[ABx009]

Edit: Nevermind

 

[reginalb]

 
It might be worth trying it with USB Audio Recorder Pro (you can download the trial from the Specs page for the E18) just to make sure that it's not a defective unit. There's been one or two people in this thread that have had to order replacements.

 
Hmm, it's possible, I am also going to try returning to a factory image. I've needed to so that I can get up to 4.3 anyway. 

 

[cswann1]

   
I don't think that's true. I mean, the E18 isn't working with my S4, but every other USB DAC I have used with it works fine, this is the only one I've had trouble with.

 
If you don't mind me asking, how many DAC's have you tried and what media software on the S4?  Are you sure that your S4 is acting as a host for these DACs and is feeding it a digital audio bit-stream?
 

   
Not working on My Verizon S4, but I can, for example, use my Hifiman HM-101 with the same phone, so....
 
My S4 is also rooted, but generally stock otherwise. Very disappointed with the E18. 

 
 

   
Hmm, it's possible, I am also going to try returning to a factory image. I've needed to so that I can get up to 4.3 anyway. 

  I'm confused here.  Are you running a custom image (ROM)?  Or when you say "return to factory" you mean unroot your phone.

 

[cswann1]

  So it looks like this may be carrier specific.
 
I just got my E18, plugged it into my S4 (yes, USB in), and it works straight away through Poweramp, Noozy, and the Youtube app. When I plugged it in it turned the volume on the phone all the way down and I just had to turn it up.
 
However, I happen to have another S4 here for testing (I'm a mobile software tester) through T Mobile, and it is NOT working on that one.
 
My phone is rooted but still stock (the testing device is, of course, fully stock) and on Sprint. I have ViPER4Android and Noozoxide installed but disabled. It works with Poweramp set to use direct volume control or not. Noozy says that it failed to initialize EMU due to unsupported DAC (which it does without the E18 as well). Unfortunately I can't change much on the S4 for testing because it needs to remain as close to being OOB as possible. I also have personal stuff going on today that makes it unlikely that I will be able to do much more today, but we'll see. I'm happy to do whatever I can to help you out, cswann1.
 
So I'm very glad to be at least partially wrong, though I still think that Fiio needs to be more up-front about this.
 
I am a little weary about this OTG cable; it looks like something that will short out after a month of my bus commute.

 
Thanks for the information. I also see my phones volume being turned all the way down when I connect the e18 (and i did turn it back up, but never got any sound out of my e18).  It is my understanding that the phones volume should have no effect at all with the function of feeding audio data in digital form to a DAC.
 
 
This is a matter of great confusion for me.  I have been reading a lot about the S4 and other phones and this DAC and the various media apps, and I sometimes read about how folks are using the e18 and the phones volume still controls the volume coming from the headphones that are connected to the e18's headphone out.  This seems very contradictory to how it should work to me.

 

[StanD]

   
Thanks for the information. I also see my phones volume being turned all the way down when I connect the e18 (and i did turn it back up, but never got any sound out of my e18).  It is my understanding that the phones volume should have no effect at all with the function of feeding audio data in digital form to a DAC.
 
 
This is a matter of great confusion for me.  I have been reading a lot about the S4 and other phones and this DAC and the various media apps, and I sometimes read about how folks are using the e18 and the phones volume still controls the volume coming from the headphones that are connected to the e18's headphone out.  This seems very contradictory to how it should work to me.

So it is either scaling the signal digitally which is not desirable, so you should turn it up all the way. Or else, like the S3, you can route audio through the USB cable and the volume control affects the line out level. When I do this on my S3 I also pickup interference. I'm wondering if it's line out audio you are listening to via the E18 amp section. I'll PM a link to this post to James at FiiO and maybe he can clear this up.

 

[Ashade]

   
Thanks for the information. I also see my phones volume being turned all the way down when I connect the e18 (and i did turn it back up, but never got any sound out of my e18).  It is my understanding that the phones volume should have no effect at all with the function of feeding audio data in digital form to a DAC.
 
 
This is a matter of great confusion for me.  I have been reading a lot about the S4 and other phones and this DAC and the various media apps, and I sometimes read about how folks are using the e18 and the phones volume still controls the volume coming from the headphones that are connected to the e18's headphone out.  This seems very contradictory to how it should work to me.

 
This is not necessarily true, you can digitally control the volume from your phone, same way you do on a computer or with a bluetooth headset. This is something that depends purely on the implementation of the DAC, and in Fiio E07K and E17 you could already do, not the same with E7.

 

[Sushiglobster]

My FiiO E18 is in and here are some first initial impressions:
 
First, the good news: It works with my LG G2 through USB. I can play/pause, advance forward and back with tracks and Google Music streams with no problem.
 
And well...that's kind of where the positive things end....
 
On to the bad news:
- First off, I did get some interference from my LG G2, but it quickly went away. I do however still get this very distant high-pitched sound. It remains constant and I can hear it during quiet parts of songs and in between tracks. It's very minimal in volume, but I can still hear it.
- Second, when using OTG with the USB cable to from my LG G2 to the E18, music sounds incredibly thin and...well...distorted. Even during low volume and quiet parts of a song, I get what sounds like distortion and pops/clicks. Music is lifeless and switching the gain from low to high only makes the distortion even more apparent and the audio more harsh. The Bass boost does little to no difference here. To sum it up, using the DAC portion with OTG and USB is pretty awful. I have no idea if this is how it's suppose to be or if it's something from my phone, I have no idea. This is my first time using a portable DAC/Amp and my first time using a FiiO product.
 
A silver lining: Using the headphone-out from my LG G2 to the E18's Line-in sounds great! There is no OTG or USB cable with this setup. Just a simple line-in/out audio cable (The one supplied in the box). Music sounds big...very big and there is a noticeable and more exciting increase in bass presence when I flip the bass boost to on. I get no distortion, no high pitched sound, just a bigger listening experience. 
 
I'm not really sure what's up with the DAC performance. It just sounds harsh, tiny, empty, and brittle. It doesn't sound like it's performing...at all. Then again, maybe it's my phone? I wouldn't even know how to resolve such an issue. 
 
I'll continue to mess with it, but as it is right now, I may ask for a refund. If the DAC listening experience doesn't improve then the product will be something I cannot use, especially because that's why I bought it.
 
Any questions? Thoughts? Opinions? Please ask. I'd like to work at making this perform as it should.
 
For the record I'm using Android 4.2.2
My headphones are Westone W4r IEMs.

 

[bowei006]

Try E18 on computer and see if you are hearing same audio qualities.
 
I have no problems using E18 with my computer sonically wise.

 

[cswann1]

  So it is either scaling the signal digitally which is not desirable, so you should turn it up all the way. Or else, like the S3, you can route audio through the USB cable and the volume control affects the line out level. When I do this on my S3 I also pickup interference. I'm wondering if it's line out audio you are listening to via the E18 amp section. I'll PM a link to this post to James at FiiO and maybe he can clear this up.

 
 
This is also something I have wondered about.   So USB can carry purely digital audio information as well as analog line-out?  If that is the case it brings up all sorts of questions about what it is exactly a person is getting when one connects a DAC to a phone or other portable media player.
 
Also, @Ashade.  OK thanks. I can see how volume/gain information can be sent along with the audio data.

 

[Ashade]

  My FiiO E18 is in and here are some first initial impressions:
 
First, the good news: It works with my LG G2 through USB. I can play/pause, advance forward and back with tracks and Google Music streams with no problem.
 
And well...that's kind of where the positive things end....
 
On to the bad news:
- First off, I did get some interference from my LG G2, but it quickly went away. I do however still get this very distant high-pitched sound. It remains constant and I can hear it during quiet parts of songs and in between tracks. It's very minimal in volume, but I can still hear it.
- Second, when using OTG with the USB cable to from my LG G2 to the E18, music sounds incredibly thin and...well...distorted. Even during low volume and quiet parts of a song, I get what sounds like distortion and pops/clicks. Music is lifeless and switching the gain from low to high only makes the distortion even more apparent and the audio more harsh. The Bass boost does little to no difference here. To sum it up, using the DAC portion with OTG and USB is pretty awful. I have no idea if this is how it's suppose to be or if it's something from my phone, I have no idea. This is my first time using a portable DAC/Amp and my first time using a FiiO product.
 
A silver lining: Using the headphone-out from my LG G2 to the E18's Line-in sounds great! There is no OTG or USB cable with this setup. Just a simple line-in/out audio cable (The one supplied in the box). Music sounds big...very big and there is a noticeable and more exciting increase in bass presence when I flip the bass boost to on. I get no distortion, no high pitched sound, just a bigger listening experience. 
 
I'm not really sure what's up with the DAC performance. It just sounds harsh, tiny, empty, and brittle. It doesn't sound like it's performing...at all. Then again, maybe it's my phone? I wouldn't even know how to resolve such an issue. 
 
I'll continue to mess with it, but as it is right now, I may ask for a refund. If the DAC listening experience doesn't improve then the product will be something I cannot use, especially because that's why I bought it.
 
Any questions? Thoughts? Opinions? Please ask. I'd like to work at making this perform as it should.
 
For the record I'm using Android 4.2.2
My headphones are Westone W4r IEMs.

 
Try it in your computer. It is probably some kind of incompatibility with the phone, but let's make sure the DAC part is not defective.
 
EDIT: Bowei was faster. You are bullet man!

 

[reginalb]

   
If you don't mind me asking, how many DAC's have you tried and what media software on the S4?  Are you sure that your S4 is acting as a host for these DACs and is feeding it a digital audio bit-stream?
 
 
 
  I'm confused here.  Are you running a custom image (ROM)?  Or when you say "return to factory" you mean unroot your phone.

 
Stock rom, but with some framework modifications, etc. Just enough to not be able to do an OTA. And yeah, it was definitely acting as a host. 
 
That said, the OTA to 4.3 resolved the issues, E18 works now.

 

[Ashade]

   
Stock rom, but with some framework modifications, etc. Just enough to not be able to do an OTA. And yeah, it was definitely acting as a host. 
 
That said, the OTA to 4.3 resolved the issues, E18 works now.

 
Good to know. 

 

[StanD]

Quote:is anyone's 

  This is also something I have wondered about.   So USB can carry purely digital audio information as well as analog line-out?  If that is the case it brings up all sorts of questions about what it is exactly a person is getting when one connects a DAC to a phone or other portable media player.
 
Also, @Ashade.  OK thanks. I can see how volume/gain information can be sent along with the audio data.

A USB cable is just wires and a connector, how one abuses it is anyone's folly. I have dock for my S3 that has a switch which makes the S3 route line out audio via the USB to the dock and out of a 3.5 mm jack on the dock. It's level is affected by the volume slider on the S3. Of course usually line out is not attenuated, so the whole thing is a bit screwy.
EDIT: If I have a power adapter (USB) attached to the dock, I get noise/interference on the line out. If I unplug the power adapter, the noise ceases.

 

[reginalb]

   
 
This is also something I have wondered about.   So USB can carry purely digital audio information as well as analog line-out?  If that is the case it brings up all sorts of questions about what it is exactly a person is getting when one connects a DAC to a phone or other portable media player.
 
Also, @Ashade.  OK thanks. I can see how volume/gain information can be sent along with the audio data.

 
 
Touchwiz, from what I understand, has been able to directly stream the music data (16/44.1, which is actually built in to AOSP but not implemented by most manufacturers)
 

   
Good to know. 

 
Indeed, I'm sure I did something to it, and I'd caused the problem, I admit, I am constantly tinkering, and I'm not entirely sure when the last time I'd actually used a DAC with it was. The only one I had at the time that I picked up the E18 in the HM-101, which was definitely the last dac I'd used with it. But that one picks up so much EMI, it's unusable when it's tethered to a phone. 

 

[StanD]

  My FiiO E18 is in and here are some first initial impressions:
 
First, the good news: It works with my LG G2 through USB. I can play/pause, advance forward and back with tracks and Google Music streams with no problem.
 
And well...that's kind of where the positive things end....
 
On to the bad news:
- First off, I did get some interference from my LG G2, but it quickly went away. I do however still get this very distant high-pitched sound. It remains constant and I can hear it during quiet parts of songs and in between tracks. It's very minimal in volume, but I can still hear it.
- Second, when using OTG with the USB cable to from my LG G2 to the E18, music sounds incredibly thin and...well...distorted. Even during low volume and quiet parts of a song, I get what sounds like distortion and pops/clicks. Music is lifeless and switching the gain from low to high only makes the distortion even more apparent and the audio more harsh. The Bass boost does little to no difference here. To sum it up, using the DAC portion with OTG and USB is pretty awful. I have no idea if this is how it's suppose to be or if it's something from my phone, I have no idea. This is my first time using a portable DAC/Amp and my first time using a FiiO product.
 
A silver lining: Using the headphone-out from my LG G2 to the E18's Line-in sounds great! There is no OTG or USB cable with this setup. Just a simple line-in/out audio cable (The one supplied in the box). Music sounds big...very big and there is a noticeable and more exciting increase in bass presence when I flip the bass boost to on. I get no distortion, no high pitched sound, just a bigger listening experience. 
 
I'm not really sure what's up with the DAC performance. It just sounds harsh, tiny, empty, and brittle. It doesn't sound like it's performing...at all. Then again, maybe it's my phone? I wouldn't even know how to resolve such an issue. 
 
I'll continue to mess with it, but as it is right now, I may ask for a refund. If the DAC listening experience doesn't improve then the product will be something I cannot use, especially because that's why I bought it.
 
Any questions? Thoughts? Opinions? Please ask. I'd like to work at making this perform as it should.
 
For the record I'm using Android 4.2.2
My headphones are Westone W4r IEMs.

If you can't get a DAC to work with your phone, get a FiiO E12 amp (no DAC), it's much better than the amp section in the E18.