Android mobile as AUDIO source

[kaushik]

discussion was for USB dac route , all have "sounds quiet good " cellphone , who wants to hear that

 

[miroflex]

Hi Kaushik,

Sorry for going off topic on your thread.

Regards.

 

[hydra]

Good news ahoy!

Why Music Apps Will Sound Better Than Ever in Android Jelly Bean

In brief, here's what's changing in Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" and supported devices:

Low latency audio playback capability, via a new software mixer and other API improvements.
Latency targets below 10 ms. For now, low-latency playback (which would in turn impact round-trip latency) refers only to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus; other devices should get similar performance enhancements, but there's no official word yet on which, or when.
Strict maximum latency requirements for third-party vendors at some time in the future.
Enhanced OS features, too: USB audio device support, multichannel audio (including via HDMI), recording features, and more.

USB Audio support, exposed through the Android Open Accessory Development Kit
Multichannel audio over HDMI (Android-based surround sound installation, anyone?)
Media codec access at the platform hardware and software level (with lots of cool low-level features)
Audio record triggering
Audio preprocessing
Audio chaining, which means (among other things) support for seamless playback
Media routing (a bit closer to what Apple does with AirPlay)

More in the article.

 

[MADMAX]

Will this cable work with the galaxy note? I have a galaxy note with poweramp.

 

[kaushik]

@ hydra those developments will be minor boost to the quality of the o/p
fancy specs for selling new tab/phones there are hardware limitations that limit the quality coming from in built decoder in a slim phone /tab like bulky capacitors etc cant be put

just as a digital source we may get some good use

 

[hydra]

^^ Yup, I'm sure. I don't think an Android phone or tablet is going to replace a properly built Music PC anytime soon. But maybe they can get shoulder-to-shoulder with the better quality PMPs like the Sansa Clip/Fuze etc.

 

[yuvaraki]

hi all, thought i would share my experience with phones as DAP.

Got a BB 9930 3 days ago and audio quality is crappy. I couldn't quite spend quality time listening to analyze whats lacking but i just didn't like the quality. I was holding my Fuze in one hand and chatting on BB in other hand. My friends were asking me if the audio quality was so good in the player. I said, HELL YEAH! FUZE is the best i had so far!

P.s: I had a BB 8320 earlier and used to love using it as a DAP and those were the days when i was less finicky about audio quality. I still remember me being happy with what i used to listen to. Partially because of the ability to scroll through huge list of songs, search and making playlists on the fly. (Actually this ease in accessing music in BB made me very particular about choosing click wheel FUZE than say players like CLIP+.) This one seems to be considerably worse. Probably FUZE has raised the standards a lot or the device that i got has some defects in the circuitry. I actually got a refurb device wherein i was supposed to get a new one. If i get a new one as replacement, i will definitely give it one more try before writing off my favorite mobile to be useless as DAP.

 

[kaushik]

tabs with usb OTG can act like good source via dac.
galaxy s3 runs dac via otg cable

dont ever expect BB etc with in built cheap dac to give good q

 

[theironhorse]

Good news ahoy!

Why Music Apps Will Sound Better Than Ever in Android Jelly Bean





More in the article.

this looks and sound good.. awaiting to see how much real world change does it make.. should get 4.1 in a week or so..

 

[yuvaraki]

I couldn't quite spend quality time listening to analyze whats lacking but i just didn't like the quality..........i will definitely give it one more try before writing off my favorite mobile to be useless as DAP.

dont ever expect BB etc with in built cheap dac to give good q

Actually i have totally contrasting opinion about the BB now. I'm not sure how my opinion changed so much. However the truth is i do feel its not crappy at all!! I'm sorry if i offended any BB fanboys like myself.

I tried my fav. songs with my SR80i. I also tried this with Sony IEMs that come with sub20k droids(which are of decent quality) and now i genuinely feel its very good esp. with my Ety HF5 which as per my experience can show the short-comings of the source. It does feel muddied with the Sony IEMs though. But if HF5 says its neat then i guess i will say its good. Definitely not as transparent as my Fuze but definitely decent for folks who are not-so-particular about the SQ.

P.s: I got half refund from amazon rather than an exchange since i brought this to India and cross-country replacement is pretty much full of hassles.

 

[kaushik]

yuva,
thread is about device>dac to achieve some mid level quality
(there are most sound-feel-good like phones ,We will skip discussing)

there are power and cost and size factors that makes cell phone dac cheap compromise .

if you want mobile audio ,dont even do mix and match IEM/goods hfs.
pair with S:flo2 you will not ever insert anythig in the BB.

if that dont happen ,i will pay for sflo

 

[kaushik]

--------good news:usb audio for tabs is ready---------------
[Q] USB sound card on Android? - xda-developers
HUGE list of tabs got 'USB AUDIO' :yahoo:


Bypassing the Android layer and going right to ALSA you can do 24 bit.
If you specify a hardware device ("hw:0") in ALSA you can bypass any potential sample conversions.
Firmware is here with steps [rom] cm9 nightlies - SlateDroid.com
more mods
http://blog.agdunn.net/?p=434Configuring MPD for Bit Perfect Playback with an external DAC

Supporting Devices
---------
Galaxy S III $700 Android phone
ARCHOS G9 $250+ Android tablet (looks like the key is OMAP chipset kernel drivers)
Squeezebox Touch $250 - propriatary logitech linux box
Ainol Novo 7/8 Advance 8gb 100$ Android tablet or Allwinner with a modded Android kernel
Nook Touch with custom rom
any A10 Android tablet http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/3337...cm9-nightlies/
* Hyundai A7HD tablet with Cm9
* Mediacom 907c, Momo11 Bird, JXD S9000, Eken A90
* Visture V3
* Mediacom 910i, Teclast A10t
* ICOO D90W
* CEMA10N7 "unknown" device
* Bmorn V99
* Mediacom 711i, Momo9
* Protab2XXL
* Sanei N83
* Hyundai A7HD
* MOMO9 needs

 

[anuragn]

Reviving this old thread.
Yesterday I bought "Micro USB to HDMI" MHL convertor for my Galaxy Nexus phone.
I connected it to my HDTV and then it struck me: This phone is sending audio over HDMI to the TV, i.e. digital audio out from phone's micro USB port.
So instead of going the USB>DAC route, we can have USB>AVR via HDMI, provided AVR's DAC is good enough . I will try it today.

Now my question is: Does the phone output raw digital audio signal or is there some ADC somewhere in the path that is converting analogue audio back to digital?
If the signal remains digital right upto the HDMI cable, then it is a good (read: cheaper and easier) alternative to pairing the mobile to a DAC.