Hey All. I too am having issues with android, but I am new to portable audio and trying to work out all the great advice and options I see here. Question: do apps like Hiby and USB Audio Pro function as DAPs, as in you use them with your personal audio file collection, or can these apps be used to listen to services like Tidal, as I do?
I also posted a question similar to this and never got any replies. One could garner from the original post that USB DAC's can only be used with android apps like Hiby, Audio Pro, etc....
I bought an OTG cable myself to do some testing.
My test bed is an LG G3 running 5.0.1 lollipop (stock sprint zva). From what I've read, Lollipop is the first Android OS to have many USB audio drivers built in by default.
Anything below Lollipop is a guessing game, because you have to rely on the phone's manufacturer to have those drivers built in. I have also read you can use custom roms to get USB DAC's functioning. I've read good things about CyanogenMod specifically for USB audio.I also have my friends Samsung Galaxy S6 (most up to date stock firmware at the time of writing this), for testing.
When I first got my OTG cable I tested my
WA7's USB DAC with my G3. It has a C-Media 6631A USB chip. The phone didn't have any notifications, but audio automatically started routing through the WA7's DAC. Not only did it work with the USB Audio Pro app, it worked seamlessly with what I actually use, which is Google Music. I have All Access, this service is similar to Tidal as you reference.
[you can ignore this, not related to testing]
Let me take an brief moment to explain. The internet where most of us live is ubiquitous, but streaming music isn't? This is normal, the internet is the infrastructure, it takes years for people to realize what potential that has. Not every one has caught up, this goes for both the consumer and the distributor. Although, there are a handful of streaming distribution solutions, so the privy consumer does have options. Locally stored music is a Hallmark to the past. Weather people like it or not, it's out the door once technology, and peoples awareness, evolves.
Taking that into consideration, I don't particularly like all the USB audio programs out there. For the one fact that they all only play "your" music. What do I mean by that? Well, if you're savvy, you can setup a port forwarded network / media share, which will work with USB Audio Pro. Head out with your 4G Phone, and stream music from your home media server on the go, great.... One problem, it's still essentially 'local" media. In the sense it is yours, and you own it.
For the first time since recorded music exited, there are solutions now that are fair for the consumer. They are streaming music services. Google All Access, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music etc... Right now the biggest problem any of these have is licensing issues, they don't have absolutely 100% of stuff yet. For example All Access doesn't have The Beatles (which I doubt any of them have..) Regardless of of that, it does have 99% of what I do listen to.
If I added up all the songs / albums I would have had to buy, it's easily 5k plus. I get this for $10/month.....
I know if this wasn't public, and I was talking to some friends, they'd use piracy as a counter argument. You can get anything you want that way right?
It's still clunky, archaic, and slow to do this. Dealing with physical items is 20th century, really is. I don't want to short / aggregate, spend effort to get the music I want.
Steaming services are not only better in terms of price, but they are better in terms of music exploration, aggregation, playlists, ease of use. Simply put, the only reason that aren't patently better in every way to local media, is because they still need time to get more support from the consumer, then distributors will start pouring more money into this.
[/rant]
Based on my above testing, I pulled the trigger on a Dragonfly 1.2. I searched, and could not find anybody stating if this DAC would work with only USB Audio apps, or what? Just like your question
cscales. Just had to spend the money to test myself, it seemed positive from my test results from my WA7. The Dragonfly 1.2 did work with my LG G3, but only with USB Audio Pro. (*Note, probably would have worked with other usb audio apps like Hiby, only tested the one app) Audio didn't come out of my Google Music app at all, still routed through the internal audio.
I tested with the GalaxyS6, and audio did route through Play Music by default, but it was very garbled, unusable.
I'm going to make the assumption, that my testing with the Google Play music app, would apply to other similar scenarios, like a Tidal Music app, or Spotify app.
Right now, it seems like a complete guessing game if any one specific USB DAC will work natively with Android, without the need to use USB Audio apps. This thread isn't helpful in this regard either, at least from what I perused.
