I didn't see anyone mention about this here so I thought I post about it in case someone is wondering or is searching about it in the future.
For anyone that is an audiophile or just wants better audio... I have tried a USB DAC with our Xperia Z1 and it works great! As usual you need a USB OTG cable and plug directly to the DAC (or DAC/AMP combo). The USB port does output enough current to power the DAC and even charge it (a little... I don't think the Z1 outputs the full 500mA). Android volume controls also work and it controls it. All audio goes through the DAC and no additional software is needed. I even tried it on CyanogenMod 11 when I had it installed briefly, works just the same!
In my attached pic, the DAC Amp combo is the iBasso D2+ Hj Boa along with Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Headphones. It shouldn't be limited to this DAC. Once you have DAC support confirmation it should generally work with any driverless USB DAC.
And yes the DAC sounds way better than the built in audio. The built in audio chip is okay... but there's no life/fidelity in the audio. And no amount of equalizer can fix that.
Must be a pain in the ass to carry around and those flaps make it worse.
Good to know
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Gitaroo said:
Must be a pain in the ass to carry around and those flaps make it worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Carrying around isn't that bad... you can jam everything into a large pocket. This is more for a table setup, like if you are sitting at a desk for work or traveling on a plane. And yes the flaps kinda suck... the downsides of waterproof.
I actually don't use this setup very often. I also have the new NW-F886 Walkman which already has a really DAC built in. I usually have that hooked up to a portable amp. Using the USB DAC/AMP on android is a fun test I like to do whenever I get a new phone. It's just good info for anyone that wants better audio! :laugh:
I already posted my comment about the USB DAC (iBasso D10, Cobra) in this thread, post #37
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2497518&page=4
I was very happy to hear to sound from my DAC, as soon I plugged it to the Z1, as soon I got it, Sept 2013.
iBasso D10 has feature to disable charging from USB. which may extend the Z1's battery life.
I recommend to use a right angled (L) USB OTG cable. and it fits much better or securely than the straight USB OTG cable.
Thank you.
bahathir said:
I already posted my comment about the USB DAC (iBasso D10, Cobra) in this thread, post #37
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2497518&page=4
I was very happy to hear to sound from my DAC, as soon I plugged it to the Z1, as soon I got it, Sept 2013.
iBasso D10 has feature to disable charging from USB. which may extend the Z1's battery life.
I recommend to use a right angled (L) USB OTG cable. and it fits much better or securely than the straight USB OTG cable.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another USB DAC user :good:
Actually I am using a right angle connector in the pic but my case actually gets in the way of it. I think the one I have is too big... it's a DIY version of the micro usb connector so it maybe bigger than normal ones.
raginginferno said:
Another USB DAC user :good:
Actually I am using a right angle connector in the pic but my case actually gets in the way of it. I think the one I have is too big... it's a DIY version of the micro usb connector so it maybe bigger than normal ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. I am using generic OTG USB (F) and generic standard Mini USB cable, and I don't have any problem when using it, with the Z1 in soft casing.
Eventhough the digital audio stream is not 'bit perfect', ie, sound signal is mixed and resampled to 48kHz, but, it is enough to enjoy most of it.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I only listen to lectures and talk shows or podcasts, which most of them are sampled at 22kHz AAC (24kbps bitrate), so it the resampling effect/artifact is not significant.
The good thing to use DAC+headphone amp, we can get better dynamic range and able to drives headphones/earphones/IEMs at optimum level.
Thank you.
So now Z2 is out and it specifically mentioned it support USB DAC but not with Z1.
I have a usb DAC personally (Fiio E07k) and it works with xperia Z1 with usb micro to mini cable without any modification to the software.
Any difference between them Z1 and Z2 in terms of functionality?
I was actually thinking about picking up a USB Dac I am still using my home made CMoy amp with a Burr Brown OPA 2132 P was thinking it might be time to upgrade good know know the USB Dacs work with the Z1
Have been doing this since the Z1 came out. Now it is my reference portable system, sounds better than AK120 at a fraction of it's price.
The near fatal flaw of lack of memory space is getting fixed by 128GB microSD, I am happy.
Z2 and T2 USB Audio support
hikashi said:
So now Z2 is out and it specifically mentioned it support USB DAC but not with Z1.
I have a usb DAC personally (Fiio E07k) and it works with xperia Z1 with usb micro to mini cable without any modification to the software.
Any difference between them Z1 and Z2 in terms of functionality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As product owner for USB Audio in the Z2, I would like to explain about our USB support.
In the 2013 mid- and high-end products (Z, ZL, ZR, Tablet Z, Z Ultra, Z1, Z1 Compact) we support USB Audio from the Android Audio framework, which means that all audio is resampled to 48kHz/16 bits, and mixed in with notifications etc. This means that we have "bit-perfect" reproduction only for tracks with this sample rate originally (and such are not very common) and turn off all system sounds and all sound enhancements (and even then, I cannot guarantee that we are 100% bit-perfect).
In Z2 and T2, however, we have introduced a new mode, "High-res audio over USB", where the audio stream is sent directly to USB after unpacking/decoding (actually, when selected, this applies to all audio data, no only high-res, so internally it is called "Direct" mode).
The only exception is if a DAC does not support a particular sample rate, in which case it is sent to the audio framework in the previous manner - for instance, some DAC's which support 96kHz do not support 88.2kHz, strangely enough.
Anyway, in this feature we support 44.1kHz, 48KHz, 88.2kHz, and 96kHz in either 16 or 24bits using USB Audio Class 1, and also 192kHz and 176.4kHz using USB Audio Class 2 in Asynchronous mode. The file formats can be either WAV or FLAC for lossless compression, or MP3 or AAC (which decompresses to either 44.1 or 48kHz at 16bits). I guess other generic Android audio formats should work too but they are not in scope since I have never seen these at download stores.
One caveat with 192 and 176.4kHz files is that the Android downsampler does not handle more than 96kHz, so if you get such files, they will only play in High-res mode to a capable DAC, not in any other circumstances.
In this mode, since we bypass the mixer, ring signals and notifications etc are not passed to the USB DAC. If you want these in headphones connected to a portable DAC, you will need to turn off HigH-res mode and everything will then work as in the 2013 products.
I will be present in this forum for questions and problem reports when these devices are released. Currently we are testing with a limited number of DAC' and I will post a list of these soon.
XP-Audio said:
As product owner for USB Audio in the Z2, I would like to explain about our USB support.
In the 2013 mid- and high-end products (Z, ZL, ZR, Tablet Z, Z Ultra, Z1, Z1 Compact) we support USB Audio from the Android Audio framework, which means that all audio is resampled to 48kHz/16 bits, and mixed in with notifications etc. This means that we have "bit-perfect" reproduction only for tracks with this sample rate originally (and such are not very common) and turn off all system sounds and all sound enhancements (and even then, I cannot guarantee that we are 100% bit-perfect).
In Z2 and T2, however, we have introduced a new mode, "High-res audio over USB", where the audio stream is sent directly to USB after unpacking/decoding (actually, when selected, this applies to all audio data, no only high-res, so internally it is called "Direct" mode).
The only exception is if a DAC does not support a particular sample rate, in which case it is sent to the audio framework in the previous manner - for instance, some DAC's which support 96kHz do not support 88.2kHz, strangely enough.
Anyway, in this feature we support 44.1kHz, 48KHz, 88.2kHz, and 96kHz in either 16 or 24bits using USB Audio Class 1, and also 192kHz and 176.4kHz using USB Audio Class 2 in Asynchronous mode. The file formats can be either WAV or FLAC for lossless compression, or MP3 or AAC (which decompresses to either 44.1 or 48kHz at 16bits). I guess other generic Android audio formats should work too but they are not in scope since I have never seen these at download stores.
One caveat with 192 and 176.4kHz files is that the Android downsampler does not handle more than 96kHz, so if you get such files, they will only play in High-res mode to a capable DAC, not in any other circumstances.
In this mode, since we bypass the mixer, ring signals and notifications etc are not passed to the USB DAC. If you want these in headphones connected to a portable DAC, you will need to turn off HigH-res mode and everything will then work as in the 2013 products.
I will be present in this forum for questions and problem reports when these devices are released. Currently we are testing with a limited number of DAC' and I will post a list of these soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. Very insightful. Thanks.
One more thing, will this High Res over USB feature carry forward to the Z1? Or it is a new hardware feature.
hikashi said:
Wow. Very insightful. Thanks.
One more thing, will this High Res over USB feature carry forward to the Z1? Or it is a new hardware feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot comment on unreleased features, however, this feature is not dependent on the specific hardware in Z2. Generally, backporting new features into older products is always a question of resources.
XP-Audio said:
As product owner for USB Audio in the Z2, I would like to explain about our USB support.
In the 2013 mid- and high-end products (Z, ZL, ZR, Tablet Z, Z Ultra, Z1, Z1 Compact) we support USB Audio from the Android Audio framework, which means that all audio is resampled to 48kHz/16 bits, and mixed in with notifications etc. This means that we have "bit-perfect" reproduction only for tracks with this sample rate originally (and such are not very common) and turn off all system sounds and all sound enhancements (and even then, I cannot guarantee that we are 100% bit-perfect).
In Z2 and T2, however, we have introduced a new mode, "High-res audio over USB", where the audio stream is sent directly to USB after unpacking/decoding (actually, when selected, this applies to all audio data, no only high-res, so internally it is called "Direct" mode).
The only exception is if a DAC does not support a particular sample rate, in which case it is sent to the audio framework in the previous manner - for instance, some DAC's which support 96kHz do not support 88.2kHz, strangely enough.
Anyway, in this feature we support 44.1kHz, 48KHz, 88.2kHz, and 96kHz in either 16 or 24bits using USB Audio Class 1, and also 192kHz and 176.4kHz using USB Audio Class 2 in Asynchronous mode. The file formats can be either WAV or FLAC for lossless compression, or MP3 or AAC (which decompresses to either 44.1 or 48kHz at 16bits). I guess other generic Android audio formats should work too but they are not in scope since I have never seen these at download stores.
One caveat with 192 and 176.4kHz files is that the Android downsampler does not handle more than 96kHz, so if you get such files, they will only play in High-res mode to a capable DAC, not in any other circumstances.
In this mode, since we bypass the mixer, ring signals and notifications etc are not passed to the USB DAC. If you want these in headphones connected to a portable DAC, you will need to turn off HigH-res mode and everything will then work as in the 2013 products.
I will be present in this forum for questions and problem reports when these devices are released. Currently we are testing with a limited number of DAC' and I will post a list of these soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's a good point. But how LG G2 (which is marketed to play Hi-Res audio) differs from the Z1?
For the "High-Res Audio over USB" mode on Z2, well, it is still unsure whether Sony will be porting this into the Z1 with the KK upgrade. Right now, what's clear is that USB DAC is supported but with limited audio sampling and frequency.
Tested with Fiio e07. Working great.
Compatibility with Z1
raginginferno said:
I didn't see anyone mention about this here so I thought I post about it in case someone is wondering or is searching about it in the future.
For anyone that is an audiophile or just wants better audio... I have tried a USB DAC with our Xperia Z1 and it works great! As usual you need a USB OTG cable and plug directly to the DAC (or DAC/AMP combo). The USB port does output enough current to power the DAC and even charge it (a little... I don't think the Z1 outputs the full 500mA). Android volume controls also work and it controls it. All audio goes through the DAC and no additional software is needed. I even tried it on CyanogenMod 11 when I had it installed briefly, works just the same!
In my attached pic, the DAC Amp combo is the iBasso D2+ Hj Boa along with Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Headphones. It shouldn't be limited to this DAC. Once you have DAC support confirmation it should generally work with any driverless USB DAC.
And yes the DAC sounds way better than the built in audio. The built in audio chip is okay... but there's no life/fidelity in the audio. And no amount of equalizer can fix that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there, firstly I have to say I am amazed at the fact I found something online relating Z1's with M50s, so thank you for opening this thread. My question might be a bit off tangent, but I'm currently looking at buying some M50s, and Im sure you know as an Xperia user, the headphone glitch is one of the most frustrating parts about the phone despite it being an amazing device. Do your M50s work with your phone, when plugging them in the standard jack?
Leungerz said:
Hey there, firstly I have to say I am amazed at the fact I found something online relating Z1's with M50s, so thank you for opening this thread. My question might be a bit off tangent, but I'm currently looking at buying some M50s, and Im sure you know as an Xperia user, the headphone glitch is one of the most frustrating parts about the phone despite it being an amazing device. Do your M50s work with your phone, when plugging them in the standard jack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Headphones glitch? The only I can think of is if you use like iphone headphones it won't work because it uses the other mic/heaphone standard than the xperias do... is that what you are refering to.
In anycase what you are asking is not related. With any android phone, if you plug in any sort of regular (no mic) headphones the phone audio will go through the heaphones and the voice will be picked up by the mic on the phone. In the Z1 case, the bottom where the external speaker is. So it works just fine (I tested just in case). So if you are going to use it with voice calls, the phone cannot be on your pocket.
Btw side note, I am on cyanogenmod mod (it shouldn't make a difference) but unfortunately cyanogenmod no longer supports USB DAC. Kali mentioned that it screwed up the dock charger so he disabled usb dac support
z1 headphone comparability
raginginferno said:
Headphones glitch? The only I can think of is if you use like iphone headphones it won't work because it uses the other mic/heaphone standard than the xperias do... is that what you are refering to.
In anycase what you are asking is not related. With any android phone, if you plug in any sort of regular (no mic) headphones the phone audio will go through the heaphones and the voice will be picked up by the mic on the phone. In the Z1 case, the bottom where the external speaker is. So it works just fine (I tested just in case). So if you are going to use it with voice calls, the phone cannot be on your pocket.
Btw side note, I am on cyanogenmod mod (it shouldn't make a difference) but unfortunately cyanogenmod no longer supports USB DAC. Kali mentioned that it screwed up the dock charger so he disabled usb dac support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply. I think I get your point, simplifying my question; I just wanna know if when you plug in your M50 standard headset in the normal jack at the top of the phone, audio plays properly. Sorry for the confusion lol. Also when did you get your z1?
Leungerz said:
Thanks for the quick reply. I think I get your point, simplifying my question; I just wanna know if when you plug in your M50 standard headset in the normal jack at the top of the phone, audio plays properly. Sorry for the confusion lol. Also when did you get your z1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL. That's a lot more simple question. Yes the Ath-M50 works just fine with the Z1 through the heaphone jack.
I got my Z1 in December. One of the first batches available in Canada.
XP-Audio said:
As product owner for USB Audio in the Z2, I would like to explain about our USB support.
In the 2013 mid- and high-end products (Z, ZL, ZR, Tablet Z, Z Ultra, Z1, Z1 Compact) we support USB Audio from the Android Audio framework, which means that all audio is resampled to 48kHz/16 bits, and mixed in with notifications etc. This means that we have "bit-perfect" reproduction only for tracks with this sample rate originally (and such are not very common) and turn off all system sounds and all sound enhancements (and even then, I cannot guarantee that we are 100% bit-perfect).
In Z2 and T2, however, we have introduced a new mode, "High-res audio over USB", where the audio stream is sent directly to USB after unpacking/decoding (actually, when selected, this applies to all audio data, no only high-res, so internally it is called "Direct" mode).
The only exception is if a DAC does not support a particular sample rate, in which case it is sent to the audio framework in the previous manner - for instance, some DAC's which support 96kHz do not support 88.2kHz, strangely enough.
Anyway, in this feature we support 44.1kHz, 48KHz, 88.2kHz, and 96kHz in either 16 or 24bits using USB Audio Class 1, and also 192kHz and 176.4kHz using USB Audio Class 2 in Asynchronous mode. The file formats can be either WAV or FLAC for lossless compression, or MP3 or AAC (which decompresses to either 44.1 or 48kHz at 16bits). I guess other generic Android audio formats should work too but they are not in scope since I have never seen these at download stores.
One caveat with 192 and 176.4kHz files is that the Android downsampler does not handle more than 96kHz, so if you get such files, they will only play in High-res mode to a capable DAC, not in any other circumstances.
In this mode, since we bypass the mixer, ring signals and notifications etc are not passed to the USB DAC. If you want these in headphones connected to a portable DAC, you will need to turn off HigH-res mode and everything will then work as in the 2013 products.
I will be present in this forum for questions and problem reports when these devices are released. Currently we are testing with a limited number of DAC' and I will post a list of these soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for the great explanation! this info is exactly what I was looking for. Does this also mean that I can send any audio out through usb? for example, Google Play Music streaming app, will the audio stream to my car's usb port? or does it only support locally saved files on the phone? Thanks!
Looking at possibly purchasing an android head unit for my 2015 Chevy Cruze and would like to use my portable USB DAC to get a digital signal to my DSP.
Does anyone know if audio over USB is possible on any of these units?
Hi,
I can try to connect my old SteelSeries USB DAC that worked on other Android devices.
Tested, and DAC Controls work (Voli+/-, MUTE, MIC ON) which means that USB DAC is detected correctly, but unfortunately there is no settings for selecting it as output, but again I'm on Stock non root HA Firmware.
NOTE: I tested same DAC on Alcatel Idol 3 and as soon as I connected USB it switched output to DAC immediately so it works without a hinch.
Here is the device I tested on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WJ9K4G/ and some pics of device.
Is this supposed to be slapstick/humor?
You will need to elaborate your statement, so that I understand what you meant by it.
marchnz said:
Is this supposed to be slapstick/humor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are referring to my question, it was legitimate. After doing more research I have found the audio is all being controlled by the MCU and not by the Android operating system.
I was hoping it would work similar to my current signal chain which is Samsung Galaxy S8+ > OTG Adapter > Muse Portable DAC > MiniDSP.
Then, answer: Maybe I found it as interesting thing to test especially as I was missing a lot of Low Level Audio Access on Android.
I tend to agree on your findings in Alcatel Developer settings I can clearly set Audio Source for USB (see attachment) and it is Automatically selected when I insert DAC.in OTG like as you pointed for your S8+
Investigating it further and connecting to various Devices I've found one very very strange that Support is directly connected to Kernel "sound support soundcore module" and ALSA, to clam that I've done something interesting and connected the card to my QNAP NAS USB port to see what happen and on my surprise I got Audio OUT on my NAS Music App showed additional option for Audio Source "Internal Sound Card" and it worked flawlessly. So question is what we are missing in PX5 Kernel to make that working.