Will be having a few hours with the Note 3 and Xperia Z1 later today, will be testing my DACs with them. Questions?

Getting a Note 3 when available in New Zealand, so interested in your evaluation.

nztechfreak said:

  Will be having a few hours with the Note 3 and Xperia Z1 later today, will be testing my DACs with them. Questions?

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I am wondering if the Galaxy Note 3 can output USB audio up to 24/192 to an extenal DAC using legacy music player (i.e. non-USB Audio Recorder PRO music player).
 
The LG G2 can't:
"The G2 has Qualcomm WCD9320 audio chipsets which support up to 24-bit/192kHz.
When earphones & headsets are inserted, true 24-bit audio is played with the Hi-Fi icon displayed.
But when connecting to other devices (e.g. speakers) through Bluetooth & USB, the audio is down-sampled."
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/3015#post_9768405
http://ko.goldenears.net/board/3683645
 

So happy I could cry again!!!
 
I was going to play with custom roms over the weekend and I had the thought that since I had success with a Cyanogenmod Rom 10.2 (Android 4.3) on the Nexus 10, maybe I could have success with a CM 10.2 ROM on my T-Mobile Note 2 (SGH-T889).
 
I slapped this rom on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2426051, which has all the features of CM 10.2 and right out of the box I have FULL USB Audio Support.  Plugged in my Fiio E07k and I used it with several music players and I am ECSTATIC!!!!!  The UI is not so appealing to me (I'm one of those people who likes TouchWiz, especially the customization to it by an XDA dev, Jedi), but who cares because MY. PHONE. HAS. FULL. USB. AUDIO. SUPPORT.  As long as other things I need work (and they seem to), I am beyond happy!!!!!
 
If you are like me and enjoy playing with custom ROMs (especially if you want this full USB Audio Support on your phone with no using USB Audio Recorder Pro), I would suggest you try a Cyanogenmod 10.2 ROM (or some modification of it) on your phone.  It was just a blind shot based on my experienced with the Nexus 10.  Was fully ready to flash another ROM/Kernel that I know didn't work and just accept that my Note 2 wouldn't have native and full USB audio support.  But Christmas came on Friday the 13th and I'm taking it and running!
 
Now I just need to get a bigger SD card LOL

danba said:

   
I am wondering if the Galaxy Note 3 can output USB audio up to 24/192 to an extenal DAC using legacy music player (i.e. non-USB Audio Recorder PRO music player).
 

Click to expand...

 
Very curious about this also (although I am no believer in 24-bit).
 
Wonder if the Note 3 has a status bar indicator to indicate it as the G2 appears to? Unfortunately none of the USB DACs I have give any indication as to the bit rate they are outputting. Suggestions for how to check if the Note gives no indication?

pappy97 said:

  So happy I could cry again!!!
 
I was going to play with custom roms over the weekend and I had the thought that since I had success with a Cyanogenmod Rom 10.2 (Android 4.3) on the Nexus 10, maybe I could have success with a CM 10.2 ROM on my T-Mobile Note 2 (SGH-T889).
 
I slapped this rom on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2426051, which has all the features of CM 10.2 and right out of the box I have FULL USB Audio Support.  Plugged in my Fiio E07k and I used it with several music players and I am ECSTATIC!!!!!  The UI is not so appealing to me (I'm one of those people who likes TouchWiz, especially the customization to it by an XDA dev, Jedi), but who cares because MY. PHONE. HAS. FULL. USB. AUDIO. SUPPORT.  As long as other things I need work (and they seem to), I am beyond happy!!!!!
 
If you are like me and enjoy playing with custom ROMs (especially if you want this full USB Audio Support on your phone with no using USB Audio Recorder Pro), I would suggest you try a Cyanogenmod 10.2 ROM (or some modification of it) on your phone.  It was just a blind shot based on my experienced with the Nexus 10.  Was fully ready to flash another ROM/Kernel that I know didn't work and just accept that my Note 2 wouldn't have native and full USB audio support.  But Christmas came on Friday the 13th and I'm taking it and running!
 
Now I just need to get a bigger SD card LOL

Click to expand...

 
I have had no issue with USB 1.0 DACs on a rooted but otherwise stock Note II when using non hi res music.  Have you tested with a USB 2.0 DAC or with hi res music?  Those are normally where UARP is needed.

fraggler said:

   
I have had no issue with USB 1.0 DACs on a rooted but otherwise stock Note II when using non hi res music.  Have you tested with a USB 2.0 DAC or with hi res music?  Those are normally where UARP is needed.

Click to expand...

 
I only have Fiio E07k and Hifimydiy Sabre and 16bit and 24/96 FLACs, but if you've seen this thread, you'll know YMMV on Note 2's (keep in mind there are various models of the note 2 and many of them have their own USB Audio problems, including my previous Verizon Note 2.  I heard Int'l Note 2 have been faring better without customization though)
working with DACs.  This is the first time I've ever got any USB Audio out of the T-Mobile Note 2 (SGH-T889) without UARP, and to my knowledge, I may be one of the first for this particular phone (SGH-T889), besides another poster on this board and XDA who claims to have got it with a different rom/kernel combo that I tried but it didn't work for me.  But the larger point and takeaway is that I thought I read somewhere that the devs who put together Cyanogenmod did something for USB Audio Support on CM 10.2, which is their implementation of Android 4.3.  For those who have been beyond frustrating like me getting any USB Audio to work WITHOUT UARP, given that now my Nexus 10 tablet AND T-mobile Note 2 both have USB audio support with UARP, and both are running roms based on CM 10.2, I figured those having issues should give it a stab as I did.
 
Just sharing the good news so when someone else with a T-Mobile Note 2 is wondering about USB Audio Support, they might stumble upon this.

pappy97 said:

   
I only have Fiio E07k and Hifimydiy Sabre and 16bit and 24/96 FLACs, but if you've seen this thread, you'll know YMMV on Note 2's (keep in mind there are various models of the note 2 and many of them have their own USB Audio problems, including my previous Verizon Note 2.  I heard Int'l Note 2 have been faring better without customization though)
working with DACs.  This is the first time I've ever got any USB Audio out of the T-Mobile Note 2 (SGH-T889) without UARP, and to my knowledge, I may be one of the first for this particular phone (SGH-T889), besides another poster on this board and XDA who claims to have got it with a different rom/kernel combo that I tried but it didn't work for me.  But the larger point and takeaway is that I thought I read somewhere that the devs who put together Cyanogenmod did something for USB Audio Support on CM 10.2, which is their implementation of Android 4.3.  For those who have been beyond frustrating like me getting any USB Audio to work WITHOUT UARP, given that now my Nexus 10 tablet AND T-mobile Note 2 both have USB audio support with UARP, and both are running roms based on CM 10.2, I figured those having issues should give it a stab as I did.
 
Just sharing the good news so when someone else with a T-Mobile Note 2 is wondering about USB Audio Support, they might stumble upon this.

Click to expand...

 
Don't get me wrong, any development moving Android USB audio forward is fantastic.  I have a Verizon Note II.  My Nuforce HDP, ODAC, and HRT MicroStreamer all worked without UARP (though the MS had some volume control issues without it).  Only the DACs that were USB 2.0 spec and needed special drivers for Windows did not work without UARP (HifiM8, Musiland 32bit USB to SPDIF, Resonessence Concero (this one never worked for me)).   The fact that the T-Mobile Note 2 and the Verizon Note 2 behaving differently is a perfect example of how silly and frustrating USB Audio is in Android.

sv_hummer said:

Do you get the message "USB audio device initialized"?

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Yes, and now that the D-zero is initialized, all my SD flac files are visible in USB Audio Recorder Pro, and they sound FANTASTIC.  I am surprised, though. that ALL my audio-player apps are outputting through the USB port: stock android music player, MixZing, Sensor...   And with those latter mentioned apps, the phone`s volume-level buttons are still controlling the audio level coming through the iBasso DAC/amp.   This seems odd : obviously I want to completely bypass all the HTC hardware, right?  
 
Sorry to keep dragging the thread back to basics, and thanks again for the help.
 
d
 

fraggler said:

   
Don't get me wrong, any development moving Android USB audio forward is fantastic.  I have a Verizon Note II.  My Nuforce HDP, ODAC, and HRT MicroStreamer all worked without UARP (though the MS had some volume control issues without it).  Only the DACs that were USB 2.0 spec and needed special drivers for Windows did not work without UARP (HifiM8, Musiland 32bit USB to SPDIF, Resonessence Concero (this one never worked for me)).   The fact that the T-Mobile Note 2 and the Verizon Note 2 behaving differently is a perfect example of how silly and frustrating USB Audio is in Android.

Click to expand...

 
My Fiio E07k or HifimeDIY Sabre didn't work without UARP on my purely stock Verizon Note 2 when I had that phone as late as early July 2013.  The fact that you had better luck than I did even with the same phone is another perfect example as to the USB Audio ridiculousness in Android. 
 
But I'm elated that my tablet and phone now seem to work with USB Audio.  I bet it's not as "good" as UARP, but I hate UARP, which of course, was not designed for playback by head-fi'ers.

To my ears, using Galaxy S3 + ODAC + Neco V3 amp + Mad Dog headphones, the USB Audio Recorder PRO app is my preferred playback music player for 16/44.1 music as well as for high resolution music, because it can output a very clean natural sound.
I am not alone.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/2475#post_9511388
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/1185#post_8989408
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/2475#post_9513867
 
I have also Neutron and Poweramp music players.
 
I used to use USB Audio Recorder PRO in shuffle playback mode all night long while reading ebook or letting screen timeout to save battery.
USB Audio Recorder PRO is also my preferred interface user-friendly music player because it is a part of my daily routine.
 
To my ears, USB Audio Recorder PRO is the 1^st audiophile playback music player for Android OS, in the same class of audiophile playback music player for Mac OS X like Audirvana.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/players/4.html
 
 

 
 
I am wondering if the awesome sound quality of USB Audio Recorder PRO is due to its unique Android architecture: it is directly interfacing to the USB host driver.
 
 

pappy97 said:

   
My Fiio E07k or HifimeDIY Sabre didn't work without UARP on my purely stock Verizon Note 2 when I had that phone as late as early July 2013.  The fact that you had better luck than I did even with the same phone is another perfect example as to the USB Audio ridiculousness in Android. 
 

Click to expand...

 

fraggler said:

   
Don't get me wrong, any development moving Android USB audio forward is fantastic.  I have a Verizon Note II.  My Nuforce HDP, ODAC, and HRT MicroStreamer all worked without UARP (though the MS had some volume control issues without it).  Only the DACs that were USB 2.0 spec and needed special drivers for Windows did not work without UARP (HifiM8, Musiland 32bit USB to SPDIF, Resonessence Concero (this one never worked for me)).   The fact that the T-Mobile Note 2 and the Verizon Note 2 behaving differently is a perfect example of how silly and frustrating USB Audio is in Android.
 

Click to expand...

 
 
"Currently, there is no official support for ordinary USB audio devices in Android at all. So you simply can't say that USB audio on Android is inherently bad. It's non-existent (It is of course for those very few devices that can handle simple USB DACs. But it's nothing official.)"
http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/andraudio/2013-August/000882.html
 
You should express frustration against Samsung developers.
http://developer.samsung.com/forum/board/thread/view.do?boardName=GeneralB&messageId=227582&startId=zzzzz~
 
Samsung, the biggest Android device manufacturer, is missing the opportunity to impose their USB audio implementation as the reference Android USB audio implementation: Galaxy S3 USB audio is different than Galaxy S4 USB audio, Verizon Galaxy Note2 USB audio is different than T-Mobile Galaxy Note2 USB audio!
 
USB DAC makers need to have a reference Android USB audio implementation for interoperability testing because there are a lot of USB specification parts susceptible to be differently interpreted by USB DAC developers and by Android device developers.
 
As it is coming from a third-party Android developer and it allows a lot of stock Android devices with or without native USB audio to interwork with a lot of USB DACs., USB Audio Recorder PRO is becoming a reference Android USB audio implementation:
 
"We [Light Harmonic] further tested Geek with USB Audio Recorder PRO. It works great!
And it could go up to 192K PCM!! With a lot of settings and tweaking you could make on Android.
Pretty Cool!"
http://mustgeekout.blogspot.nl/2013/09/geek-and-android-devices.html#comment-form

nztechfreak said:

   
Very curious about this also (although I am no believer in 24-bit).
 
Wonder if the Note 3 has a status bar indicator to indicate it as the G2 appears to? Unfortunately none of the USB DACs I have give any indication as to the bit rate they are outputting. Suggestions for how to check if the Note gives no indication?

Click to expand...

 
You should trust your ears when playing a same track in 16/44.1 and in hi-res.
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-chopin-recital-2-.aspx
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-grrr--.aspx

fraggler said:

  I finally got USB Audio Recorder Pro working on my Note II again.  A VERY pleasant discovery is that UARP has hardware control over the volume control of the HRT Microstreamer.  What this means is that there isn't the hiss that I get using the MS on the Note II without UARP (amp is at full volume, with digital attenuation - bad!).   Unfortunately, there is a clicking that occurs every few seconds that is mildly distracting.
 
I also decided to go from FLAC to mp3 for my portable music collection to conserve space, forgetting that UARP doesn't do mp3.  DOH!
 
On a side note, it is too bad that something like Pandora can't be routed through UARP.  I listen to it quite a bit, and the main DAC that I will be using (HifiM8) won't work with the Note II without UARP.

Click to expand...

AMEN BROTHER!

zenmac said:

  Any news on the sony xperia z ultra?  Will it have native support like the z and tablet z?
 

Click to expand...

 
Sony Xperia Z Ultra & USB audio:
http://pub.ne.jp/mhrb_stars/?entry_id=5012915
 
Xperia Z Ultra > USB audio out >> USB OTG cable >> FiiO E17 USB DAC/amp >> headphones
 

 
 
24/96 music file > USB Audio Recorder PRO on Xperia Z Ultra > USB audio out >> USB OTG cable >> FiiO E17 USB DAC/amp >> headphones
 

 

 
 
Sony Xperia Z Ultra & Samsung Galaxy Note 3