I'm not an "audiophile", but I probably have more critical ears than most when it comes to quality sounds. And the GSIII isn't impressing me like I hoped it would. So I'm looking to squeeze as much out of the GSIII experience as possible, while also getting a good music experience.
So, I ditched Bluetooth and finally got USB audio when docked (thank you, CM).
But still not really impressed. Now I'd like to try these DAC things. But I have zero experience with these.
What I want is to store all my 320kbps MP3's and my FLAC's on my phone. And be able to hook my phone up to my car stereo, garage stereo and home stereo's.
One thing that concerns me is the car experience. How do you guys handle things like call audio and system sounds and GPS navigation voice?
Is it like with Bluetooth & USB audio where you hear everything without having to change inputs?
So if I plug my phone into an MHL and plug that into an HDMI to digital audio converter and plug that into a DAC and plug that into my car stereo's 3.5mm or stereo RCA input, I know that I'll get great/better music (right?!?).
But will I also get call audio and system sounds and navigation voice through that same DAC input to the car stereo? Or will I have to change an input for this to happen?
edit: Forgot to mention that I have no interest in video output at all. All I want is to get digital audio out of my phone! And I'm running a CyanogenMOD hybrid ROM.
edit #2: Oh snap, what is this USB OTG thing? Looks like something I need to research. Could be a way of getting digital audio out of phone without messing with some of the other crap.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/270#post_8660606
EDIT #3: Yep, looks like a USB-OTG is all I need to connect my phone to a DAC. See attached pic.
Now just need to research and figure out if there is a way to charge the phone at the same time.
Edit #4: Kk, it looks like you can plug a DAC into your phone and have the phone also charge at the same time. This thread talks about it and also points to the $6 MHL adapter that is capable of doing this:
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/30615-can-you-charge-usb-host-mode-simultaneously/page__st__60
edit #5: Found a USB OTG cable with Y-cable to charging, for sale here in the USA for just $4 more than the Chinese folks. I just ordered it.
Now to buy a DAC (found a FiiO E7 on local craigslist for $35).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-USB-H...100776?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item25771bcda8
Check this thread too.
annulation said:
Check this thread too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I could have saved my googling skillz by simpling reading that one thread. Wish I'd found it sooner. Thanks for posting the link. :good:
Well, I finally found out you can get audio out of the USB port and grabbed a cable from eBay. Thought life would be grand. Got the cable and it works. Still grand.
Then the problems started. Horrid pop, crackle, hiss, beeps, and bloops. Did a little homework and found apparently it's a realatively common problem, but can't seem to find much detail.
Anyone know of any fixes other than a warranty swap out as I'm sure we're well past that point now.
Thanks in advance.
Wait, so analog audio out of the USB port? Why not just use the mini headphone jack?
bigj231 said:
Wait, so analog audio out of the USB port? Why not just use the mini headphone jack?
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One cable to rule them all. This way I plug in one cable (work or car) and listen to audio and charge the phone at the same time. I'd use bluetooth in my car, but Velosters have an absolute crap bluetooth when combined with this phone.
It's just easier and less to deal with.
I have been searching here and at Head-fi, and I cannot find an answer to my problem. I cannot seem to get sound out from my S4 over my OTG cable. I have a DAC/Amp that many have trued and report that my DAC/Amp is plug-n-play, no mods, no other apps needed. I have used this DAC/Amp to get digital audio out from my Galaxy Note 10.1, again totally plug-n-play. Here is the link to the cable I bought - is it possible that this might be the wrong cable somehow? I have tested this cable and it does work with a USB thumb drive on my S4. I also looked up and found one post that said to enable digital audio out by going to settings-my device-accessory and checking the "audio output mode" box. Didn't work. I tried making sure I turned on the system sound, etc. Nada. Where do I go from here? I have been on the thread that lists all the DACs and DAC/Amp that work with all the various Android devices, and my my and my device (Leckerton UHA-6S mk II) are on the list, and I have been on threads where people are using the combo I have. Please help! I would love to know what I am doing wrong/missing/defective so I can get this working. Thanks!!
Is your kernel stock? I had to revert back to stock kernel from ktunez in order for OTG to work with my external DAC.
My kernel is stock.
bump
FIXED!
We are fixed!
It was the obvious thing. The cable was defective. I just got two other cables from Amazon (very cheap). They both work perfectly immediately. The are both from different vendors, but they are both the exact same cable. They are different from the original in one way: the micro USB portion that plugs into the Galaxy S4 is much longer than the defective one. I don't know if that means anything, but there it is. Thanks to everyone for your help, especially DanBa who took extra time and effort to help me. Thanks!
OK. So 2 years ago I saw a thread on the Nexus 7 tablet forums where someone essentially turn it into a car deck. At the time it was complicated, convoluted and buggy to say the least. Since then its been a thought exercise to make this work. How I wanted it to work. This is what I wanted:
Simple plug&play. One USB connection to carry high quality audio out from the device while still allowing it to charge. This is the most difficult. On the Nexus 7 it required a special kernel and plus the accessories had to be connected in the right sequence. Not exactly the one action set up I was going for.
The easy way to accomplish this was to use a standard USB charger and then use the headphone jack to send audio to the Aux input of the stereo. Great in theory! However the phones/tablets I have used always allowed alternator whine into the sound. Not ideal either.
Third common way is to use bluetooth audio. My Pioneer deck does support this. But we all know the quality of the sound from this is OK at best. Play some ripping guitar or something melodic and you can really hear the compression (watery, slurred "S"s sound). Not good enough for me.
Now when I had first read about this concept I started accumulating various adapters and parts to play with. First was a Behringer 202 External DAC. Its low cost but had decent reviews. Perfect for my installation. Plus the added benefit of several output format options, so a deck with an optical input could also be used if yours has one. With this I got a simple USB OTG with the Micro USB charger Y-cable. The one that has a standard female USB, the charger connection and the one to the device. Now this whole thing never worked properly. I ended up using the OTG cable with the DAC, but on my home stereo where I could place a Qi Pad under the Nexus (and my S4 before) to charge and the DAC for audio. At least I was using what I spent money on. Just not the way I wanted.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. I have had my Nexus 5 for a few months but had not tried this set up. The fussing with kernels on other devices and units over the years had me giving up. But I figured why not try with the DAC and standard charger connected (they were just sitting there after all). Low and behold it worked! And I mean perfectly! It was a big light had been turned on and the world was beautiful! Then I tried my M8 and it failed......but the Nexus 5 for the win! Oh, and even when connected to the power the DAC turned off when I disconnected the phone. So it shouldn't drain my truck's battery (though I parked on a hill tonight just in case!).
So! Here is my car installation that I was finally able to complete. I have included photos of the installation and the parts I used. It's in a list format that I hope follows the pictures. it will take me a post or three to get it all in! So bear with me.
Ingredients:
Nexus 5 (I am running Liquid Smooth for my ROM, I have not tested it on other ROMs at the time of this post).
External DAC. Like the Behringer 202 I used, but I would assume most would work.
USB OTG and Charging Cable
RCA to 3.5mm headset adapter.
Standard car charger. I have a Belkin 1A one that works like a charm. In theory you could use the USB on the stereo if included, but you may not charge reliably.
Standard USB to Micro USB cable
iBolt xDockPro for the HTC. This is optional, but i like the iBolt and their right angled USB is the right way for the Nexus. Which made the set up cleaner.
Car Home Ultra from the Play Store
So. The first photo shows all the stuff I used (minus the car deck and truck).
Second you will see I am in fact using the HTC Dock
Next is the DAC I used
Followed by the adapter cable
The the RCA adapter
The before picture. The sticky pad for the mount was there cause I was already using my iBolt with just a charger tucked in.
This one you will see I have taken the y-cable and connected it to the iBolt adapter. My dash had the room for this, you may need an extension as the y-cable is really short!
Dash is coming apart!
To be continued (I can only post so many pics at once!
Part Deux!
So the next photo shows my deck's AUX input. Now I bought this unit because it had a rear jack. So connected the headphone plug into the AUX jack.
These next four pictures are just to show which power supply I used and how the USB cable is run up to the y-adapter. Now it would be possible to use your stereos USB for power if equiped. I didn't for two reasons. First, the phone/stereo may think your connecting a flash drive (both unit could be trying to be the "host"). Second the stereo may not put out enough amperage to run both the phone and the connected DAC. So I just went with the separate supply. Plus its easy to disconnect it should I need too.
This is me connecting the DAC. Now I wanted to show this particular step as you can see the power light is NOT lit even when connected to vehicle power.
RCA cable is now connected to the DAC.
The set up all buttoned up!
To be continued.....
Trio!
This post is more about the proof of concept and the Car home Setup. Here it is!
Basically once the hardware was all set (1 & 2) I fired it up, and used Play Music (and others) making sure Bluetooth was NOT paired yet. Sounds AWESOME! Makes a night and day difference! Then I paired it for hands free while making sure the media wasn't connecting. Now went into Car Home Ultra and just set it to launch with the my stereo's bluetooth connection. My only next goal I need to finish is to get an NFC tag to control Bluetooth on the iBolt. Car Home is set to turn WiFi off automatically when its running, but my set up is reliant on BT running all the time (or have me remember to turn it on/off, but defeats my plug'n'play concept).
That's the gist of it. If you would like more details or suggestions please let me know!
So it's not just my Ford Fiesta that sends lots of noise to the charger? I am a little relieved, but it sucks to find out that this is somehow a "standard"...
Nice setup there!
daniel_loft said:
So it's not just my Ford Fiesta that sends lots of noise to the charger? I am a little relieved, but it sucks to find out that this is somehow a "standard"...
Nice setup there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a fix. They make something called a "ground loop isolator" that can usually fix the noise generated from you alternator. Here is an example, quick google search brought it up. http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-1-3-5..._sim_pc_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1FEVW0RPFQ5W3V742E6G
You could put a more temporary/portable set up like mine, wouldn't be hard if your still having issues. Put all the parts together, stuff it all in an old cassette or floppy disk case with a few holes for the cables to stick out of.
Yeah, now the challenge is to find ways to make it work on more devices. It's really unfortunate that the M8 doesn't on Sense based ROMs (I plan on trying a GPE ROM in a few days to see if that makes a difference).
And I may now invest in a proper proclip mount so it's not up on the dash like that. But it works like a hot damn as is for now. Even with LTE on, display always on and streaming audio it charges, though pretty slow. Still. Better than not at all. And I can always turn the screen off if I wanted to give it more juice.
I have my Nexus 5 w/o the case using an iBolt mount I already had and a cheap qi charger and works great.
Nice Setup... I was actually looking for something like this. Thanks for posting
There are a lot of microUSB to USB + aux splitters on amazon for the Samsung Galaxy phones. Would these have worked all the same? Or does the Nexus 5 not have a docking capability that would sense the plug?
For those that don't know BlackBerry sells a blutooth adapter that uses power from the usb charging port on your after market stereo. I use it on mine. This thing is crazy small I hide it in the gap behind my stereo and the reception is good you have around a 10ft radius depending on where you hid your dongle.
http://shop.crackberry.com/blackberry-music-gateway/9A172A11438.htm
Nice I see you have a Colorado. I have a Nexus 7 in mine. I can say that after hours and days of troubleshooting ground noise I could not get rid of it. I had to use a ground loop isolator
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Okay, I have had the note 2 and 3 both worked great in the car using this dock. I loved the ability to get he audio to come out of the phone using the one connection of the USB port and audio from the dock.
From what I have found this is similar to the s5 that the phone allows no audio to pass through he usb connection.
Anyone have any solutions?