[jjacq]

hi guys i'm curious about custom lollipop roms. From what I understand lollipop allows you to use any DAC with your phone but supposedly my phone isn't supposedly yet. There's a custom rom on it made with lollipop though. Does that mean I can use a DAC with it by using that ROM?

Basically I have a FiiO X5 reportedly working with lollipop but not anything below. I'd like to get a phone that'll work with the X5.
 

 

[LajostheHun]

  Hi all
I have upgraded my Xperia Z3 compact to Lollipop 5.0.2 and my Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2 was recognized immediately (using the Sony EC310 OTG cable and charging through the magentic charging connector).
Using USB Audio Player Pro, the samplerate of the source material (88.2 and 96kHz) gets passed to the Dragonfly correctly
Using the Sony Walkman app, 88.2kHz material gets transcoded to 96kHz. 96kHz gets passed as 96kHz
Has anyone else seen this effect?

Does the Walkman app behaves differently after the Android update, or it is the same and just don't support 88.2khz sampling rate?

 

[Dr J]

  I have upgraded my Xperia Z3 compact to Lollipop 5.0.2 and my Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2 was recognized immediately (using the Sony EC310 OTG cable and charging through the magentic charging connector).

Thanks for the information, makes me slightly less apprehensive of the upgrade to 5.0.2!
 
Would it be possible for you to check if also other players like Spotify, Tidal or Deezer work on Z3c with 5.0.2. with external dac and if so, are you able to change volume from the player or the volume +/- buttons on the side of the phone?
 
For me they work on 4.4.x, and at least Tidal and Deezer may even be bit-perfect (at least do not allow changing the volume) and Spotify might get re-sampled through the android framework (volume can be changed). I still need to find the time and cables to connect my phone to the dekstop dac to test if re-sampling happens...

 

[jjacq]

I used my FiiO X5 as a DAC with my sister's Xperia Z3 running 4.4.2. It works natively! :O
 

 

[CZ Eddie]

I'm planning to get a Galaxy Tab S 8.4 tablet to use as a car media center.
I know we can charge the tablet and connect a USB DAC at the same time.
But does anyone know if an OTG hub can be used to do the two aforementioned things AND connect a USB hard drive or USB video camera?

 

[imran27]

On the topic of android phones with good DACs there is a new device from an Indian company Micromax, the Micromax Canvas Fire 4,it uses a Wolfson WM8919 chip

 

[fburgos01]

does anyone know if is there a way to route the calls to the DAC, im using oneplus with cm12.1 and fiio x3 for media playback but i dont like that i have to takeout the headphones to pickup a call

 

[gixxerwimp]

does anyone know if is there a way to route the calls to the DAC, im using oneplus with cm12.1 and fiio x3 for media playback but i dont like that i have to takeout the headphones to pickup a call

I have very limited experience with USB DACs, but my suspicion is that DACs can't handle the mic signal going back to the phone.

 

[jacobacci]

  Does the Walkman app behaves differently after the Android update, or it is the same and just don't support 88.2khz sampling rate?

I haven't used the Walkman app before the update. I assume it is similar. It does however NOT have a specific menu point to chose a USB DAC for playback. The DAC seems to be detected automatically.
The Walkman app resamples everything to 96kHz, which is quite serious in my eyes, as any transcoding (especially with non integer ratio when done through a low processor power device like a phone) is detrimental to audio quality. Transcoding in integer ratios (e.g. 192->96 or 176.4->88.2) is easy to do and does not take a lot of processor power.

 

[jacobacci]

  Thanks for the information, makes me slightly less apprehensive of the upgrade to 5.0.2!
 
Would it be possible for you to check if also other players like Spotify, Tidal or Deezer work on Z3c with 5.0.2. with external dac and if so, are you able to change volume from the player or the volume +/- buttons on the side of the phone?
 
For me they work on 4.4.x, and at least Tidal and Deezer may even be bit-perfect (at least do not allow changing the volume) and Spotify might get re-sampled through the android framework (volume can be changed). I still need to find the time and cables to connect my phone to the dekstop dac to test if re-sampling happens...

Unfortunately I am not subscribed to spotify, Tidal or Deezer. I have the Qobuz app, which streams @ 16bit/44.1kHz. Using Qobuz, volume can be adjusted with the volume buttons on the phone. I believe this adjusts the hardware volume inside the Dragonfly. Output from the Qobuz app to the Dragonfly seems to be 96kHz (magenta LED), getting resampled probably through android (which is not really a good thing).
 
Re. resampling behaviour I see the following (judging by the LED color on the Dragonfly).
 
The Walkman app resamples EVERYTHING to 96kHz.
 
USB Audio Player Pro outputs almost everything at the correct samplerate. The exception being 176.4kHz, which gets downsampled to 96kHz instead of 88.2kHz.

 

[Dr J]

Thanks for information! It then seems that not only the UAPP and native player but also other players at least can produce the audio via an external dac, although not necessarily bit perfect.
 
 

  Using Qobuz, volume can be adjusted with the volume buttons on the phone. I believe this adjusts the hardware volume inside the Dragonfly.

 

[slackerpo]

I have very limited experience with USB DACs, but my suspicion is that DACs can't handle the mic signal going back to the phone.

I think creative's e5 lets you take calls, if im not mistaken. it has like 3 mics and stuff.

 

[Sound Eq]

 

although i am rooted but this viper4android does not work for me when i connect my ifi dsd dac/amp, i am using android 4.4 on sony xperia z ultra
 
i dont know why as i wanted it really to work 

 

[fburgos01]

I have very limited experience with USB DACs, but my suspicion is that DACs can't handle the mic signal going back to the phone.

I think creative's e5 lets you take calls, if im not mistaken. it has like 3 mics and stuff.

I think it could use the build in mic to handle outgoing voice and USB audio for the incoming.

For example in my old car/Galaxy ace I use 3.5 mm cable with the car stereo I could take "hands free calls"

its similar situation, only difference i could think is that mic-audio is handled by the same driver and android can´t handle simultaneusly 2 different sound drivers

 

[LajostheHun]

  I haven't used the Walkman app before the update. I assume it is similar. It does however NOT have a specific menu point to chose a USB DAC for playback. The DAC seems to be detected automatically.
The Walkman app resamples everything to 96kHz, which is quite serious in my eyes, as any transcoding (especially with non integer ratio when done through a low processor power device like a phone) is detrimental to audio quality. Transcoding in integer ratios (e.g. 192->96 or 176.4->88.2) is easy to do and does not take a lot of processor power.

First of all it's not "transcoding" it's resampling, transcoding would be  say DSD to PCM which would be far more taxing, but would be a piece of cake for the Z3 still. Second of all at least with Android  4.4.4 it is correctly output sampling at 44.1,48, and 96khz without any re- sampling. It seems it simply don't support 88.2khz  so that would be the only case it might re-sample things to it's max sample rate. Also under Android 4.4.4 there is a "USB digital out" setting in the "audio" menu of Android, but it is accessible from the Walkman app itself, it's simply a toggle to enable it, and it's not set to on by default, so you must have seen it. I'm not sure if it's still there with the Lollipop update though, my Z3 is still on 4.4.4. Anyway I wouldn't worry about the re-sampling too much, but if you do I'm sure some tools out there that can help you do resampling those files on your computer creating new files, or don't use the Walkman app in those case. The Z3 is a fine  digital media player in my book, and it certainly does things right far more than it's doing things wrong. YMMV [BTW I use the HRT microstreamer which has corresponding lights to sampling rates.]