. I'm not an Apple fans ;)

6. And just like the first phrase on my post, I am looking for options.

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post #4 of 38
6/19/11 at 1:59am

If Apple continues on its relentless juggernaut towards world domination, there will not be any options. You are to commended for  choosing the less travelled road. Damn you apple and your sexy designs, friendly user interface and innovative technology.  

 

Where are you located? 

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post #5 of 38
6/19/11 at 2:24am

I did not went this way. I bought HM-602 which sounds better to me than any USB DACs I tried, including Pico, DACport, D12, HDP. And yes, it plays from USB also. But why will I bother with tablet if HM-602 plays itself, support memory cards and so on?

 

Now I am a happy camper. BTW, I had iPhone, tried iPad, use Android phone and tablet. I am glad I may listen to music without any of these devices. They are just extra unnecessary components.


Edited by kostalex - 6/19/11 at 3:06am
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post #6 of 38
6/19/11 at 3:30am
Thread Starter 
Levellers, I'm at Indonesia.

Well let's don't focus on the apple domination anyway... I know Apple has done good jobs on their products.
Let's talk about are there any android tablets can support or stream the digital signal out of their USB port?

Kostalex,
Well i'm glad you've already found your preferred setup and many thanks for your sharing about the tablets you've tried. Hifiman HM series are well known for their exceptional amp and DAC section, but what I looking for here is a transport device and using HM series as a transport ONLY, would not be my best preference smily_headphones1.gif
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post #7 of 38
7/17/11 at 1:00pm

I type in something similar in google, and head-fi pops up. So i'm here, and after searching headfi a-bit, the op's question don't have an answer.

 

A bog standard pc audio setup looks like 'music on hard drive>pc media player and usb out>dac>amp>headphones'

 

I just was looking for a sub £150 small piece of equipment that replaces the 'pc media player and usb out' from the above. Just a magical device that takes out the pc from the equation. I don't give a monkey's about other functions of this device- and would prefer if it didn't have any.

The best I could do is use my smallish netbook- installed with the most power/heat efficient ssd around- to get a result (rumor had it that the upcoming fiio x3 would have such a feature but no)

 

Is it just me and a few other headfiers who want for such a thing?  

 

I can't find any old i-rivers, and i'd rather spend on headphones than £500 for a device that for me only would be used for its digital audio out via usb.

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post #8 of 38
7/17/11 at 3:39pm

dont know if cellphones count in this 'which tablet' query but my nokia n8 cellphone does 12s out via its micro USBOTG amongst its various other parlor tricks. i've hooked it up to my mod MF V-Dac directly & use the built-in player & aftermarket players without a glitch. as far as i can discern, there's no sonic difference btwn the N8 & my normal lappy as music server.

 

 

for those that have a need to know, my n8 runs symbian ^3 so it not the android that the op wants. other that, its pretty decent as a smartphone, ave as a satnav device, more than ave as a HD vidcam & great as a 12mp digicam. games & apps arent close to whats available to iOS & 'droids but there's enuff core games to keep me busy & functional apps to assist my daily routine. & FWIW normal HO is as good as a standalone sony s6x6 & sansa fuze v2 to my ears esp with the more than very good TTPod player or for the more adventurous, the 8band eq hack for the built-in player.

 

O & the N8 comes standard with 16gb & hot swappable 32gb microsds so im pretty satisfied with its storage capability too (unlike iphone/ipadsrolleyes.gif)


Edited by scottiebabie - 7/17/11 at 3:44pm
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post #9 of 38
7/18/11 at 11:29am

oh right, from usb on the go.

I guess i've gotta learn more (a lot more!!) about the structure of usb and what makes a device capable of sending the bit perfect digital signal to the dac. Some things with HDMI output (like that nokia) has been touted/used for this purpose I think- and there are standalone 'hdmi out' servers for £30 in loads of places here. If they work, it'll be too good to be true. I doubt it but i'll give em a shot.

 

That nokia hp out probably does sound better than the sansa. I heard it's meant to be among the best sounding phones around- my cousin had one. Stock fuze sq is nothing that great really- even random phillips players sound better. I mean it's okayishh (to be very kind) stock, but better once rockboxed esp as rockbox allows you to use quality equaliser settings.....

 

 

....anyway i'll keep looking

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post #10 of 38
1/10/12 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CantScareMe View Post

oh right, from usb on the go.

I guess i've gotta learn more (a lot more!!) about the structure of usb and what makes a device capable of sending the bit perfect digital signal to the dac. Some things with HDMI output (like that nokia) has been touted/used for this purpose I think- and there are standalone 'hdmi out' servers for £30 in loads of places here. If they work, it'll be too good to be true. I doubt it but i'll give em a shot.

 

That nokia hp out probably does sound better than the sansa. I heard it's meant to be among the best sounding phones around- my cousin had one. Stock fuze sq is nothing that great really- even random phillips players sound better. I mean it's okayishh (to be very kind) stock, but better once rockboxed esp as rockbox allows you to use quality equaliser settings.....

 

 

....anyway i'll keep looking


Android is a modified Linux kernel, and most Android tablets are ARM hardware (A8 and A9 architecture).  The only reason they don't support USB audio is because the kernel drivers aren't compiled in when Android is built.  There's nothing about the device that prevents it.  You could theoretically compile your own Android kernel and include the USB audio drivers and it should work.  That's not a simple project though.

 

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post #11 of 38
1/10/12 at 3:23pm

A guy over at Web OS Nation has been working on USB audio for the Touchpad.

 

 

Quote:
For anyone interested, we have just got USB audio support working with the touchpad, should be added to Kernels soon, and an app has been released to enable support for USB in PulseAudio
another nice addition to USB host support on touchpad

Cheers Hewball

 

http://forums.webosnation.com/hp-touchpad/296505-functional-usb-host-touchpad-21.html

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post #12 of 38
1/10/12 at 8:13pm

USB DACs will only work on Android tablets running ICS or a custom ROM that enables that.

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post #13 of 38
1/11/12 at 2:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Szadzik View Post

USB DACs will only work on Android tablets running ICS or a custom ROM that enables that.


It's not a custom ROM, it's a custom kernel.  I don't want to be pedantic, but a ROM is hardware, and a kernel is software, so it's a tangible difference.

 

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post #14 of 38
1/11/12 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by barleyguy View Post


It's not a custom ROM, it's a custom kernel.  I don't want to be pedantic, but a ROM is hardware, and a kernel is software, so it's a tangible difference.

 



I do not want to pedantic mate, but you are TOTALLY wrong. ROM - Read-Only-Memory is not what I am talking about. I am talking about FIRMWARE - also called ROM. If you do not know that, please do not post BS.

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post #15 of 38
1/12/12 at 12:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Szadzik View Post



I do not want to pedantic mate, but you are TOTALLY wrong. ROM - Read-Only-Memory is not what I am talking about. I am talking about FIRMWARE - also called ROM. If you do not know that, please do not post BS.


I am not posting BS.  I am a software engineer who has actually compiled Android.  The USB audio drivers are in the Android kernel, which is a modified Linux kernel.  They are not in the firmware, unless the manufacturer of a particular device stores their Linux boot partition in the firmware.  Firmware is EEPROM.

 

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