Decent DAC or not it's poorly implemented and has subjectively worse measurements than any iPhone or iPod to date. It's output impedance is over 3 ohms which pretty make it a write off when used with lower impedance headphones especially at lower volumes and especially during quiet passages. I've sold mine and now have no phone (I guess I'm on the hunt again), this IMO is not acceptable for a premium device.

I strongly advice people using this device to bypass the amplifier cct using external solutions if using this device to listen to music.

Just my humble experience.

Quote:

docks said:

Decent DAC or not it's poorly implemented and has subjectively worse measurements than any iPhone or iPod to date. It's output impedance is over 3 ohms which pretty make it a write off when used with lower impedance headphones especially at lower volumes and especially during quiet passages. I've sold mine and now have no phone (I guess I'm on the hunt again), this IMO is not acceptable for a premium device.
I strongly advice people using this device to bypass the amplifier cct using external solutions if using this device to listen to music.
Just my humble experience.

Click to expand...

 
Just out of interest what headphones were you using?

Quote:

docks said:

Decent DAC or not it's poorly implemented and has subjectively worse measurements than any iPhone or iPod to date. It's output impedance is over 3 ohms which pretty make it a write off when used with lower impedance headphones especially at lower volumes and especially during quiet passages. I've sold mine and now have no phone (I guess I'm on the hunt again), this IMO is not acceptable for a premium device.
I strongly advice people using this device to bypass the amplifier cct using external solutions if using this device to listen to music.
Just my humble experience.

Click to expand...

 
Voodoo sound...

Wlth hd 650 I like what I listen from s3.


Inviato dal mio GT-I9300 con Tapatalk 2

I've added a few additional android logs here:
www.nicknotis.com/android_logs/

dmesg_JB01.txt:
 
944 <7>[   60.583117] c3 s5p-ohci s5p-ohci: urb d5046100 path 1 ep0out 5ec20000 cc 5 --> status -62
945 <3>[   60.583189] c3 2:1:1: usb_set_interface failed
 
When the connection S3 – Pico is failed, your S3 has the same error message then the ah_kap’s S3.
 
A probable root cause: a faulty USB 2.0 physical parameter of the S3 System-On-Chip
A probable workaround: a USB 2.0 hub to be inserted between the S3 and the Pico
http://www.head-fi.org/t/608535/wolfson-dac-confirmed-for-galaxy-s3/630#post_8582500
 
Theoretically, a USB 2.0 hub has a transaction translator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hub
 
The transaction translator should convert the USB 1.1 full speed traffic only supported by the Pico to the USB 2.0 high speed traffic supported by the S3.
Thus, the USB 1.1 driver ohci of the S3 should not be involved, and we won’t have the ohci error message
944 <7>[   60.583117] c3 s5p-ohci s5p-ohci: urb d5046100 path 1 ep0out 5ec20000 cc 5 --> status -62
 
A USB 2.0 hub used by a SB Touch guy:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?93310-Async-USB-Dac-Experiments-testers-wanted&p=688572&viewfull=1#post688572
 
"There seems to be a bug in the Touch hardware that prevents async from working properly when running at full speed. In this case you need the USB 2.0 hub which talks to the Touch at high speed, but talks to the DAC at full speed. This gets around the bug in the Touch."

DanBa, thanks for continuing to interpret these logs.  It's extremely helpful.  I wonder if that hub would reduce or eliminate the errors when connecting the Pico?  Do you think the phone could charge while connected to a DAC using one of the other USB 2 ports?

Quote:

lan647 said:

 
Voodoo sound...

Click to expand...

Voodoo sound doesn't fix poor output stage design.

Quote:

nnotis said:

I wonder if that hub would reduce or eliminate the errors when connecting the Pico?  Do you think the phone could charge while connected to a DAC using one of the other USB 2 ports?

Click to expand...

 
 
I don’t know if a USB 2.0 hub can fix the international S3 – Pico issue.
However, a (portable battery) powered USB hub could improve the sound quality thanks to its clean 5V.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/165#post_8540151
 
Theoretically, when a S3 acts as a USB host, it is not powered by a powered USB hub: S3 connected to the upstream port of the hub, DAC connected to a downstream port.
 

 
http://www.cast-inc.com/ip-cores/interfaces/usbhs-hub/index.html
 
 
When the S3 is not used for listening music, it can be powered by a powered USB hub: S3 connected to a downstream port.

So, finally got to try out my Pico with my International S3 (well, actually my fiances S3 now). Not working correctly, sound skips 2-3s the whole time, unlistenable. Tried with external power, all permutations of connection orders, different USB cables etc. No luck. Will sort some logs later.
 
Makes me very glad I got the US S3 (I completely forgot on the other page that the main reason I decided to get the US S3 was for fear the Pico that was coming to me wouldn't work with the international one!). 
 
Will update the fiances S3 to Jelly Bean, since it sounds like official JB coming this week, and try again.

Quote:

nztechfreak said:

So, finally got to try out my Pico with my International S3 (well, actually my fiances S3 now). Not working correctly, sound skips 2-3s the whole time, unlistenable. Tried with external power, all permutations of connection orders, different USB cables etc. No luck. Will sort some logs later.
 
Makes me very glad I got the US S3 (I completely forgot on the other page that the main reason I decided to get the US S3 was for fear the Pico that was coming to me wouldn't work with the international one!). 
 
Will update the fiances S3 to Jelly Bean, since it sounds like official JB coming this week, and try again.

Click to expand...

NZtechfreak
 
thats what im getting as well but without sound. the music player just skips 2-3 seconds constantly. i have placed an order for another otg cable just to eliminate that as a cause.

Quote:

ah_kap said:

NZtechfreak
 
thats what im getting as well but without sound. the music player just skips 2-3 seconds constantly. i have placed an order for another otg cable just to eliminate that as a cause.

Click to expand...

 
Great, be interested to know your results, since I don't have another USB OTG cable handy.
 
It is clear that it does work on some International S3s like Nnotis one, so there must be a firmware/kernel thing happening here, and hopefully we can find a working combination for all of us.

Hey NZ since you have both versions of the phone can you tell me which sounds better? Out of the headphone out I mean (with an amp if you use one).

Quote:

nztechfreak said:

So, finally got to try out my Pico with my International S3 (well, actually my fiances S3 now). Not working correctly, sound skips 2-3s the whole time, unlistenable. Tried with external power, all permutations of connection orders, different USB cables etc. No luck. Will sort some logs later.
 
Makes me very glad I got the US S3 (I completely forgot on the other page that the main reason I decided to get the US S3 was for fear the Pico that was coming to me wouldn't work with the international one!). 
 
Will update the fiances S3 to Jelly Bean, since it sounds like official JB coming this week, and try again.

Click to expand...

 
 
I wanted to ask as well, would you be able to compare the sound of your US version using the Pico as DAC/amp, to the International version using headphone output but connected to a good headphone amplifier (I guess the Pico accepts line out as well?)?
 
Am curious about the whole question of how much difference the DAC really makes, compared to how much of the improvement is due to the amplification alone.
 
I had been hoping for some insight from Supercurio on this topic, but I haven't heard a peep from him about this phone in many weeks now.

When I get an erroneous connection between the Pico and i9300 S3, Power Amp will jump ahead many seconds in the song for every actual second that passes.  In such cases, I don’t get any sound out of the Pico.  The S3 speaker goes silent, suggesting that it’s at least trying to send audio through USB.  When I get such an error, I disconnect the cable from the Pico end, and then reconnect.  Sometimes it takes several tries.  But it always eventually works.  This has been the case on every Touchwiz based ICS and JB ROM I’ve tried.
 
Listening to one of my own mixes, the Pico sounds the same connected to the S3 as it does to a PC.  This was my expectation though.  Fancy USB cables don’t make a noticeable difference either.
 
I also briefly compared the Pico DAC and the i9300 DAC using the Pico amp for both.  The difference is small enough to be irrelevant for some.  The Pico DAC offers a little bit more detail which is mostly noticeable with spacial cues.  The S3 sounds a little warmer.  The difference is reminiscent of that between my old iMod and the Pico.  The gap might shrink further yet when using the Siyah kernel.  I’ll have to compare the two again once Siyah works on Touchwiz based Jelly Bean ROMs.