[redshifter]

I want to use my Sony MDR 1ADAC with my Fiio X3 2nd Gen player, but when I connect the Sony USB cable to the Fiio, I get no sound. Is there a way to make the Fiio X3 output a digital signal through the USB port? If not, does anyone know which non Apple MP3 players will work with the MDR 1ADAC? The support site for these headphones only lists three high end Walkmans, Sony's tablets, and Apple products as compatible (USB digital output). I noticed using the search function some have had luck with other smartphones with these cans. Any help is appreciated. 

 

[redshifter]

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[PurpleAngel]

  I want to use my Sony MDR 1ADAC with my Fiio X3 2nd Gen player, but when I connect the Sony USB cable to the Fiio, I get no sound. Is there a way to make the Fiio X3 output a digital signal through the USB port? If not, does anyone know which non Apple MP3 players will work with the MDR 1ADAC? The support site for these headphones only lists three high end Walkmans, Sony's tablets, and Apple products as compatible (USB digital output). I noticed using the search function some have had luck with other smartphones with these cans. Any help is appreciated. 

 
Why not just connect an analog audio cable from the FiiO X3 to the MDR 1ADAC?
Your MDR-1ADAC should have come with the cable.

 

[redshifter]

Thanks for the reply. I want to use the DAC and amp in the headphones. which was kind of the point of getting these. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Thanks for the reply. I want to use the DAC and amp in the headphones. which was kind of the point of getting these. 

 
I checked the manual, looks like if you want to use the Sony headphone's digital USB connection, you will need to replace the FiiO X3 Gen II with a compatible audio device (Sony or Apple or Xperia product)

 

[redshifter]

Thanks again, I looked into it and I prefer not to use Apple (I dislike iTunes), and the suggested Walkmans were the high end stuff for over $300 nor do I need a Sony tablet (I have an iPad Air). 
 
I looked into perhaps some kind of SPDIF to USB dongle but I did not find anything. 
 
I am however in the market for a new phone, I wonder which non Apple phones might be compatible?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Thanks again, I looked into it and I prefer not to use Apple (I dislike iTunes), and the suggested Walkmans were the high end stuff for over $300 nor do I need a Sony tablet (I have an iPad Air). 
I looked into perhaps some kind of SPDIF to USB dongle but I did not find anything. 
I am however in the market for a new phone, I wonder which non Apple phones might be compatible?

 
I'm assuming as Sony does not list other devices (beside the Sony Xperia, Apple) because they are not compatible with the Headphones USB interface.
And if there are any, chances are nobody has tried and tested to see if any non-Apple products work with these headphones.
The source device would need to have drivers that know how to "talk" to the Headphone's USB interface and I'm assuming no one bothers writing drivers for such a limited market.

 

[bsd107]

  Thanks again, I looked into it and I prefer not to use Apple (I dislike iTunes), and the suggested Walkmans were the high end stuff for over $300 nor do I need a Sony tablet (I have an iPad Air). 
 
I looked into perhaps some kind of SPDIF to USB dongle but I did not find anything. 
 
I am however in the market for a new phone, I wonder which non Apple phones might be compatible?

​I don't have a recommendation, but you should note that when connecting the MDR-1ADAC to an iPhone/iPod via Sony's Lightning cable, the support is OFFICIALLY limited to only 16-bit at 44.1kHz/48kHz...
 
I just received a pair of MDR-1ADAC, and when using them with my iPhone 7+, an iPad Air 2, and even an older iPhone 5S, what I find is that EVERYTHING is sent to the 1ADAC from the iOS device as 44.1kHz.  iOS identifies the headphones as "Dock", instead of properly identifying as "MDR-1ADAC".  I have tried multiple audio apps, and they all report that 44.1kHz is getting sent out, even with sound files that are at multiples of 48kHz.  This is very disappointing, and seems to be a limitation of these iOS devices....  This testing was all done with iOS 10.0.2.
 
And if you subscribe to Apple Music, you can no longer copy ALAC files to your iOS device using iTunes - the Music Library on the phone will automatically replace any ALAC files with MP3 copies from Apple Music!!!  This forces you to use another music app for lossless files, which is another library to manage, figure out how to move files to, etc.  And then in the end, at least with the MDR-1ADAC, everything is converted to 44.1kHz before going to the headphone's DAC.
 
Bottom line - iOS devices are VERY disappointing and extremely limited as hi-rez audio devices (see various other posts trying to use Apple's USB camera kit to get external DACs to work - it's really flaky).  I would not recommend an iPhone/iPod for your use case.
 
I am an iPhone user, and I have not yet figured out a solution to these limitations.  I have considered buying one of the supported Walkman devices (even the A17 at ~$300 supports PCM out at up to 192kHz, but no DSD support) just to get high-rez audio out to the MDR-1ADAC, but this seems rediculous to have to do this given the horsepower of an iPhone that I am already carrying around with me.  The iOS apps I have (KORG iAudioGate, NePLAYER) all support high-rez audio very well - it's the Apple's connection (hardware/software) that seems to be the limitation.

 

[bsd107]