Edward Ng
500+ Head-Fier
Modern problems call for modern solutions, right? Well I’ve had a curiously difficult time finding the right cables/products need to:
Allow a DAP or phone to feed digital audio via USB to a separate, USB/OTG-powered DAC while still charging/keeping the phone/DAP charged. Well as it turns out you need two separate cables to pull it off…
iBasso makes a cable called the CB19. It has a USB-A leg that you supply power to, then there are two USB-C legs, one for your DAC dongle and one for the source that will feed digital audio to the DAC.
Separately, in order to keep a DAP or phone powered while still allowing it to send digital audio out, all from just one USB-C port, you need a cable like this one:
https://a.co/d/fFCDRjo
One leg is to feed power via USB-C one leg goes to the DAP or phone and the last leg feeds audio/data out via USB-C.
By combining both cables, it is possible to use one portably battery bank or USB wall adapter with at least 2 USB power ports to power the DAP/phone, power the DAC/amp, and allow the DAP/phone to feed audio to the DAC. Here’s my test setup to prove it works:
Source is HiBy R6 Pro II, DAC is Cayun RU7. Can’t see in the picture, but the DAP is actively recharging and the DAC is playing music to the Little Bear B4-X, which is driving my cans (Monolith M1070C). If I had a USB-powered amp, I’d have plugged that into the power bank as well just for kicks, but I don’t and in fact the B4-X does not allow it to be turned on while charger is attached (it turns itself off for safety—a strange design).
-Ed
EDIT/PS: My own real reason for this is because I needed a solution that let me keep the DAP charged while outputting audio to my DAC, regardless of how long I needed it to sit there playing. I needed a way to simultaneously keep the DAP powered while it played audio. The cable from Amazon is the solution.
Allow a DAP or phone to feed digital audio via USB to a separate, USB/OTG-powered DAC while still charging/keeping the phone/DAP charged. Well as it turns out you need two separate cables to pull it off…
iBasso makes a cable called the CB19. It has a USB-A leg that you supply power to, then there are two USB-C legs, one for your DAC dongle and one for the source that will feed digital audio to the DAC.
Separately, in order to keep a DAP or phone powered while still allowing it to send digital audio out, all from just one USB-C port, you need a cable like this one:
https://a.co/d/fFCDRjo
One leg is to feed power via USB-C one leg goes to the DAP or phone and the last leg feeds audio/data out via USB-C.
By combining both cables, it is possible to use one portably battery bank or USB wall adapter with at least 2 USB power ports to power the DAP/phone, power the DAC/amp, and allow the DAP/phone to feed audio to the DAC. Here’s my test setup to prove it works:
Source is HiBy R6 Pro II, DAC is Cayun RU7. Can’t see in the picture, but the DAP is actively recharging and the DAC is playing music to the Little Bear B4-X, which is driving my cans (Monolith M1070C). If I had a USB-powered amp, I’d have plugged that into the power bank as well just for kicks, but I don’t and in fact the B4-X does not allow it to be turned on while charger is attached (it turns itself off for safety—a strange design).
-Ed
EDIT/PS: My own real reason for this is because I needed a solution that let me keep the DAP charged while outputting audio to my DAC, regardless of how long I needed it to sit there playing. I needed a way to simultaneously keep the DAP powered while it played audio. The cable from Amazon is the solution.
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