The Audiophile Thread

[mlknez]

Let's face it, the main reason to get the V20 is the built-in ES9218 DAC that eliminates the need for an external DAC/Amp to be strapped to a phone. The software that ships with it, Google Play Music, is unable to take advantage of the features of the DAC. What player will allow the ES9218 to:

1. Play native DSD files up to DSD512 WITHOUT conversion to PCM or DoP?
2. Play native PCM up to 384khz without downsampling/decimation?
3. Allow for automatic gain stage changing due to impedance requirements?

I am in contact with the developers of Neutron and they have started looking at this.

The folks at USB Audio Pro say that it is impossible due to the Android operating system

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[jsk0703]

Unfortunately I have no answer but I'm curious to see what others have to say. Right now my best sound comes from Tidal with maxed out settings. I'm still in the trial phase and may not stick with due to the cost monthly. Might make more sense to just buy the music outright in the end.

 

[d3t99]

Sd card is great for this purpose. I don't have any super high quality music, mostly 320kb but connecting wireless to pc with solid Explorer is super convenient.

Agree 100% about the dac. One of the main attractions for me. I was a "strapper" with dacs and amps, otg cable and all that noise.

I've been through so many "headphone phases" and now getting the bug again!

 

[AdamHLG]

So I quickly googled this as I'm still learning about life beyond MP3s, and I understand Tidal and FLAC-HD, but where exactly do you download DSD512 files?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

The bigger issue is tracing the files back to source to know if they were mastered in DSD or are just a conversion from another format.

I'm excited for MQA and hope that it takes off and is successful.

 

[ctrepte]

Let's face it, the main reason to get the V20 is the built-in ES9218 DAC that eliminates the need for an external DAC/Amp to be strapped to a phone. The software that ships with it, Google Play Music, is unable to take advantage of the features of the DAC. What player will allow the ES9218 to:

1. Play native DSD files up to DSD512 WITHOUT conversion to PCM or DoP?
2. Play native PCM up to 384khz without downsampling/decimation?
3. Allow for automatic gain stage changing due to impedance requirements?

I am in contact with the developers of Neutron and they have started looking at this.

The folks at USB Audio Pro say that it is impossible due to the Android operating system

Any help would be appreciated.

The unlocked version of the Onkyo HF Player claims to be able to do all of this. I am currently trying out the free version on the V20. So far, so good.

Onkyo HF Player for Android | ONKYO Asia and Oceania Website

 

[mlknez]

Onkyo player is converting all DSD to PCM instead of sending it natively to the DAC.

 

[mlknez]

The Onkyo HF Player is converting all DSD files to PCM instead of natively sending the DSD signal to the DAC

 

[ctrepte]

Onkyo does state that the player does allow DSD playback via the DoP output function. Granted, that is not sending a "pure" DSD signal, but I seriously doubt anyone would be able to identify an audible difference in an ABX test.

What about foobar2000? I wonder if foobar2000 for Android supports the DSD plug-in that the desktop version uses?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Onkyo does state that the player does allow DSD playback via the DoP output function. Granted, that is not sending a "pure" DSD signal, but I seriously doubt anyone would be able to identify an audible difference in an ABX test.

What about foobar2000? I wonder if foobar2000 for Android supports the DSD plug-in that the desktop version uses?

It being audible is not the point. People don't want an app doing a conversion before sending the audio to the DAC. If the hardware is capable than the software should not touch the file.

 

[mlknez]

It is not sending DoP at all. It is sending regular old PCM converted and decimated.

 

[mlknez]

Android Foobar2000 has no support for DSD and they use the same API to query the capability of the DAC that all of the others do. The DAC will respond with supported file-types and rates. The ES9218 is always responding as PCM 48000 only.

 

[mlknez]

Many of these players are working as they should with a USB attached external DAC. I have 3 external DACs with a Sabre chipset and they are using the full capability of that DAC. It is only the internal one that is not working correctly.

 

[ctrepte]

Many of these players are working as they should with a USB attached external DAC. I have 3 external DACs with a Sabre chipset and they are using the full capability of that DAC. It is only the internal one that is not working correctly.

An external DAC is bypassing the phone's built-in DAC, so that has nothing to do with the LG's ESS DAC. Have you determined if that is a hardware issue or a software issue? Which software players have you tested? Are the software players not properly interfacing with the Quad DAC, or did LG engineer the DAC to convert all incoming signals to 48 kHz/16-bit?

 

[frope01]

The unlocked version of the Onkyo HF Player claims to be able to do all of this. I am currently trying out the free version on the V20. So far, so good.

Onkyo HF Player for Android | ONKYO Asia and Oceania Website

Hadn't heard of this but I tried it. I LOVE the equalizer function and UI. I don't know if it does all the technical stuff everyone is debating about but I know it sounds amazing and that's what matters to me.