[batteraziiz]

Sooo on my SGS4 using the Sabre Android DAC, I get the aforementioned cd skipping noise when using my FLAC files. Tried them with Poweramp/USB Audio Player PRO/Winamp. Same issues across the board.
I know it's not the files, since they sound great on my ipod 5g with the fiio E07k in my K240s. Any fixes for this? I much prefer the little Sabre DAC to the E07k as I use my phone to text etc whilst listening to music

 

[nnotis]

Quick report regarding the LG Optimus G Pro:
 
The stock rom did support USB audio output, but it never worked quite as well as it did on the S3.  Presumably thanks to the genius of Steve Kondik, Cyanogenmod 11 now fully supports USB audio.  Even my Headamp Pico DAC/amp, which didn't work on stock, now connects without issue.

 

[jellofund]

   
Hey jellofund,
 
I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions regarding the C5D and Moto G. It would go some way toward helping me decide on whether I should stick or switch with the UD110 + headphone amp combo setup I'm using currently.
 
 
1. Is it truly plug and play ? As in the phone reverts to its default audio profile before and after connection and disconnection of the OTG without needing to restart phone.
 
2. All other audio (speaker/microphone/earpiece) works as normal while DAC is connected and ouputting audio i.e. the phone is functioning as a normal phone should.
 
3. Do you ever experience any distortion/artifacts in the audio signal being output by the DAC ?
 
4. Can you switch from "any other" audio app to USBAPP and back to "any other" audio app and still get audio in your phones from "any other" audio app without having to restart the phone ?
 
 
And I'd greatly appreciate if anybody else here can volunteer any first person experience/knowledge of matching the UD110's with a suitable sub €/$100 amp, I fear my Fiio E5 is not a good match for the UD110's line out level.
 
 
Thanks for listening
swab

Hi swab,
 
Not a problem. Can't guarantee I'll be able to answer all your questions but please feel free to ask away or send me a PM if you prefer 
 
In the order you asked:
 
1. Pretty much. It doesn't seem to matter if I connect the C5D whilst my phone is powered off, in stand-by or turned on - the DAC is detected, audio gets sent to it and I have full volume control. Unlike my ODAC which needs a full reboot to work properly.
 
If I disconnect the OTG whilst listening to music / audio (I use Spotify mainly) the audio pauses and the volume gets reset to 0%. When I resume playback and turn the volume up it audio resumes playing through the Moto G's speaker as I'd want it to.
 
2. I tend to make and receive calls fairly infrequently on my mobile (mainly use it for music listening, texts and surfing) but from the limited amount of calls I've made the mic and speaker seemed to work just fine. When receiving incoming calls the audio coming through the DAC is paused and the ringtone comes through the internal speaker as normal - once the call is done audio playback resumes through my headphones.
 
From what I can tell the  phone functionality is unaffected by the C5D.
 
3. So far I've only used the C5D around the home or office and not really had a chance to use it on the move, so can't really say if there is any interference when moving between mobile masts (heard this can be a source of interference with some DACs). During my time using the C5D I've not experienced any problems with it in terms of interference. It's been cheek-to-cheek with the G and I've had both wifi and mobile use enabled.
 
 
4. I don't have USBAPP installed but know that when I used the trial version with my ODAC I had an issue that afterwards the audio from any app I switched to would be sent to the internal speaker rather than the ODAC. I'd assume this is a general issue when using USBAPP itself but will download the trial version again this evening and see how the C5D fares. Edit: tried it & same thing happens.
 
Hope this helps!
 
Best,
jello

 

[James1776]

Another experiment.....I charged my Xperia Z to 97%, attached the Dragonfly, and then ran music using USB Audio Player pro to see how much it drained the battery...Began at 9:45 and stopped at 1745...constant playing at about 25% loudness and it ran for 8 hours....Not bad

 

[batteraziiz]

  Sooo on my SGS4 using the Sabre Android DAC, I get the aforementioned cd skipping noise when using my FLAC files. Tried them with Poweramp/USB Audio Player PRO/Winamp. Same issues across the board.
I know it's not the files, since they sound great on my ipod 5g with the fiio E07k in my K240s. Any fixes for this? I much prefer the little Sabre DAC to the E07k as I use my phone to text etc whilst listening to music

Anybody? :-/ Don't want this to get lost in the thread...

 

[Peridot]

 
Anybody? :-/ Don't want this to get lost in the thread...

 
I assume the FLACs are on an SD card? If this is the case, have you tried copying a few files to phone memory and playing from there?
 
Just thinking that it might be a slow SD card that's at issue.

 

[StanD]

  Sooo on my SGS4 using the Sabre Android DAC, I get the aforementioned cd skipping noise when using my FLAC files. Tried them with Poweramp/USB Audio Player PRO/Winamp. Same issues across the board.
I know it's not the files, since they sound great on my ipod 5g with the fiio E07k in my K240s. Any fixes for this? I much prefer the little Sabre DAC to the E07k as I use my phone to text etc whilst listening to music

Your SGS4 has plenty of CPU to run this. As mentioned your microSD card may be slow, check the class of the card, there should be a number with a circle around it on the card that indcates the class. Or the card could be a dud or counterfeit.
It's also possible that you have an app that running wild consuming too much CPU or other resources like the microSD card.

 

[Xp-Audio]

  Your SGS4 has plenty of CPU to run this. As mentioned your microSD card may be slow, check the class of the card, there should be a number with a circle around it on the card that indcates the class. Or the card could be a dud or counterfeit.
It's also possible that you have an app that running wild consuming too much CPU or other resources like the microSD card.

We have found an issue with FLAC files stuttering which appear to originate in a delivery from Qualcomm of FLAC decoding (though we have not done a thorough root-cause analysis). We managed to resolve this for Z2 and T2 but I am not sure how we did it. It could conceivably affect also other products from other manufacturers using the same or related chip set.
 
It did not appear when playing WAV or MP3 files. If it only occurs with FLAC files, it could be the same issue and not related to the memory card.

 

[StanD]

  We have found an issue with FLAC files stuttering which appear to originate in a delivery from Qualcomm of FLAC decoding (though we have not done a thorough root-cause analysis). We managed to resolve this for Z2 and T2 but I am not sure how we did it. It could conceivably affect also other products from other manufacturers using the same or related chip set.
 
It did not appear when playing WAV or MP3 files. If it only occurs with FLAC files, it could be the same issue and not related to the memory card.

That'll be a weird as one would figure since FLAC does not require decompression it would not have much demand on the CPU or any DSP.
Edit: Root Cause Analysis is to determine why something already identified happened, not to find the actual fault.

 

[swab]

@ jellofund
 
Many thanks for your reply to my queries. Your Moto G plus JDS Labs C5D behaves similarly to how my own Moto G does with the Stoner Acoustic UD110 V2. The USBAPP anomaly whereby the USB audio framework/driver stops working with other audio streaming apps post launch of USBAPP takes a bit of the gloss off. Here's hoping that a future update to USBAPP may yet rectify this unfortunate behaviour as the app makes my mp3's sound fantastic but I'd prefer to be able to switch from app to app without rebooting.
 
I'm still a little bit bewildered as to the reasons why my set up produces distortion for apps (other than USBAPP) upon attaching OTG while phone is switched on in its default state. I can only conclude that it is related to an impedance or line level mismatch between the UD110's output and the E5's input, that it's too loud in effect. I don't suspect that it's anything to do with my headphones (Blox M2C). I did see a testimonial on another thread on head-fi of a CM11 running Nexus 5 pushing audio into a UD110 and E5 with no reference to any distortion so I might follow that lead and see if the owner can throw any crumbs of comfort my way as regards a solution.
 
BTW am still waiting to hear back from Motorola Support as to whether the new update breaks anything with USB audio (3 days now) ; but I went ahead and updated my phones OS last night anyway.

 

[batteraziiz]

  Your SGS4 has plenty of CPU to run this. As mentioned your microSD card may be slow, check the class of the card, there should be a number with a circle around it on the card that indcates the class. Or the card could be a dud or counterfeit.
It's also possible that you have an app that running wild consuming too much CPU or other resources like the microSD card.

I always clear the ram and all active apps before running music apps. Also, the card is a sandisk Ultra 64GB Micro SDXC. One of these bad boys:


Copied the files to the internal storage of the SGS4 and still... Skipping

It's so enraging when it starts.

 

[batteraziiz]

It's worth noting that the second I remove the Sabre DAC the tracks play flawlessly...

 

[StanD]

  It's worth noting that the second I remove the Sabre DAC the tracks play flawlessly...

Maybe the Sabre needs some sharpening. 

 Can you try with another Android/S4 happy DAC and see if it's the Sabre that's rattling and not your S4's USB Audio function.

 

[SV_huMMer]

According to our expert, we cut off power and put up that message when the total current exceeds 500mA. This is in accordance with the USB 2.0 specification. 



Thanks a lot, this is great news! 500mA is more than enough!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[batteraziiz]

  Maybe the Sabre needs some sharpening. 

Zing. Yeah, I'll try with my Fiio in a wee bit.