USB C Audio Dongle - Google Pixel 2 Questions & Answers

Hey all,
I got the Pixel 2 a few days ago and I love it, but there seems to be an issue with the audio dongle sound quality when connected to my car. Usually there's no problem with the dongle using it with headphones of any kind, but in the car (i checked the aux cable, no issues with it on other phones) there is some cracking sounds and the bass is not so clear as it is on other phones or as it is while using the dongle with headphones.
Anyone have an issue with the dongle?

Have you tried any other dongles? The Essential Phone had a higher quality USB C to 3.5 mm dongle compare to the Google dongle. I wish you can buy it. I saw this at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0778QKKFJ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1A7L2TLUUDQ97&psc=1 this might be better than the Google Dongle. I was going to try it to see. Anyone have any experience with this?

I haven't tried anything else, I just got the phone. But I unfortunately bought 3 dongles with it from Google to put on each of my auxiliary devices...

Ok I found out the problem while using the dongle on my brothers Pixel 1. The dongle outputs much more volume than a 3.5mm audio jack, so it's only natural that the bass especially vibrates more and causes this cracking noise. Solution is to decrease the volume on the phone by 1 or 2 levels.

Related

No 3.5mm Stereo Jack Output w/ Aux Cable w/o Hi-Fi Mode Enabled in ICS

I've been using a Motorola for the past 2 years and upgraded to a faster dual core (Huawei Ascend P1 LTE U9202L), and faster quad core (Blu Quattro HD 4.5 D450) - both run on ICS 4.0.4, stock ROM (but rooted), but both have the same problem with the 3.5mm stereo jack. I did not have this issue with my previous phones and have no idea why the behavior is so dysfunctional. On both devices, plugging in the 3.5mm aux jack into my stereo does not work. It does not detect as a headset and just outputs through the phone speaker. However, on both devices, plugging in ANY headset, and the phones detect and output audio appropriately.
However, plugging in a 3.5mm aux cable into a car stereo does not work at all. It won't even show the headset icon in the status bar. I've used several cables, in several different cars, but all no love, while iphones and other phones in the house work just fine. This is with both 3 conductor and 4 conductor stereo cables. With the Blu Quattro however, I found a setting in Sound called "Hi-Fi Mode" which enables the phone to specifically output audio through the 3.5mm jack to an external stereo system. If I plug in the aux cable to my car, nothing goes. Enable Hi-Fi Mode, and then I magically get audio output.
What in the hell is Hi-Fi mode and is that something standard to ICS? Is there a software fix where I can just plug in the stereo aux cable like every other normal phone out there, and have it automatically output properly instead of enabling this funky Hi-Fi mode? It's really annoying because I need to use this device for work as well where we sometimes use the Square Reader. That thing won't even detect on either phone!
At the moment, I'm considering buying one of those USB to 3.5mm jack dongles that I've seen phones come with, that don't have a 3.5mm jack. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.
Many Thanks in Advance,
Chuck

USB Type C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter

My issue
Hi everyone, I have a Nexus 6P and want to route my audio through a USB type C converter to 3.5mm headphone Jack. I have purchased one online, but it doesn't seem to be working. I have seen that the Moto Z has this adapter and I assumed one I found online would be compatible with my 6P. The reason I want to do this is because I prefer for the AUX jack to come out the bottom of my phone.
What I have tired
Changed 'Select USB Configuration' to all the different options and tried playing music.
Tried 'audio routing' apps from the app store
What I would like to know
Is this because I need to change a setting in my phone to route music out of the USB C?
Do I need to get some kind of DAC to allow support for this?
Has anyone else tried this with their phone?
Thanks
broj0nes
Subscribed. Interested in the solution.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
If you don't mind my asking, why bother?
eregev said:
If you don't mind my asking, why bother?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One reason is that to me it makes more sense to put your phone upside down into you pocket. I've always done this at least. So when listening to music I have to put it the other way round. I have also heard the USB C port offers better sound quality.
brotherj0nes said:
One reason is that to me it makes more sense to put your phone upside down into you pocket. I've always done this at least. So when listening to music I have to put it the other way round. I have also heard the USB C port offers better sound quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re:sound quality, you'd possibly see a quality increase if you use an external Digital to Analogue Converter or fully usb-c headphones. BUT, if you're using a little dongle (if it's possible), then the phone is still managing the analogue conversion and, thus, a very similar quality of audio output. Now I don't know of the 6p's ability to pipe it straight out iPhone 7 style through a dongle, but short of buying a DAC and going whole-hog on an audio upgrade, I'd just flip your phone the other way in your pocket and go the standard route.
Just my $.02
I have been looking for a solution to this too and I seem to have found one. I poked around on Amazon and I think I finally found adapters that work, here's the link https://goo.gl/QT2ith This the only one with positive reviews so when it comes in on the 30th I'll let all of you know.
sgandy2989 said:
I have been looking for a solution to this too and I seem to have found one. I poked around on Amazon and I think I finally found adapters that work, here's the link https://goo.gl/QT2ith This the only one with positive reviews so when it comes in on the 30th I'll let all of you know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks quite similar to the one that I got. Hopefully it works for you! Let me know how it goes
I read recently that the current implementation of audio over USB-C isn't very efficient or battery friendly. There's a new spec being ratified to provide audio like the iphone can. Hopefully that's a firmware change and not a hardware one.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/17/12519936/intel-usb-type-c-headphone-jack-replacement-idf-2016
I don't think it's possible on the 6P, not without using a USB DAC anyway.
As far as I'm aware, the adapter you have is for a USB 3/3.1 interface. While the 6P has USB-C it is USB 2.
I'm able to get audio out of my USB C port, but it's with a USB headset. Haven't tried it with a 3.5mm headphone adapter, but havd no reason to try it either.
This is weird. Because i have a pair of Sennheiser Urbanites (Wireless edition), and i can use bluetooth, aux, and usb (like for a computer) audio. I once tried to turn off the headsets (bluetooth off, aux and usb still works if connected), and turned off bluetooth on my phone. Then i used my USB type C to USB type A Female adapter (from the google store), and connected the usb-cable from the headsets into the type c adapter. it did output audio through the usb-cable.
Mgrev said:
This is weird. Because i have a pair of Sennheiser Urbanites (Wireless edition), and i can use bluetooth, aux, and usb (like for a computer) audio. I once tried to turn off the headsets (bluetooth off, aux and usb still works if connected), and turned off bluetooth on my phone. Then i used my USB type C to USB type A Female adapter (from the google store), and connected the usb-cable from the headsets into the type c adapter. it did output audio through the usb-cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bluetooth headphones usually have their own DAC, so the audio for all but the Aux is still being sent through the DAC first, which is supported by older USB standards.
The new USB 3.1 Audio standard can pass through analogue audio from the internal DAC, which is what I believe phones such as the Moto Z utilise. Otherwise the adapter would require it's own DAC, which would make it far larger and more expensive.
Not sure if you will find a good solution at the moment since they just created a standard for audio over usb c http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160927006252/en/USB-IF-Announces-USB-Audio-Device-Class-3.0
Did the amazon converter end up working for you?
My experience so far.
Hi, I ordered some usb c to 3.5mm & out of the box so far they aren't working. I tried Neutron and tried to force the audio to usb but unsuccessfully with phone not recognizing the USB connection.
On the other hand the type C to usb-a adapter worked beautifully using mixplorer. If I get working, will update. Thanks.

Moto G6 Better (WOW) Sound (found by mistake)

Hi. The audio is okay on the phone. Good with earphones but okay when I use the headphone jack to my car stereo input. Why not bluetooth? Its because direct connect provides the best sound. NOW HEAR THIS. I plugged in my essential phones usb head jack adapter (essential phone has no headphone jack but they do provide a USB C headphone jack dongle) and its like a WOW. I couldn't believe how much the quality of the audio improved. I am talking about tremendous improvement. Like a different phone WOW. Now whether it was due to essential having a dac chip in the dongle (I think it does) I have no clue. I was shocked because normally the question would be why does a dac chip USB C headphone cable work on a phone with a headphone jack? Did Moto decide at the last design phase was to include a built in jack? The dac cables only supposed to work on phone like the essential or the google pixel 2 etc if I am correct.. Well i am da.... sure glad it works on the Moto G6. How you proceed with what you get/prefer to purchase is up to you. I don't know what the end result will be because I truly don't know. The one I have from essential worked miracle wonders. I only suspect it will work with other USB C dongles with a dac chip. Man, i am digging this phones audio improvement. I am like WOW.
Check it out with something like Viper installed and disable Dolby for a little while to see if that also improves the sound. I use an aux cord to play music in my car as well the Viper HiFi Magisk module on top of tweaking some of my head unit settings, and it puts out some of the best sound for music. Can get my old 2004 Carolla to sound like it has a 10-11" sub in it just from the stock stereos and a Pioneer head unit ;p
Not really that big of a surprise, considering that my old Moto E4 would use a pair of USB-A headphones plugged into a OTG adapter. Feel free to call me out, but isn't the USB-C headphone dongle just getting talked to by the phone like a USB sound card?
Most newer (and some older) phones are all capable of USB audio routing. Just take a look in developer options to see some settings.

USB audio and charging possible?

Is there an adapter that lets let get audio from the USB port and also charge with the Pixel XL?
I use my headphone jack for something else (PluggyLock) so I want to get audio from the USB port. Tried a couple of adapters from eBay and Amazon, none of them work even though they claim to support the Pixel.
I see Google make a USB-C to headphone adapter, but it doesn't support charging. Kinda useless for long trips with navigation running.
Although I'm not aware of a working solution like you have described, you might try a workaround using a Bluetooth receiver with a headphone jack. Here is an example.
I am considering bluetooth, but it's fiddly and most of the cheap adapters have poor sound quality (buzzing, no AptX support).

Low volume using wired earphone

I bought a Pixel USB C to 3.5mm adapter to use my Bose earphones and noticed that the volume is really low even at max setting. I've been using this earphone on my Note 8 & iPhone X (using the Apple 3.5mm adapter} without any issues. I tried 2 other wired earphones with the same low volume issue. Any solution on this.
xlazaruzx said:
I bought a Pixel USB C to 3.5mm adapter to use my Bose earphones and noticed that the volume is really low even at max setting. I've been using this earphone on my Note 8 & iPhone X (using the Apple 3.5mm adapter} without any issues. I tried 2 other wired earphones with the same low volume issue. Any solution on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it's likely a conflict with the audio chip in cable, maybe Essential could add compatibility in a future update???
is this all apps? And phone?
Random have you trieds...
Clear cache/data in the system app MusicFX (probably also some other audio related app you could do same with.
If music only does your player have an alt decoder and/or a reset decoder button like in Blackplayer or an alt equaliser?
or maybe even disable usb audio routing (in developer options)
I was just about to buy one also, so thanks for posting, hope you find a solution.
xlazaruzx said:
I bought a Pixel USB C to 3.5mm adapter to use my Bose earphones and noticed that the volume is really low even at max setting. I've been using this earphone on my Note 8 & iPhone X (using the Apple 3.5mm adapter} without any issues. I tried 2 other wired earphones with the same low volume issue. Any solution on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've seen others share the same issue with the Pixel adapter too. It's just not a good adapter, from what I've read. The market is a total mess too. Not many options to begin with, only adapters with a built-in DAC will work, and there's little info to determine what to expect from what you buy. I guess an ideal adapter might be one that also includes an amp.

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