Has anyone modified their desktop doc so it can be used to transfer files via the USB connection? I have given up on Samsung making good on the sound output and have opened up the little beastie so I can see what's going on. Headed to electronics shop tomorrow to see about getting a female micro USB connector because I want to ditch the whole circuit board.
Will post some pics of the innards later tonight. Any help or comments are appreciated.
Sent from Bonsai 6
Theres a fix for audio.... O_0
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Kcarpenter said:
Theres a fix for audio.... O_0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, who needs audio. It is in pieces now and going to wire it up so it will charge in the dock, use USB, work with my case on, and have the LED light on.
Got used to this kind of behaviour with my Treo and miss it.
Sent from Bonsai 6
Did you ever do this? Also can you post pics of the dock taken apart. I want to mod mine to accept the extended battery.
PICTURES PLEASE!!!
Also, how did you get it open? It seems tricky.
I'll have to pile on too -- any pics, Top Nurse?
Or even just a quick outline in how you opened it (presumably without damaging it). I can't figure it out -- at least, so long as I'm not willing to start prying in seams with a screwdriver.
My interest in this has peaked because of the awesome mod that someone (can't find the thread to thank him!!!!) put together -- SGS_Dock_Audio_Fix.apk -- that makes the audio out on the docks work automatically, like they should... insert the Epic, audio switches to the dock jack. Remove it, audio switches back to the speaker.
However, the audio is absolutely horrible. I mean, unlistenable, for me at least.
I suspect this is an artifact of the electronics in the dock -- I'm assuming it's not a direct analog transfer of the signal over the USB datapins, but rather a more "standard" use of the dock as a USB audio device as per USB spec, and therefore the actual D/A conversion is happening on a board inside the dock.
I want to mess with it and see if a) I'm right, and b) if I can fix it.
Otherwise, despite the (once again) correct fix for this from one of our community members, it's still for the most part unusable, thanks to Samsung.
Geez, this whole debacle with the dock-out audio for the Galaxy line is becoming ridiculously pathetic and incompetent. Unbelievably so.
Did anyone ever have any luck looking into the issues with the dock. When I use the one I have if I have the charger plugged in the audio has static and if I unplug the charger the audio is better but it seems like I'm loosing a lot of the bass. I might try tearing mine apart to get a look this weekend but if you guys have already done some work and there is no way to fix it then I'd not attempt it.
That's a great idea. I'm so frustrated with how much Samsung charged for a dock that doesn't work at all out of the box. I'd also like to see pictures. I'm using mine right now to cover up the power light on my computer, while I play Skyrim. It's the most useful it's been yet; it's a perfect fit, and I can still see the HDD light flash.
I tore mine apart last night, and actually didn't damage it. I'll have some pictures later to show how to take it apart and what it looks like.
I'm pretty green when it comes to electronics but the internal board is very simple and it really looks like the output from the epic's usb has the audio on a couple pins, then power on a pin and then ground on another. I think the issue may be that everything is sharing the same ground, the headphone jack and the charging circuit share a ground which might be causing the static.
Like I said, I'll get some pictures posted and maybe somebody out there will have an idea on how to isolate the two circuits better... if it is even possible.
Very interested in this. I haz 3 x desk docks (one each bedside for my wife and me and one for my desk at work) and a car dock. I was hella pissed when the line out on the car dock didn't work because I was tying it into the car kit. Been thinking of drilling through the dock's slider on the car dock to hack in a 3.5mm jack but if I can hack the board in it instead that will be a lot cleaner.
Ok I got some pictures taken. Some are good some are not so good.
If you follow them somewhat in the numerical order it shows the disassembly, I used a thin knife to pop the back plate off, from there it was removing a few small screws and then the front plate came off. After that it was removing a bracket that held the micro usb connector on the dock and then also removing a couple screws that hold the small PCB to the back plate. From there you can fish out the PCB and usb connector.
I did some tracing of the usb charger pins to the usb dock connector and from the headphone jack to the usb dock connector.
I've done some testing and it sounds like with everyting torn apart and plugging things in with the PCB laying on my desk the static on the audio is gone but it still sounds hollow. Note this test was run with power being supplied from a computer usb instead of using a wall plug.
I'm really intersted in the quality of the sound coming over the dock usb connector. I think I may pickup an additional headphone jack from the shack tomorrow and wire it to the correct pins and ground to see if the PCB is causing any interferance.
I need to get my wall plug out to test for static from it as well. Maybe there is a difference between using the Samsung one and my old HTC charger to which I've plugged in a micro usb cable.
I'm not sure what the purpose of the LED on the dock is but it did turn on for me when I had it plugged into the computer, I don't remember it coming on when I plugged it into the wall plug.
I'll update with more info when I do some more testing.
Another note is that you can see that my PCB's solder joints don't look all that uniform, seems some of them might have been reflowed and the PCB is kinda dirty for something that seems like it was pretty air tight when the case was all snapped together.
Found this good thread with information about how the phone knows that it has been inserted into the dock. Does some explaining as to what some of the resistors on the PCB are for. I'm making the assumption some of the other ones are for the LED that is used on the dock.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/epic-4g-accessories/64959-what-triggers-car-dock-mode.html
Looks like the source of that information was here on XDA...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=980937
Just to follow up on this whole mess...
I finally did a kernel test when upgrading to EL30. Looks like the stock kernel does something to make the audio better (more bass, less tinny). Anybody know why the custom kernels make the audio not so enjoyable?
bmasephol said:
Just to follow up on this whole mess...
I finally did a kernel test when upgrading to EL30. Looks like the stock kernel does something to make the audio better (more bass, less tinny). Anybody know why the custom kernels make the audio not so enjoyable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The code I brought into the CM7 ShadowKernel must be just enough to get it functional. I will need to do more research and comparisons with the stock kernel code to see if there is more I can add to improve the sound.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
ok so it doesn't look like there is much going on with that board, doesn't look like it could be a DAC at all. so its sending analog sound through the USB port? strange....would be awesome if we could use the voodoo sound stuff with it.
dzl said:
ok so it doesn't look like there is much going on with that board, doesn't look like it could be a DAC at all. so its sending analog sound through the USB port? strange....would be awesome if we could use the voodoo sound stuff with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
bmasephol said:
Just to follow up on this whole mess...
I finally did a kernel test when upgrading to EL30. Looks like the stock kernel does something to make the audio better (more bass, less tinny). Anybody know why the custom kernels make the audio not so enjoyable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bmasephol, you sure about that?
One of my E4Gs is on stock EL30. I used a pair of IEM to test this. The sound from the dock is tiny, lacking bass. I compared it side-by-side with another E4G running bbelos' MTD CM7 kernel and they sounded exactly the same. I then plugged the IEM directly to the phone's audio out, and the sound was much better as expected. This all says the USB audio route, as has been said elsewhere and here, doesn't go through the onboard DAC or least much less amplified than the headphone out.
But for me it's not a big deal. In the car, the head unit took care of it (just have to crank it up a bit), and at home, a small T-Amp can do the same.
Bbelos, beside xcaliburinhand's another kernel source, you might want to look at drhonk's CM7 Bali kernel. Roy also has other interesting stuff in some of his Galaxy kernels(like BLN!)
Yes - I may have spoke too soon. I did my tests while my dock was still torn apart. Now at work this morning the dock sounds like **** again...
I'm going to take it home and try again tonight. I swear last night while I was listening to it all torn apart it sounded way better.
I'll update later tonight.
is our phone the only galaxy s that has this problem with audio out through the dock?
I'm going to propose a theory... feel free to shoot it down for those who have more knowledge about this than I do... I'm going back to knowledge I had 15 years ago when I used to work for a company that specialized in digital audio products...
A DAC (digital-to-audio converter) is an actual physical electronic component, which obviously converts a digital stream (1's and 0's) into an analog signal to the output jack. The DAC on the Epic 4g is a Wolfson DAC, pretty decent quality DAC with some nice features that apps like Voodoo Sound can tap in to.
The USB connector on the Epic 4g (which the desk and car docks plug into) is just that - a USB connector, which transfers *digital* information. Audio via USB is (I'm assuming) using some protocol which allows digital audio bits to be transfered over a USB connection. Therefore, the audio coming out of the USB connector is still digital, i.e. *not* being converted to analog inside the phone.
The small circuit board inside the dock has an attached headphone jack, and part of that component including the surrounding circuitry *is in fact a DAC*. In fact, I believe it's a totally crap DAC (compared to the Wolfson DAC used by the Epic's headphone jack). So the docks have their own crap DACs which do the digital-to-analog conversion outside the phone. Therefore, I think it's impossible (or nearly impossible) for a phone app to control the dock DAC (like Voodoo controls the Epic's on-board DAC). Only thing I can think of is to use a music player on the Epic that has a built-in EQ which would affect the sound before it hits the USB output. Either that, or try to replace the DAC on the dock's circuit board, or have a really awesome car stereo which can tweak the sound enough to make it tolerable
If this has already been posted somewhere I apologize, there are a couple threads on this general topic and I haven't kept up with all of them...
Edit: if it's not clear that I'm implying this, another point: I don't think it's possible that the Epic's on-board DAC can possibly affect the audio coming out of the USB connector that the docks use
Related
Hey guys and girls. Recently someone decided to steal my stereo out of my 96 GMC Sonoma So I have a big hole in my dash and I should be getting my pre-ordered Fascinate tomorrow, as soon as Best Buy gets them in
The question I had was whether or not anyone here has the knowledge or could point me in the right direction to allow me to use my phone in place of my stereo. I was thinking of getting a dash mount and installing it in the dash where the stereo once was and routing the charger underneath as well. What I don't know is anything about the 3.5mm out. I know you can plug a 3.5 mm to RCA to get video out. I read a story today of how QuickPay has come out with a credit card reader that uses the 3.5mm port. I haven't found a good site that gives the specs on the output of the 3.5mm port audio tho.
I have the wiring diagram for my trucks electrical system, tho it doesn't show the impedance of the speakers. I know with my guitar amps and cabinets those specs matters and don't want to fry my phone by connecting it to the speakers with a rigged 3.5mm out to home made harness. I'm assuming there is hardware in the stereo that amplifies the signal to allow it to play on the 6 stocks speakers, but i'm not sure. I'm proficient with a soldering iron and have no problem heading to Radioshack for parts.
I dont know. If its as easy as going from the 3.5mm out to splitting it to the speakers, that would be great and I can do that. If i need to get a small amp and wire it in between the phone and car speakers I can do that too. Any ideas, I'd be more that happy to hear them.
If there is a better forum to pose this question, let me know. Otherwise I appreciate you time for reading such a long post and any feed back you may have.
Thank you.
Rusty
I would say get a cheap radio from wal mart,(that has a line n for ipod or something with 3.5mm) hook it straight n to ur phone, at least that way u wont fry anything on ur pretty new phone. (No pun intended, i played with one yesterday they are gorgeous)
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
You could get a four channel amp, nothing more than 50 watts per channel, then go from 3.5 to rca, then get 2 Y RCA cables (female to males) and wire that up, but buying a head unit would be the best thing
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Okay,
After researching I found that the Original EVO had a faulty headphone jack issue. So when my Shift would cut out I assumed the jack was to blame. I had the issue on two occasions.
1st time) I found I had lint in the jack, tweezers fixed that issue.
2nd time) Jack was clean, but the actual headphone plug would pop out ever so slightly anytime it was moved gently (i.e the phone shifts in your pocket).
I assumed this was to do with the pins in the headphone jack wearing down\being pushed back and not always returning back and locking with the connector on the headphone. This definitely would be an issue for most Shift users over time (users who use headphones a lot at least.) Now after searching the googlez' I didn't see that many hits on people having issues with their shifts headphone jack, only one or two posts on xda & android central about how "touchy" the jack is (i.e headphone would pop out a TINY bit, it's normal to have this kind of play, my her did as well, with no issues). So instead I looked at my headphones themselves (their connector), gathered 4 pairs and tried them all. 3 of them are pretty pricey, and their connector would pop out of the phone ever so slightly when moved, the 4th pair (cheap ear buds) had no problem whatsoever . So what was the difference? The LENGTH of the gold\silver connector. I lined them up side by side under a light, and lo and behold, the 4th cheap one was slight shorter, and it allowed it to sit snugly and "snap" into the phone, and would not pop out under movement, the other 3 pairs were ever so slightly longer. So my solution? Metal nail file, and take down a little bit of the tip, which lets the plug sit all the way in. Be careful not do damage your connector on your headphones. Or you could just buy another pair and make sure it's not too long (the connector tip). Hope this helps some of you folk out there.
stealthfx said:
Okay,
After researching I found that the Original EVO had a faulty headphone jack issue. So when my Shift would cut out I assumed the jack was to blame. I had the issue on two occasions.
1st time) I found I had lint in the jack, tweezers fixed that issue.
2nd time) Jack was clean, but the actual headphone plug would pop out ever so slightly anytime it was moved gently (i.e the phone shifts in your pocket).
I assumed this was to do with the pins in the headphone jack wearing down\being pushed back and not always returning back and locking with the connector on the headphone. This definitely would be an issue for most Shift users over time (users who use headphones a lot at least.) Now after searching the googlez' I didn't see that many hits on people having issues with their shifts headphone jack, only one or two posts on xda & android central about how "touchy" the jack is (i.e headphone would pop out a TINY bit, it's normal to have this kind of play, my her did as well, with no issues). So instead I looked at my headphones themselves (their connector), gathered 4 pairs and tried them all. 3 of them are pretty pricey, and their connector would pop out of the phone ever so slightly when moved, the 4th pair (cheap ear buds) had no problem whatsoever . So what was the difference? The LENGTH of the gold\silver connector. I lined them up side by side under a light, and lo and behold, the 4th cheap one was slight shorter, and it allowed it to sit snugly and "snap" into the phone, and would not pop out under movement, the other 3 pairs were ever so slightly longer. So my solution? Metal nail file, and take down a little bit of the tip, which lets the plug sit all the way in. Be careful not do damage your connector on your headphones. Or you could just buy another pair and make sure it's not too long (the connector tip). Hope this helps some of you folk out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense. I was wondering, because I use my headphones almost everyday in and out of my pocket and have never had it be anything but rock solid. And I did pay only $20 for them. Good job on the excellant research!
^ Shift Faced
interesting
I have used two different headphones, one of high quality and one of medium quality and had no problems what so ever.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Never had any headphone problems to speak of, besides the fact that it doesn't work. That's because I'm using a really Alpha ROM, so it's my own fault.
Xodium said:
Never had any headphone problems to speak of, besides the fact that it doesn't work. That's because I'm using a really Alpha ROM, so it's my own fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useful input
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
Neverhad a problem with my $5 headphones... or my monoprice auxiliary cable.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
Im having this same exact issue with my Koss KSC-45 headphones. Havent figured out a solution yet.
Had headphone issues with the blue/black htc branded case that sprint sells and my sony studio monitors, ended up that the opening on the case wasn't large enough and wouldn't allow the headphones to insert fully into the jack. 15 mins with the backside of the case removed and a pocket knife, and back in business.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
Anyone know of specific headphone brands that work?
I need a wire to connect to the Auxillary input on my car, and the one I have must have this problem -- haven't tried filing the tip.
Spot on . Was once in a while having an issue like this. Read your post. Took out all my headphones ( about 8 pairs, don't ask ) and compared them. Low and behold almost all the cheap pairs were shorter. Nice job on a cheap and smart solution to an annoying problem.
Solved my problem!! Thanks.
I modified my Galaxy Note to use inductive charging via a palm touchstone / patch.
Just a quick note. Not a whole lot to contribute here, because I largely followed the examples of the Qian Qi. That guy is awesome.
I don't think I voided a warranty, either. Only minimal teardown required (black plastic back, then the speaker section). Never came across a sticker I had to remove....
Useful links:
galaxy s inductive charging mod
evo 4g induction charging mod
galaxy note teardown video
galaxy note teardown pics
Notes:
- Buy a good soldering iron. Weller WESD51, set to 610 deg F, with 1/32" long conical tip, with lots of flux and lots of flux remover are the only reason I could do this. I can't stress enough the value of having good temperature control, knowledge of temperature, and so forth. I stumbled around with an "ordinary" soldering iron for a long time, and in hindsite, I can't believe I did so.
- Do not choke on the price. I already had a lot of soldering gear, and I bought $220 more. Spend the money. It's worth it.
- Watch the curious inventor youtube videos on soldering. This guy. Watch everything, several times. http://store.curiousinventor.com/
- You want 30 gauge wire. It's the only thing that just barely can be crammed in. I used the "Kynar" coated type. Buy at least 2 colors.
- as you look at the phone disassembled, with speaker on the bottom left, the +5 pin on the micro usb (MHL) port is the leftmost. I attached a wire to that, and a ground wire to the housing where the port was soldered.
- routed the wires under the speaker, then back, then into a VERY slight indentation into the battery compartment. used a blue "safe open" tool to help shape the wire / crimp ends. Once in the battery compartment, you're golden. Attach the inductive charging coil to the back of the samsung plastic back, add solder to the pads, and attach the wires.
- Attached is a picture with roughly how I routed wires. Red is +5V, Blue is ground. Be sure and double check if my recollection is right where the indentation is into the battery compartment. (that part is by memory).
- dont leave too much slack. it's really hard to get the samsung black pastic panel back on. Mine very slightly bulges.
- be careful where you put the charging sticky patch, because this phone is a little bit bigger than a palm pre. You have to consider if the phone can sit on the charger and "lock in" with the magnets. If you place it too high, it actually can't (in portrait)!
- Qian Qi had a really interesting point: most articles about how Li-ion batteries behave are wrong, and fully discharging the battery drastically reduces the number of cycles you have. So this is actually a very useful mod--whenever you don't use the phone, toss it on the charger.
Thanks for summing it up! Was actually thinking of doing this mod myself. Question: do you have a protective case on your Note? If so - what kind and how badly does it affect the magnetic properties?
No case. Especially because the note is so big, I think it would be unmanageable.
I took the samsung thin plastic back, and placed the Palm PRE (with charging coil still attached) on top of it, on the touchstone -- to figure out proper placement & mark with a pencil. I noticed a buzzing sound, coming from (I think) the induction coil on the palm pre back itself. I suspect if you use a case, this wont work well.
Also, the size/weight/placement of the galaxy note are such that the magnets are just barely strong enough to hold it. One time my phone was near, but off, the charger. I'm not sure if vibration from the phone did that, or my kids
In summary, I'm not sure how well it would work with a case. You might be able to research this on the net; among the 15 or 20 people that have bought a Pre, you might be able to find some info about the effect of a case on inductive charging.
tight squeeze?
im wanting to try this mod i have my touchstone on the way not thank you amazon but it seems like to me that the pad from the pre wouldnt fit under the cover of our phablet =/ could you post pics of the finished product and i think this is the only instance that i have seen someone attempt this with the note and i want to try it i love my note but would love it even more with inductive charging.
I am not the original author but I performed a different Touchstone mod and posted pics here:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...1-galaxy-note-touchstone-mod-photo-heavy.html
Hope it helps!
-darren
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for your post I have my materials on the way but I hadn't seen a detailed guide for the note other than this one and was worried I would have to solder directly to the usb pins which looked scary lol I did have two questions though would your mod work the same way for the at&t note? Specifically the points where you soldered to the phone and can wireless charging be performed through a case?
Hey, OP here. You may want to hold off just a bit. Mine is exhibiting some issues now. As in, it says "charging" but it doesn't do so wirelessly. The phone will stay "charging" but the battery % never goes up. (It was slow before, but would charge fully over a night).
Charging via USB still works.
It may be something simple; I'm not sure. But I need to crack it open and take a peek, and I haven't had time to do that yet because my phone is functional at the moment.
If nothing has conspicuously changed, there may be something about the design that isn't sustainable. Or maybe my solder joint halfway broke, or one of the wires got smashed enough so that it's partially broken...
I'll write back with my findings. Bug me if I don't
Thanks for the notice I was about to pull the trigger lol tbh I probably shouldn't attempt this I've never done a mod like this before and I'm not exactly a surgeon with a soldering iron lolvthatvbeing being said I'm going to attempt this on an old evo 4g I have before I do surgery on my baby lol plus I'm already familiar with the guts of an evo from screen repairs ill report back with my results
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Success it took some doing but I got it I haven't done the mod on my note yet but I did it on my evo last night and it works its rough I haven't cleaned it up yet but I'll post the pics I got this mod from www.goodandevo.net
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Thank you for this post.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
No prob I just wanted to see if i could do it and if I can do it with little soldering experience I'm sure most could do it I haven't done this mod to my galaxy note though as there is way less room in its a far more complicated mod than the evo because you have to make room for wires in a device samsung made as thin as possible and the way you have to route the wires I feel like the solder joints would just break
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
For those who want to try this out but still have warrantee just buy a backcover, a micro usb plug and assemble it according to the directions here.If you need the note just take out the usb plug and the back cover and you're good to go.... Or leave it there.....
For those who don't know what pins to use on the usb plug:
Pin: 1 is 5V+ (red)
Pin: 5 is GND (black)
Works like a charm.......
becosemsaida
Cool mod! Does it affect the stylus operation though?
pboesboes said:
Cool mod! Does it affect the stylus operation though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it affects the stylus sometimes it reacts with delay and sometimes it clicks although only hovers over it
pboesboes said:
Cool mod! Does it affect the stylus operation though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was not a big stylus user; I can't stand the input lag. I didn't notice a difference, but I always considered the input speed unacceptable. Not sure why there would be any difference, anyway.
My big problem that I've never taken the time to address is that after some time, it's as though I can't pull enough current through the wires to charge. One day I need to crack this open & figure out why.
gr8 n interesting post
wonder how fast can a full charge be completed
regards
strategist99 said:
gr8 n interesting post
wonder how fast can a full charge be completed
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is slower than normal, but completed in a night. I still have not dismantled my phone to attempt to repair this, but I want to soon
I have seen a few post showing that people are noticing their power port on the phone is loose or wiggles, can those of you with an S4 check to see if this is the case or is the connecting good?
wallstreet123456 said:
I have seen a few post showing that people are noticing their power port on the phone is loose or wiggles, can those of you with an S4 check to see if this is the case or is the connecting good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine wiggles. I even took it to the store and the demo ones all did it. Funny thing is, it only seems severe with the white cable the phone came with. I have a black micro and it seems very snug. I just might use that.
The white one, when plugged in wiggles back and fourth and up and down. The port itself is a tad loose but when 4 of the demo ones at the store wiggled I had a piece of mind.
It's normal. Some people won't even notice it and will say theirs is fine, when in reality it does wiggle. Charges perfectly fine.
also remember there are clips on the cable itself, those start to loose their 'tightness' as well and can be responsible for the loose feeling. I've recently purchased some monoprice cables and fit very sung, but in about a year or so, this port will loosen up, which is hands down one of the biggest adv over the one, we can replace this port when it does go.
datrumole said:
also remember there are clips on the cable itself, those start to loose their 'tightness' as well and can be responsible for the loose feeling. I've recently purchased some monoprice cables and fit very sung, but in about a year or so, this port will loosen up, which is hands down one of the biggest adv over the one, we can replace this port when it does go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But this is a NEW device how can it already become loose.
my point was simply that it's not always the port, it often times can be the cables. if you have a brand new cable and port, i would expect it to be tight, but if the cable is not known/designed to be tight, it might not be the port. I'm using brand new monoprice cales, not the supplied white one, and i'm finding that while there is a little leeway in the base of the connection (which is a good thing) the cable is well secured in the port, meaning it's strength to pull it out/push it in, that should be your judge of port connection, not the wabble in the base. The wobble in the base is actually a good thing, it's not frequent your phone is on a flat surface while charging, and often times the cord is pulling off the side of a table or counter top, this creates pressure in the port. if you've taken physics you understand the concept of levels and mechanical advantage. by giving it a bit of leeway, it lowers the point of lever, and creating less stress on the internals of the port compared to one that has a very snug fit. the only time i would be concerned about the loose port is when it's becoming easier to pull it in/take it out (like throwing a hot dog down a bowling alley
Mine is very solid
I've been eyeing the Le Max 2 X820 for a few months now and I think it's a great deal but the implementation of the 3.5mm headphone jack always makes me rethink. For anyone out there who owns this phone, I have two major questions that always cause me to rethink my purchase decision.
1. How snug is the audio adapter? Headphone jacks give a much more snug connection to the device than the USB-C jack in every phone that I have ever used. The fact that I'll be pulling out the USB audio adapter hundreds if not thousands of times in my ownership of the device really makes me worry that it'll become so loose with mechanical stress that it'll eventually just lose all grip and fall out with even the lightest of pulls.
2. I hear people make claims like "the audio quality is out of this world" or "this is the smartphone for audiophiles." Do those claims have any substance? I have a DAC at home for when I want a dedicated music listening experience and I find it hard to believe that a digital signal running through a low voltage power source could perform anywhere near the quality of a dedicated DAC. What exactly does CDLA do? Allow a lossless passthrough of your music to the USB digital signal? Does it serve as a DAC?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
The USB adapter is very snug on mine - it is actually quite hard to pull it out even when you want to. Sound through the adapter with a good pair of headphones is decent. I have been playing lossless CD rips and they sound great, especially with the Dolby Atmos dsp. CDLA is only a thing if you buy the Leeco earbuds (I have just ordered a pair from Gearbest for about £10 in a flash sale). Basically it just sends the music digitally rather than converting to analogue on board. The earbuds have a 24-bit hifi audio decoder chip embedded in the usb plug.
kanagawaben said:
The USB adapter is very snug on mine - it is actually quite hard to pull it out even when you want to. Sound through the adapter with a good pair of headphones is decent. I have been playing lossless CD rips and they sound great, especially with the Dolby Atmos dsp. CDLA is only a thing if you buy the Leeco earbuds (I have just ordered a pair from Gearbest for about £10 in a flash sale). Basically it just sends the music digitally rather than converting to analogue on board. The earbuds have a 24-bit hifi audio decoder chip embedded in the usb plug.
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I see.
So the USB adapter doesn't do any processing and just serves as an analogue pass-through and the DSP is built right into the device. So I can expect pretty much the same audio quality as any other phone with a headphone jack unless I use the CDLA certified earbuds.
The standard 3.5mm jack isn't exactly a pricey component. Makes me wonder why it was removed in the first place. It's not like the device's selling point is its slimness.
Thanks for the info. :good:
Yes, as far as I know the adapter is just a pass through and doesn't contain an audio chip. The fact you can buy them for just $1 or $2 online would seem to confirm that.
enmasse said:
The standard 3.5mm jack isn't exactly a pricey component. Makes me wonder why it was removed in the first place.
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Hello. The socked for 3.5 mm jack does not seem to be, but is the component that takes pretty much place inside the phone. I have lately disassembled my previous phone and realized that.
regards Olek
kanagawaben said:
The USB adapter is very snug on mine - it is actually quite hard to pull it out even when you want to. Sound through the adapter with a good pair of headphones is decent. I have been playing lossless CD rips and they sound great, especially with the Dolby Atmos dsp. CDLA is only a thing if you buy the Leeco earbuds (I have just ordered a pair from Gearbest for about £10 in a flash sale). Basically it just sends the music digitally rather than converting to analogue on board. The earbuds have a 24-bit hifi audio decoder chip embedded in the usb plug.
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The thing is, analogue audio signals over the short length of cable on headphones are already basically 'lossless' so CLDA doesn't really have any benefit apart from the fact the DAC is external from the device so the headphone manufacturer may implement a better one than LeEco would have otherwise. That's it.
mikeysteele said:
The thing is, analogue audio signals over the short length of cable on headphones are already basically 'lossless' so CLDA doesn't really have any benefit apart from the fact the DAC is external from the device so the headphone manufacturer may implement a better one than LeEco would have otherwise. That's it.
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I agree. Losing the headphone jack is retarded. They could have just put the 24-bit chip from the earbuds in the phone and had a normal 3.5mm jack (it's not like the phone is very thin or waterproof). I would never have got a phone without it by choice, but for me it was a compromise I was prepared to put up with to get a high spec phone at a low price.
Regarding the adapter, mine is already starting to suffer from cable failure at the point where the cable joins the USB jack. Luckily they are very cheap to replace - I just ordered a 10 pack (not LeEco ones) from AliExpress for just $7.
kanagawaben said:
I agree. Losing the headphone jack is retarded. They could have just put the 24-bit chip from the earbuds in the phone and had a normal 3.5mm jack (it's not like the phone is very thin or waterproof). I would never have got a phone without it by choice, but for me it was a compromise I was prepared to put up with to get a high spec phone at a low price.
Regarding the adapter, mine is already starting to suffer from cable failure at the point where the cable joins the USB jack. Luckily they are very cheap to replace - I just ordered a 10 pack (not LeEco ones) from AliExpress for just $7.
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For the price I can put up with the adapter that's for sure. Hopefully we see some nice 3rd party ones with better DACs in them.
Do the iPhone 7 users complain about the same problem? I personally don't care as long as the USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter works.
I think the rationale to lose the headphone jack is untenable on all levels. Not having the option to listen to music through your headphones while having your device plugged into wall power is something I won't ever understand. We're not at a point where most consumers own Bluetooth headsets yet and wireless charging is still limited to trickle power.
I don't know about iPhone users but maybe they just have a higher tolerance to retardation?
I lost the one which came with my phone, so I ordered some of the cheap replacements. I haven't been impressed so far. I'd happily pay more for one which had a high quality Wolfson or similar DAC but I haven't been able to find one.
I bought cheap USB C dongle and the sound was absolutely awful, which makes me think I may have been mistaken in thinking the LeEco adapter (which has very good sound) is just a pass-through. Maybe it does have some kind of DAC and amp in it.
Hi,
I read an Italian review that complained about the incompatibility of different otg adapters with the phone.
Can the same be said for the 3.5mm adapters? Any experiences on that?
Thank you
When i bought the phone i also bought 3 extra adapters incase I lose one or need to use different earbuds. They all sound the same because its only passthrough. But the ones I bought extra are much better quality.
MerlijnD said:
When i bought the phone i also bought 3 extra adapters incase I lose one or need to use different earbuds. They all sound the same because its only passthrough. But the ones I bought extra are much better quality.
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Exact opposite of my experience. The original LeEco adapter and another LeEco one I bought were both great. Non-LeEco ones I bought sound terrible. Like, really unusably awful.
I bought some cheap, generic USB-C to 3.5mm and the audio quality was very strange in a bad way. They all sound bad. I've been using a small Bluetooth receiver for a few months now and it works great, but I'd still rather plug into phone.
If you want a high quality DAC solution, the Creative E3 would be good. I'm using some 'Vital' adapter I got on Amazon for £10. Pretty good for the price
Anyone know where we can buy an official adapter?
jaw2floor said:
I bought some cheap, generic USB-C to 3.5mm and the audio quality was very strange in a bad way. They all sound bad. I've been using a small Bluetooth receiver for a few months now and it works great, but I'd still rather plug into phone.
If you want a high quality DAC solution, the Creative E3 would be good. I'm using some 'Vital' adapter I got on Amazon for £10. Pretty good for the price
Anyone know where we can buy an official adapter?
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AliExpress. The same one as the one the phone comes with costs about $3
i would say the sound is okay with the one came with the phone, nothing more nothing less. Also there r enough cheap and good bluetooth earbuds!
I wonder if it's theoretically possible to use the DAC from the original earbuds to make a universal adapter for any 3.5 earbuds? Like just cut the wire and connect it to the 3.5-jack Mother. Because I'm having hybrid multi-driver earbuds with 3.5 and don't want any other for now.
Does anyone know what exactly DAC is used in LeEco earbuds?
The LeEco CDLA earbuds sound pretty good, but they have the same problems (but magnified) as the apple buds they clearly mimic in appearance - damn things refuse to stay in your ears, and the cables are really weak and flimsy. I haven't used mine all that much but they are already starting to fall to bits