Android tab as digital transport!

[sam9s]

Not so great UI and not possible to stream music. But these are pretty understandable.

Not possible to stream music, looks like a deal breaker for me, as all my music is on my NAS and is streamed, nothing is stored on my mobile or Nexus tab.

Also when you say not able to stream music, Cant I even browse the music via ES explorer on my NAS and play the song opting to choose USB Audio player ?????

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

"streaming" is a funny word. In this context, what is it that you are requiring? Patently, the android device can send the data to a DAC, but is it the necessity to first get that data from a network device?

 

[vijwilso]

Is there a docking station or USB hub to power android device and USB DAC and also connects the digital audio path ,
Battery won't get discharged fast , and if the quality is good , we can dedicate a tab for music transport , much better alternative to pc .
I have a nexus 7 and dragon fly , will try and compare with PC transport which is optimized for audio

 

[sam9s]

"streaming" is a funny word. In this context, what is it that you are requiring? Patently, the android device can send the data to a DAC, but is it the necessity to first get that data from a network device?

streaming for me is simple, (and yes I might be wrong), when the data is not locally situated, but is pulled (streamed ..) from a network (local or internet)

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks. Not sure whether right or wrong, but clear about what you mean now

To me, that's just a network file system --- and I have no idea about Android in that respect.

I have just one Android device, my Motorola Defy+ phone, and it will not, physically, do USB host, OTG, and all that stuff so, sadly, I can't join in this interesting game

 

[manoj.p]

Here is my trial experience with Android tablet as media player.

I have a Pantech Element tablet and the android version is 4.0.4. The tablet does have Micro-HDMI out. So I got a Micro HDMI to HDMI cable and hooked the tablet to my AVR. Did the usual input settings like Trinnov equalization position, what eq curve I want to deploy etc. No special setting on android (infact I did not find any HDMI related setting in the tablet) so its simply plug and play.

First I tried with my daughter's MP3 music and it played through normal google music player. It was sounding just like a compressed music, nothing fancy.

I have all my flac's stored on separate Windows machine which I use as NAS box. I mounted this as samba network drive in ES Explorer. Clicked on a FLAC file and got the usual player choice. By the way, FLAC is natively supported in android, so tablet does offer hardware player support. I chose moboplayer and it started playing with hardware support. Nice clean output, just like a CD player used as a transport.

Now, there is a caveat. Android has a mixer too and we definitely don't want to use it. Whenever the mixer is into equation, android switches to software decoding and then adds all the sounds together. This messes up with signal and causes all that background noise with extra cpu processing. To avoid this, I had to make sure there is no background music player running. Usually, these are the players which will keep playing music in the background while you work in other apps, like google music player, Pandora etc. When I had google music player in the background, Moboplayer will only do software play and not hardware. After I killed Google Player and restarted Moboplayer, it automatically switched into hardware mode and no more click or touch noise in the audio.

So, just to sum up, a very simple setup to play the music from Android. As for whether it's just like an expensive digital transport or not, I don't have golden ears (lucky me!) and I can't detect difference. I would leave it to individuals whether they like this setup or not. It works for me and I think I will keep using it. Or one of those days, I will get a dedicated android tablet and mount it in the cabinet for usual navigation/view/playback/control other devices etc.

Thanks Santy for discovering this and showing the path. Heck I didn't even knew that my tablet had HDMI out.

 

[manoj.p]

Not possible to stream music, looks like a deal breaker for me, as all my music is on my NAS and is streamed, nothing is stored on my mobile or Nexus tab.

Also when you say not able to stream music, Cant I even browse the music via ES explorer on my NAS and play the song opting to choose USB Audio player ?????

Sam,

I tried the ES explorer and I could play the music using SMB share. The player shouldn't make a difference because all it sees a music file.

I am sure android also has NFS and well as CIFS mounting apps. So, network streaming is not a problem.

 

[Santy]

So I got a Micro HDMI to HDMI cable and hooked the tablet to my AVR.

Glad you found a new digital source Manoj.

I suppose HDMI output is there exactly for that purpose. To connect the tablet with AVR/ TV and watch movies or listen to songs though I believe there is a very tiny population using the tab as media player. It is still a good idea to use it as one for those who have an AVR based setup (though its devoid of a remote).

The idea of using tab as source was more about USB audio which helps us to use a DAC in a stereo setup. I am waiting for the HiFimeDIY DAC to arrive. Tab or smartphone + a tiny DAC such as this + active speakers= bloody crisp and clutter free setup one could wish for (with decent SQ). :yahoo:

Regarding streaming, again the music player that puts audio on USB should be capable of it I suppose, in a USB-DAC setup.

I mailed the developers of the software asking if there was any way I could stream music on their app for which they replied back.

Davy Wentzler
Jan 24 (3 days ago)

to me
Dear Santy,

Thank you for contacting us. It is not possible yet, but planned.

Kind regards,

Davy
eXtream Software Development

However if NFS or CIFS or anything else can cheat the app to think the music files are "on local drive" and not on network, this app could probably pick it up and play. If possible, I would be very keen to explore.

 

[vijwilso]

+1 to what Thad says.

Besides, its a digital transport. It either works or it doesn't. At the most, you will get audio drop outs if tablet does not have enough processing power, but then you would know it right away. If no drop outs, be assured there is solid lock on the bit-streaming and all the audiophile discussions are simply romantic, nothing else.

My observation is that it sounds better with the PC that is optimized for the Audio . Still i wanted to use the tablet for the convenience sake .

The obvious symptoms of the non-optimized PC is that clicks/pops/drops and non-obvious symptoms are comparatively flat sound-stage/lack of 3d depth and bit mechanical . My earlier DAC sounded more organic with the optimized PC compared to my laptop , the difference was obvious

 

[sam9s]

Sam,

I tried the ES explorer and I could play the music using SMB share. The player shouldn't make a difference because all it sees a music file.

I am sure android also has NFS and well as CIFS mounting apps. So, network streaming is not a problem.

Thanks Manoj for your input, but I was a bit more inclined to know if ES explorer can be used to play music using SMB via USB Audio player which is what santy shared, then I might purchase it.

 

[manoj.p]

I haven't tried USB Audio player cause I am not using USB out. May be I should install the trial version and see if it works with HDMI out.

 

[vijwilso]

Today i got the OTG , tried it with the Nexus 7 and DragonFly DAC .

Installation was simple , detected it easily . At first , it was disappointment , sounded like a on-board dac . Then I choose the analog Audio control option ( dragonFly supports that ) , rebooted the Nexus . When it came back it sounded good . I dont know what resolved the issue . Now the Android volume control is dummy , only way to change the volume is through 'App'

It almost sounds like the PC transport which has been optimized for Audio . I could not figure out any difference between computer and Nexus as transport .

It plays bit-perfect , the DragonFly changes the color based on the source files, which proves it .

Dragon fly supports upto 96 Khz , when i played 192Khz , the app downconverts it to 96 KHz . they left no setting to user , it is all automatic . Tied mp3 , flac and WAC , it all worked

What a green way to play the music ( atleast for the transport )

 

[vijwilso]

One issue , it crashEd the nexus 7 in the middle of playback and nexus powered down immediately. Happened couple of times which holding me back from buying this app

 

[Santy]

It almost sounds like the PC transport which has been optimized for Audio . I could not figure out any difference between computer and Nexus as transport .

Thanks killerbrain for your honest feedback :clapping:

What a green way to play the music

Bang on..! Clutter free too... more so when you use a tiny usb powered DAC like that.

As much as I am awed on seeing a massive stereo setup with those huge monoblocks, I am wowed to see a crisp setup that delivers.

Today I had a big surprise. I connected my Teac UD-501 which is supposed to work with only proprietary drivers to the tab but the app could detect it and started driving the DAC. :thumbsup: The SQ is pristine.

[ Incidentally the PC also could use the DAC without the OEM supplied drivers, on ASIO.]

 

[Santy]

One issue , it crashEd the nexus 7 in the middle of playback and nexus powered down immediately. Happened couple of times which holding me back from buying this app

Strange... You have to rule out if any other app is interfering. Coz, I have played it for more than 2 hours without any hiccup.

EDIT: If you are still hanging on to the app with some interest, you could email the issue on [email protected]. Hopefully they should be able to suggest.

 

[vijwilso]

thanks Santy , Will contact them

nexus 7 has only one non-google app , which is hay-day . I have been using this for quite some time , and this was completely stopped when playing music . My nexus 7 is the old one , first gen , released in US .

 

[Santy]

I have been using this for quite some time , and this was completely stopped when playing music .

Well isnt that the trial version works only for a few min or songs.
The latest update says it solves possible crash on exit, may be patched only on full version.
The developers would be able to comment.

 

[vijwilso]

The trial verision plays for like approx 30 mins , then goto android setting , choose the app , force stop it , clear the application data , this makes it available for another 30 mins . Only issue is with the random crash .I downloaded it yesterday , yet to talk to the developers

I am more interested in this one as the SQ is better compared to my PC transport . It performs more composed in the complex musical passage and overall more cleanlier , say pristine . A friend who stays with me says this is sweeter and more musical and he confirmed this is the best setting that i had so far. So i need to make this work .

It is convienient and better quality .

 

[vijwilso]

Ok , I bought it . The new version does not crash

My observation still remains the same . It is better than my computer transport . Feels like some jagged edges are smoothen out , and more composed .

 

[bullet.350]

hi sandy,

regarding external hard disk/ More storage.

Why don't you try DLNA.

Option 1. (wifi router is required)
Hard disk is connected to WLAN router
install free DLNA app from android app store
access songs in phone

option 2. (wifi router is required)
if you have a laptop/desktop - connect it to the router
install some free DLNA server (win 7 not required, DLNA native support)
install free DLNA app from android app store
access songs in phone