Using USB DAC Output

[TheGhost22]

Hi. i have a sony xperia z3 running LineageOS 18.1.

i'm thinking about how can i use the USB DAC option because it has the best quality and supports up to 384kHz sample rate.

i'm so sick of bass noises when i raise the volume up and also want to use the full potential of my headphone which has a frequency range from 6Hz to 40kHz.

My question is: can i play music through USB DAC option via using a simple USB-to-AUX adapter?

i don't have much information about Hi-Res hardwares and technologies and i'm probably a noob.

would be thankful if you guide me with this.

[MotleyG]

Not sure what you are asking here. you’ve suggested a few different things that are not all related.

Definitely you cannot use a USB to Aux connector for this, USB DAC must remain a digital connection to work.

Are you using headphones wired to your Sony phone, and want to use that as a USB DAC source for another device?

[6b6561]

I think the USB word should be removed from the OP, then it makes more sense.

Looks like the z3 has a built-in DAC so the question is probably how to route the audio through the DAC.

1/ Z3 use WCD9320 Audio Codec which is Qualcomm
2/ Z3 also use TFA9890 (2x) chips. Now, this is an DAC amp with each single one can sample the music rating at 8-48kHz. Two of these brings the Z3 to be able to sample up to 96kHz.

[andrewilley]

The little adapter cables normally route an analogue signal that is available on one of the pins of the phone's USB-C port, which is generated by the existing DAC inside the phone, to a 3.5mm socket. The audio is thus generated by the phone, just as if you were using a 3.5mm socket on the phone itself.

The other way to do it is to use an external DAC device, which takes a USB digital signal from the phone and converts it to analogue audio externally to the phone.

Andre

[TheGhost22]

Hi guys. thank you for your answers💖

12 hours ago, MotleyG said:

Not sure what you are asking here. you’ve suggested a few different things that are not all related.

Now i see that i'm a huge noob!🥲what a shame.🥲

12 hours ago, MotleyG said:

Definitely you cannot use a USB to Aux connector for this, USB DAC must remain a digital connection to work.

Are you using headphones wired to your Sony phone, and want to use that as a USB DAC source for another device?

Well. let me explain better. my headphones is a wired one. but the volume is not satisfying specially when i'm out of home. i tried my friend's Bluetooth headphones and the volume was so good with less noise. this made me think if i connect my wired headphones to USB by using some adapters, then maybe i get a better sound, by the way, this custom ROM lacks Sony Hi-Res output support and the only Hi-Res outputs available for my phone in this ROM is Bluetooth and USB DAC in the app. by adding the low volume and clipping bass sounds to this situation (i use EQ with bass frequencies set to high), it makes me think if i can use another method to play music to try my luck. besides, nowhere i can find headphones amplifiers in my country and even if i find one, that would be a low-end one without Hi-Res support and sky-breaking price tag.

 

11 hours ago, 6b6561 said:

Looks like the z3 has a built-in DAC so the question is probably how to route the audio through the DAC.

No i didn't mean that. however, using the phone's DAC and getting it's output from the micro-USB might be a good idea but now i think that's impossible (i've searched in google about digital and analog signals and learned something this time😅), now i found out the micro-USB connection is digital-only and can't be used to transmit audio signals.

Final Words:

I thought Poweramp's USB DAC output is similar to SW decoder in MX Player app which plays anything unsupported by phone's hardware by using CPU power. sorry, the poverty taught me to try to fool my cheap old gadgets to act like flagships...

[MotleyG]

59 minutes ago, TheGhost22 said:

Bluetooth headphones and the volume was so good with less noise

This definitely should not be the case with this Sony phone. I would consider using the original ROM that supports this hardware properly to take advantage of it. This phone, DAC, and wired headphone combination should sound better than any wireless option.

[andrewilley]

The maximum volume of wired headsets can be affected by a variety of factors. One of course is the impedance and dB per mW sensitivity of the headset itself - some sound louder than others for any given input signal.

However there are lots of tweaks within PA that can increase the peak output level too. The obvious one is the Preamp slider in the EQ screen. However there is also another preamp value set than can be set within the ReplayGain system (in Settings=>Audio>ReplayGain) which provides a reference level so all tracks can be played back at the same peak level. RG normally acts to reduce the maximum volume to a common value, rather than trying to push everything up to digital maximum (as there should be some headroom available for later boosting EQ values for example). Finally, enabling DVC (if you haven't already) tends to increase volume while also providing more available headroom.

In general terms though, Volume does not mean Quality. Just because you can turn a system up to 11 doesn't mean you should.

Andre