Android phones and USB DACs
Jul 13, 2012 at 11:26 AM Post #152 of 9,526
Quote:
A Samsung Galaxy S III  with a Micro-A plug inserted can operate as a USB host (i.e. a USB host-enabled Samsung Galaxy S III can interwork with a standard USB peripheral like a standard USB DAC iBasso D12).
A Samsung Galaxy S III  with a Micro-B plug inserted will operate as a USB peripheral.
 

I'm a bit confused now... My Pico DAC/amp is Mini-B. Do I have to get a Micro-A to Mini-B cable to make it interoperable with the Galaxy SIII?
A quick search at Wikipedia (link here) shows that such cable is "non-standard, existing for specific proprietary purposes, and not interoperable with USB-IF compliant equipment".
 
When member akwok said the combo was "plug and play" here, it didn't sound like he was using a special cable...
 
Jul 13, 2012 at 3:49 PM Post #153 of 9,526
Quote:
I'm a bit confused now... My Pico DAC/amp is Mini-B. Do I have to get a Micro-A to Mini-B cable to make it interoperable with the Galaxy SIII?
A quick search at Wikipedia (link here) shows that such cable is "non-standard, existing for specific proprietary purposes, and not interoperable with USB-IF compliant equipment".
 
When member akwok said the combo was "plug and play" here, it didn't sound like he was using a special cable...

I think this can be done using an OTG cable (Micro-A male to Type-A female) in combination with the DAC cable (Type-A male to Mini-B male)...
However, is there a single cable out there with this function, so that I wouldn't need to combine two different cables?
 
Jul 13, 2012 at 8:19 PM Post #154 of 9,526
Quote:
I'm a bit confused now... My Pico DAC/amp is Mini-B. Do I have to get a Micro-A to Mini-B cable to make it interoperable with the Galaxy SIII?

 
One cable or a combination of two cables.
Simply put, A is related to a USB host, and B to a USB peripheral.
 
"An OTG product (like the Samsung Galaxy S III) is a portable device that uses a single Micro-AB receptacle to operate at times as a USB Targeted Host and at times as a USB peripheral." [page 1]
http://www.usb.org/developers/onthego/USB_OTG_and_EH_2-0.pdf
 
Samsung Galaxy S III operating as a USB host:
. Samsung Galaxy S III as a USB host (i.e. A-Device) interworks with a standard USB mass storage device operating as a USB peripheral (i.e. B-Device) via a Micro-A to Standard-B USB cable
. Samsung Galaxy S III as a USB host (i.e. A-Device) interworks with a standard USB DAC operating as a USB peripheral (i.e. B-Device) via a Micro-A to Standard-B USB cable if the USB DAC has a Standard-B receptacle, or via a Micro-A to Mini-B USB cable if the USB DAC has a Mini-B receptacle
 
Samsung Galaxy S III operating as a USB peripheral:
. Samsung Galaxy S III as a USB peripheral (i.e. B-Device) interworks with a PC / Mac operating as a USB host (i.e. A-Device) via a Micro-B to Standard-A USB cable
. Jelly Bean powered Samsung Galaxy S III as a USB peripheral (i.e. B-Device) interworks with a upcoming Android-specific USB DAC operating as a USB host (i.e. A-Device) via a Micro-B to Standard-A / Mini-A / Micro-A USB cable
 
 
 
Quote:
A quick search at Wikipedia (link here) shows that such cable is "non-standard, existing for specific proprietary purposes, and not interoperable with USB-IF compliant equipment".

 
I’d rather trust these official USB specifications.
 

 

 
"The ID pin on a Micro-A plug shall be connected to the GND pin. The ID pin on a Micro-B plug is not connected or is connected to ground by a resistance of greater than Rb_PLUG_ID (100kΩ MIN). An On-The-Go device is required to be able to detect whether a Micro-A or Micro-B plug is inserted by determining if the ID pin resistance to ground is less than Ra_PLUG_ID (10Ω MAX) or if the resistance to ground is greater than Rb_PLUG_ID . Any ID resistance less than Ra_PLUG_ID shall be treated as ID = FALSE and any resistance greater than Rb_PLUG_ID shall be treated as ID = TRUE." [page 10]
http://193.219.66.80/datasheets/usb_20/Micro-USB_final/Micro-USB_1_01.pdf
 
If  ID = FALSE (i.e. the Micro-A plug is present), the Samsung Galaxy S III decides to operate as a USB host.
If  ID = TRUE (i.e. the Micro-B plug is present), the Samsung Galaxy S III decides to operate as a USB peripheral.
 
 
 
Quote:
When member akwok said the combo was "plug and play" here, it didn't sound like he was using a special cable...

 
He didn’t mention the type of USB cable he used.
 
 
 
Quote:
I think this can be done using an OTG cable (Micro-A male to Type-A female) in combination with the DAC cable (Type-A male to Mini-B male)...
However, is there a single cable out there with this function, so that I wouldn't need to combine two different cables?

 
Yes.
 
Micro-A to Mini-B USB cable:
http://www.lindy.co.uk/usb-firewire/usb-cables/usb-otg-on-the-go-cables/type-micro-a-to-mini-b-usb-otg/
 
Micro-A to Standard-B USB cable:
http://www.lindy.fr/cable-usb-micro-a-b-05m/31950.html
 
Audio equipment manufacturers, like FiiO, will provide these cables.
 
Quote:
We will design a new Mini USB to Macro USB cable with L type connector so it can be easy installed in Galaxy S2 and our E7/E17.  Also I think it will be a good place to ask if someone can help us to test it when we have the sample cable. We will send free cable to you , of course, you must have one Android phone which seems to be support OTB/USB host function, an E7 or E17, and have the knowledge to install some special firmware to your Android phone.

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/604479/good-news-about-android-phone-supports-digital-audio-output
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 2:20 AM Post #155 of 9,526
I'm hoping to use the Nexus 7 as a car head unit: Nexus7 -> USB/Toslink -> Audison BitOne -> Voce 5.1k Amp .... I assume a dev will have to activate standard USB audio in the kernel for this to work?  Also can anyone recommend a good product that can convert USB to Toslink so that the BitOne can accept the digital signal? Thanks for any help, I'm new and sorry if this is a little off topic.
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 9:24 AM Post #158 of 9,526
joined diymobileaudio forum the other day, I usually spend more time on home theater stuff at avsforum.  Thanks for the link though, I'll have to read up on the specs of the ones listed. Also found one on newegg made by turtle beach, may be what I end up going with!
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 10:58 AM Post #160 of 9,526
I got a few questions:
 
As of now what phones will support external DACs?
 
Is there a way to hook up to an external dac and charge your phone at the same time?
 
Could an external DAC still work if you connected it to a doc like the HD station? (this should allow you to use normal usb cable)
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 11:49 AM Post #162 of 9,526
Jul 14, 2012 at 5:16 PM Post #163 of 9,526
Quote:
Take a look at all of the recently released android phones and tablets (with the exception of the Nook), none of them have a mico SD card port. Expanding your memory is not an option on the new generation of android devices. This is more than likely a design decision driven by the requests of phone carriers, who generate significant revenues when subscribers exceed their data plans and/or increase their data usage due to content streaming instead of watching/listening the content stored on the device.
In fact most prior generation devices contain/contained SD card slots.

 
Quote:
Samsung Galaxy Note, and Galaxy S3, both have microsd slot. The Galaxy Tab 2  7.0  also has a microsd slot.
tongue_smile.gif

 
Quote:
 
Not to mention the Acer Iconia, Asus Padphone, Transformer series, the Archos tablets I mentioned, plus almost every single cheap chinese tablet out there.  And that's not even mentioning the Android PMPs that have them.
 
The majority of devices that DON'T have expandable memory are the nexus devices because of the way Google wants to shape memory speed and partition mapping in the OS on those devices.  

 
Thanks for correcting the misinfo.
 
Jul 16, 2012 at 5:55 PM Post #164 of 9,526
I beg to differ, with the exception of Samsung devices (where I stand corrected) most of the new devices sold by phone carriers in the US do not have the SD slot. I am not speaking about phablets, mail-order Chinese tablets or the Assus and Archos tablets although I did mention the Nook as I own one and quite like it for what it is. These devices are great, but not for use as a primary phone.
The whole argument about memory management and partitions sounds like an excuse to feed to consumers. In the end, the result is the same. You will be paying more to stream your music library from the cloud than you would if you had it on an SD card.
Quote:
 
 
 
Thanks for correcting the misinfo.

 
Jul 17, 2012 at 6:13 AM Post #165 of 9,526
Just purchased a usb otg cable today and tried out with my RSA predator, works without any problem.
What a suprise! the sound quality actually upgraded, from iPod classic + Predator(amp only) to SIII + Predator(DAC/amp)
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