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Android phones and USB DACs
May 13, 2016 at 4:50 PM Post #8,071 of 9,526
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I have a Samsung tablet that I want to use a DAC to connect to my car via aux. I have it working now but the Behringer UCA202 drains my tablet battery. Since it needs to be Android powered, it stays on until the tablet dies. Is there a DAC that is either non-powered or can be individually powered and then I connect to the tablet for the audio?
 
May 13, 2016 at 4:56 PM Post #8,072 of 9,526
ollie526 said:
I have a Samsung tablet that I want to use a DAC to connect to my car via aux. I have it working now but the Behringer UCA202 drains my tablet battery. Since it needs to be Android powered, it stays on until the tablet dies. Is there a DAC that is either non-powered or can be individually powered and then I connect to the tablet for the audio?
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Many. Cozoy Astrapi, HRT DSP, AudioQuest Dragonfly Black, iFi iDSD micro, a whole fleet of Fiio's, to name but a few. 
 
May 13, 2016 at 5:00 PM Post #8,074 of 9,526
ollie526 said:
I have a Samsung tablet that I want to use a DAC to connect to my car via aux. I have it working now but the Behringer UCA202 drains my tablet battery. Since it needs to be Android powered, it stays on until the tablet dies. Is there a DAC that is either non-powered or can be individually powered and then I connect to the tablet for the audio?
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The new Dragonfly Black/Red consume very little battery power. You can also try and OTG cable like this one that allows charging while using OTG.
 
May 13, 2016 at 5:04 PM Post #8,075 of 9,526
ollie526 said:
 
kostaszag said:
Many. Cozoy Astrapi, HRT DSP, AudioQuest Dragonfly Black, iFi iDSD micro, a whole fleet of Fiio's, to name but a few. 
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Thanks for the quick reply. I will look into each. Do you know which of these would draw the least power (or how I would find that out?). My tablet battery is bad enough without something else drawing on it!
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They are all designed to be powered by a smartphone, so the power consumption is minimal. The iFi even has its own battery which is supposed to last for up to 9 hours of play. Now about the Fiio, I never owned one but the firm has many different models, one will suit you. 
 
May 18, 2016 at 10:06 AM Post #8,078 of 9,526
hariznordin said:
I just changed to a new phone..Why the sound quality detiorates??? I thought by using the same dac the sq remains the same.. Help....
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There's still the software. If there is any issue with the current software like a global EQ effect then that circumvents having the same hardware outside the phone. 
 
Also, what DAC is that? If the newer phone has its host device power output set lower, and it's a DAC dependent on USB power, then you are basically depriving the DAC of the same operating environment as with your older phone.
 
Basically, the SQ is the same for all downastream components if  the transport is also functioning the same way. Obviously, for one reason or another, it isn't.
 
May 18, 2016 at 10:20 AM Post #8,079 of 9,526
protegemaniac said:
There's still the software. If there is any issue with the current software like a global EQ effect then that circumvents having the same hardware outside the phone. 

Also, what DAC is that? If the newer phone has its host device power output set lower, and it's a DAC dependent on USB power, then you are basically depriving the DAC of the same operating environment as with your older phone.

Basically, the SQ is the same for all downastream components if  the transport is also functioning the same way. Obviously, for one reason or another, it isn't.
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Thx 4 the swift reply.. Previously I owned a redmi note 2 prime, changed 2 g flex 2.. Fiio q1 is the dac
 
May 18, 2016 at 10:52 AM Post #8,080 of 9,526
hariznordin said:
Thx 4 the swift reply.. Previously I owned a redmi note 2 prime, changed 2 g flex 2.. Fiio q1 is the dac
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What app are you using for playback? If you're using Neutron there might be settings there that you weren't using on the older phone and older version of that app.
 
Past that, see if there is already an easy way to root the phone to bypass any software audio modification that came with the device.
 
May 18, 2016 at 11:29 AM Post #8,081 of 9,526
hariznordin said:
I just changed to a new phone..Why the sound quality detiorates??? I thought by using the same dac the sq remains the same.. Help....
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What former phone and what new phone?  Most phones do not have a dac chip per se.  Almost all phones use a SOC or system on a chip that includes decoding codecs.  So no separate "name brand"  dac chips for most phones.  Some do but tend to be higher end or tofl.
 
And then there is the associated circuitry.  That can affect the sound of a phone as much as the dac chip that was selected.
 
May 18, 2016 at 12:38 PM Post #8,082 of 9,526
bixby said:
  What former phone and what new phone?  Most phones do not have a dac chip per se.  Almost all phones use a SOC or system on a chip that includes decoding codecs.  So no separate "name brand"  dac chips for most phones.  Some do but tend to be higher end or tofl.
 
And then there is the associated circuitry.  That can affect the sound of a phone as much as the dac chip that was selected.
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He replied to that two posts above. And also given this is the "Android phones and USB DACs" thread, his DAC was the Fiio Q1.
 
Originally Posted by hariznordin /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Thx 4 the swift reply.. Previously I owned a redmi note 2 prime, changed 2 g flex 2.. Fiio q1 is the dac
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May 18, 2016 at 4:45 PM Post #8,083 of 9,526
@protogemaniac    Error, sorry I missed that. 
 
I heard differences in SQ with different players on the same phone and an OTG dac, but not sure if I heard differences between phones and the same SW.  May have to try that one day.
 
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