If you're using USB audio out to another DAC (digital 2 audio converter), your phone's DAC is not involved at all, and since EQ works with the audio stream in digital, your player's EQ is in charge.
Yes. Depends on the device. I believe there's another thread that talks about smartphones that can provide digital out from the USB port elsewhere on Head-Fi.
This whole process goes against original USB design which defined the USB Host and USB Slave (peripheral). With the newer OTG (On the Go) specs added to "USB" nowadays with personal listening, smartphones, etc.., the same micro-b USB outlet on your smartphone can play "slave/peripheral" when being charged by its charger, and "Host" when outputting a digital-stream of music out to your outboard DAC. Unfortunately, you shouldn't charge and stream digital out at the same time. Depending on the OTG slave/peripheral you hook up, be careful that it doesn't only take digital-out from your phone but also charges itself from your phone as well.
Many newer headphone amps supporting OTG will have automatic switching or even a manual switch like my Leckerton - one way to accept "charging" along with "digital", and the other, just accept "digital" only. The OTG configuration uses a 5th USB pin on the micro-b for determining which device is the Host and which device is the peripheral or Slave.
It's really exciting technology to read up on. Google "USB" "Micro" and "OTG".
Note that USB out managed by Android OS will still limit you to 16/44.1 world, since audio flinger dictates everything mixed in this format. So to open all potentials of your DAC you need to use a program with option USB music out. In this case the program will take care of configuring DAC in 24/192 format and you will get a real playback quality.
Note that USB out managed by Android OS will still limit you to 16/44.1 world, since audio flinger dictates everything mixed in this format. So to open all potentials of your DAC you need to use a program with option USB music out. In this case the program will take care of configuring DAC in 24/192 format and you will get a real playback quality.
Android's not the best-equipped OS to handle high-end audio, that's true. But my understanding from the author of Neutron - the Neon version has features that when run on a rooted device, you can select a feature to have Neutron take direct control of the on-board hardware, passing straight out the USB pipe bypassing Android's 44.1KHz/16bit limit.
It is true. I also work with an author of my audio player to add the feature as well. But first I need to upgrade my phone. Here is another problem, most vendors currently eliminated SD slot, so I am restricted to mostly Samsung phones still keeping it. So no luck to get Nexus 5.
Android's not the best-equipped OS to handle high-end audio, that's true. But my understanding from the author of Neutron - the Neon version has features that when run on a rooted device, you can select a feature to have Neutron take direct control of the on-board hardware, passing straight out the USB pipe bypassing Android's 44.1KHz/16bit limit.
I haven't tested Neutron because (just for fun) I've rooted an old Galaxy i7500 (the first Galaxy, I believe) and it's not compatible with it.
But has any of you tried Rockbox for Android?
It still has a basic UI but the SOUND....gosh!
not as good as Rockbox on my 5th gen ipod video but sure blows out of the water the majority of other players mentioned here!!
Rockbox sounds awesome. I really glad I read your post and tried your recommendation. I am glad you finished search for the best player. I am currently looking for a new Android device and somehow got stuck. I badly wanted Nexus 5. I know it is currently the best device on market. But all my music is in 24/192,00 format. One album in 24/192,000 takes about 1.5gb -2gb, so I can put only roughly 20 albums on 32Gb microSD card. Nexus one doesn't support 64Gb cards. Nexus 5 doesn't support any microSD card. So I know only S4 supports 64Gb but it is very pricy. Can somebody recommend me a good Android device with microSD card support up to 64Gb or even 128Gb? I do not care much about internal DAC quality since plan to use with an external USB DAC anyway
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