Database Users

[Q] Does the Nexus Q support the HDMI audio return channel?

The HDMI audio return channel would mean that a TV could send audio back down to the Nexus Q from another source/input and, by doing this, let one use the Nexus Q as a glorious little makeshift receiver. This would be perfect for a bedroom setup where I don't really care about surround sound and would like for everything (such as cable TV) to play through my stereo speakers that I've attached to the Nexus Q.
I understand that if the hardware technically supports it, the software quite probably does not--even CM10.1 probably doesn't. I'm just trying to get a response, preferably from a developer that has poked around with the drivers and low level interfaces, about whether this dream of mine is a possibility. If this feature is actually working right now out of the box or with CM10.1 installed, though, that'd be great to know as well

Malnilion said:
The HDMI audio return channel would mean that a TV could send audio back down to the Nexus Q from another source/input and, by doing this, let one use the Nexus Q as a glorious little makeshift receiver. This would be perfect for a bedroom setup where I don't really care about surround sound and would like for everything (such as cable TV) to play through my stereo speakers that I've attached to the Nexus Q.
I understand that if the hardware technically supports it, the software quite probably does not--even CM10.1 probably doesn't. I'm just trying to get a response, preferably from a developer that has poked around with the drivers and low level interfaces, about whether this dream of mine is a possibility. If this feature is actually working right now out of the box or with CM10.1 installed, though, that'd be great to know as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my first bit of exploring thinking, my Q wakes itself up, or at least the LEDs when i switch to it on my reciever. And it also enables it as a video destination in youtube and movies when switched to it on my receiver, so its not just a dummy "speak only" hdmi output. It knows when it is connected to something... now just to see if it will do ARC.

So far i dont think Q is HDMI 1.4 device
so i would think not possible
but who knows~

[Q] Use Nexus Q as an external amplifier?

My Nexus Q is slowly collecting dust on my entertainment center. It looks pretty, but being limited to Google Play or YouTube content only just bites. I've already got an iOS device and a receiver that supports Airplay (which quite frankly works much more reliably), so I don't have a reason to leave it plugged in beyond the novelty of it.
What I'd love to do, however, is use for the "audiophile quality" amp it supposedly has in another room with some vintage Bose 301 speakers I have and my desktop PC. Is there any way to get audio in on this thing? It's got optical audio out, would installing CM10 allow me to change that port to optical input instead? Or how about USB, would any hack or rom allow me to plug it into my PC and use it as a USB-Audio device?

splitpea said:
My Nexus Q is slowly collecting dust on my entertainment center. It looks pretty, but being limited to Google Play or YouTube content only just bites. I've already got an iOS device and a receiver that supports Airplay (which quite frankly works much more reliably), so I don't have a reason to leave it plugged in beyond the novelty of it.
What I'd love to do, however, is use for the "audiophile quality" amp it supposedly has in another room with some vintage Bose 301 speakers I have and my desktop PC. Is there any way to get audio in on this thing? It's got optical audio out, would installing CM10 allow me to change that port to optical input instead? Or how about USB, would any hack or rom allow me to plug it into my PC and use it as a USB-Audio device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing I could think of would be an app that makes it a Bluetooth audio reciever. But it doesn't appear to have one. Last I tried cm10.1 the amp didn't work. Just HDMI. You could sell it

Xperia Z1 working with USB DAC :)

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!

[Q]

Hi, This is actually incredible. Before upgrading to Lollipop on Galaxy S5 I was able to plug my DAC (a Dragonfly 1.2) via USB OTG cable into my Galaxy S5 and enjoy pristine usb audio without a single hint of a problem - all apps working - MX Player, Inbuilt Music App, Poweramp etc - all working perfectly.
Then I upgrade to Lollipop, which is supposed to be great for USB Audio, and it doesn't work any more. At all. I am now back to using an app called USB Audio Player Pro, which allows you to use DAC audio devices to connect to headphones and (thank god!) this still works awesomely, but I was really enjoying all my apps making use of my USB audio device and now that has just been screwed over by the update.
There was so much pleasure in just plugging in a usb audio device into the phone via an OTG cable and everything working great, but now I just fall on my knees and shake my fists in the air bellowing "WWWHHHHYYYYYYY??!!!!"
Has this affected anyone else ? I've restarted, factory reset since the update and googled the crap outta this and all I can find are people saying "Yay! USB Audio functionality has been added with Lollipop".
From my perspective, this appears to be balls.
I'll happily downgrade back to the older android OS if its possible just to get this one happy function back.

Android TV box advice

Hi,
I'm looking for a box that could transcode Dolby Digital Plus to dolby Digital on the flight.
My problem is that my sound system must be connected throught SPDIF and doesn't support DD+. Therefore Netflix and Prime are delivering stereo sound tracks only.
I was told that some boxes can do the transcodong. I wanted to buy the Chromecast with Google TV but unfortunately it doesn't transcode the audio.
I was close to order a Fire TV Max stick until I discoved they don't support Google Cast (TBH Google doesn't allow anyone to implement their own Google Cast device.)
I'm open to open source solution (Lineage) as long as I can run the streaming apps (Netflix, Prime) and the Google Cast service (which I think is complicated on non certified devices)
For now I plan to buy the Xiaomi TV s which includes SPDIF output.
My concern about the Xiaomi is the performance limitations and the fact that updates won't happen for long because it's a quite old device already.
I was interested with the Shield TV but the lack of USB port is a no go for me.
Anyway my goal is to get a box that solves the audio compatibility problem (SPDIF not required, HDMI extractor is acceptable) and can last for years with updates.

Not sure if this is the answer you're looking for but have a look and see. Once I went to the Nvidia Shield Pro I never looked back.
AVR / Surround Audio Setup
AVR / Surround Audio Setup
www.nvidia.com

Here's a list: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/streamers-that-will-transcode-dd-e-ac-3-to-dd-ac-3.3203865/

I just tested an onn. box myself, and, at least in my case, since I'm using an HDMI to optical extractor, I had to manually configure the onn.'s audio settings to get it to work. I had to make sure to manually switch on Dolby Digital Plus -- even though my receiver only supports Dolby Digital. After that, I was able to check it by going into Netflix and looking next to the "HD" indication on each movie or show. If I hadn't switched on Dolby Digital Plus in the onn.'s audio settings, Netflix wouldn't detect support for it, and, correspondingly, wouldn't show the "5.1" indicator next to content, continuing to pass PCM audio.