Hey all - tried to search for this but didn't find anything... I have a Kenwood car stereo that plays iphone via usb port, but I wasn't able to see how to get it to work by seeing the SR as a media device. On my captivate, you could choose 'media player' as a usb mode, but that wouldn't work either. Any ideas? I like the idea of playing music while being able to charge the phone at the same time. It does charge off of the deck via usb, but just can't get it to find the music on the SR.
That is such a coincidence, I just put in probably the same (or similar) Kenwood stereo into my car (KDC-248U). I was looking around on the website and under the KDC-252U they list an Android app "Kenwood Music Control" it's in the Market. I am going to give that a try later today.
*** EDIT
Apparently the app analyzes your music or something and then puts a file on your device to make it readable, worth looking into.
Also check here http://androidforums.com/android-media/167502-kewood-car-deck-problem-solving.html
Nice call! You have to have the music on the external SD though, in case anyone else has a problem getting it running Then choose 'auto output' in preferences. Also appears that the program stays active all the time... which I'm not crazy about, but it does work!
Ozark_8125 said:
Nice call! You have to have the music on the external SD though, in case anyone else has a problem getting it running Then choose 'auto output' in preferences. Also appears that the program stays active all the time... which I'm not crazy about, but it does work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great news! I gave it the ol college try but came up empty. Maybe you can help me out.
First what model stereo do you have and second, how do you store your media on your external SD , in a folder "music" or under a second level folder? Lastly, how did you get it to recognize did you plug it in and quickly choose USB storage or did you plug it in, choose USB storage and then cycle sources till you landed back on USB?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
So I've been playing around with it and now I can get it to play all the time. First plug USB into phone then into Head unit. When head switches to "Reading" change source to something else (Radio, Portable, etc.). Now enable USB storage and open Kenwood App, while doing this switch to "USB" on the source and it will play.
Now I am having lots of issues getting new music to read, I have tried manually analyzing to no such luck. What options do you have on? I noticed that at one time on reboot it re-did the scan.
It's not very elegant but it works. I wish I didn't have to use an app running all the time.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
I first scanned the music so it was all recognized by the app. Plug it in, and while the stereo is showing 'reading's then turn on the PC storage (and assuming you have auto output enabled). Then it worked. Clunky, but better than nothing for linger car trips. My stereo is the x695 excelon deck.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
I first scanned the music so it was all recognized by the app. Plug it in, and while the stereo is showing 'reading's then turn on the PC storage (and assuming you have auto output enabled). Then it worked. Clunky, but better than nothing for linger car trips. My stereo is the x695 excelon deck.
Kenwood Music Editor Light
After playing around a bit it seems really clunky and I don't like the idea of the app running all the time. However I did find a solution, the Kenwood Music Editor (Light Edition).
http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/music_editor_light/english/download.html
You are still limited to music on your external SD card but it does not require the Kenwood app to be running or present to work. It was meant to make music playable on any USB device so it can be used for flash cards as well if you are having issues reading them. You plug your device into a computer (Windows only) and then run a scan and you should be good to go.
After doing this it's the same situation to play for me, plug in and turn on USB storage (it takes long for my phone to get into USB storage so that is why I have to cycle the Sources after it's connected to get the stereo to play). It remembers track position and everything.
promiseofcake said:
After playing around a bit it seems really clunky and I don't like the idea of the app running all the time. However I did find a solution, the Kenwood Music Editor (Light Edition).
You are still limited to music on your external SD card but it does not require the Kenwood app to be running or present to work. It was meant to make music playable on any USB device so it can be used for flash cards as well if you are having issues reading them. You plug your device into a computer (Windows only) and then run a scan and you should be good to go.
After doing this it's the same situation to play for me, plug in and turn on USB storage (it takes long for my phone to get into USB storage so that is why I have to cycle the Sources after it's connected to get the stereo to play). It remembers track position and everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
newer car-stereos usualy suport any file when you put the phone in "storage-device"-mode.
im looking to get controll over the phone from my stereo, yther use the player in the phone or spotify. works great whit an iphone, but cant find any solution to get the same controll from my htc desire hd...
im guessing its not the stereo itself but the phones software thats the problem, not allowing audio out or controlls in from the microUSB
id love a solution to this though
Check out the other apps like kenwood music control for android:
http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/
One of the disappointing trends for me with new phones is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jacks. However, given the popularity of wireless headphones and the large market share of Apple devices I expect the trend to continue and headphone jacks to be found on fewer and fewer phones in the future.
I imagine that I'm in the minority of users who use neither streaming services or Bluetooth headphones. My music is usually high bit rate FLAC, ACC or MP3 depending on when I ripped it. My initial listening on the included 3.5mm DAC was not promising. A lack of dynamic range and low volume even on efficient in ear monitors (IEMs) made me think about finding a replacement.
The problem is there aren't at lot of options for small passive DACs. And my bet is that most of the current phones with no 3.5mm jack use the same chipset that Essential uses - the Conexant CX20985 for their headphone adapters. (For more info - see the AnandTech article - Conexant Introduces USB-C Digital Audio Compliant Chips.)
So that lead me to see if perhaps there was something that could be done in software. Based on my limited research it would appear that Android above version 5.0 has a built in USB to DAC driver. It also appears that this is what Essential uses to access the USB adapter. However, this driver is quite limited. Consistent with what I heard, the driver resamples everything to 16-bit 48kHz and limits the dynamic range. (For more info see extreamsd.com and their USB audio driver page.)
Good news! There are several music player applications on GooglePlay that are capable of natively recognizing the Essential DAC over USB. The difference in sound quality, volume and dynamic range is like night and day. The most polished one I've used is the paid application Onkyo HF Player. However, the free application HibyMusic also works, but has few rough edges. The Onkyo application sounds good enough for me to make finding a better DAC no longer necessary.
One WARNING on both programs and the Essential DAC - when the DAC is recognized by the programs they frequently turn the initial volume level to 100%. If you do this while you've started music playing and have the headphones on you will be in for a very rude surprise. Trust me I learned this the hard way - plug everything in with no music playing and be sure to lower the volume first.
Update from comments - Apps that support the Essential DAC directly:
1. Onkyo HF Player
2. HibyMusic
3. USB Audio Player Pro
4. Neutron Music Player
USB Audio Player Pro has a custom driver that supports bit-perfect on android. I use it with external DACs such as the Meridian Explorer 2 (MQA works perfectly) and the AudioQuest Dragonfly Red - hardware volume control works.
TimboC2000 said:
One of the disappointing trends for me with new phones is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jacks. However, given the popularity of wireless headphones and the large market share of Apple devices I expect the trend to continue and headphone jacks to be found on fewer and fewer phones in the future.
I imagine that I'm in the minority of users who use neither streaming services or Bluetooth headphones. My music is usually high bit rate FLAC, ACC or MP3 depending on when I ripped it. My initial listening on the included 3.5mm DAC was not promising. A lack of dynamic range and low volume even on efficient in ear monitors (IEMs) made me think about finding a replacement.
The problem is there aren't at lot of options for small passive DACs. And my bet is that most of the current phones with no 3.5mm jack use the same chipset that Essential uses - the Conexant CX20985 for their headphone adapters. (For more info - see the AnandTech article - Conexant Introduces USB-C Digital Audio Compliant Chips.)
So that lead me to see if perhaps there was something that could be done in software. Based on my limited research it would appear that Android above version 5.0 has a built in USB to DAC driver. It also appears that this is what Essential uses to access the USB adapter. However, this driver is quite limited. Consistent with what I heard, the driver resamples everything to 16-bit 48kHz and limits the dynamic range. (For more info see extreamsd.com and their USB audio driver page.)
Good news! There are several music player applications on GooglePlay that are capable of natively recognizing the Essential DAC over USB. The difference in sound quality, volume and dynamic range is like night and day. The most polished one I've used is the paid application Onkyo HF Player. However, the free application HibyMusic also works, but has few rough edges. The Onkyo application sounds good enough for me to make finding a better DAC no longer necessary.
One WARNING on both programs and the Essential DAC - when the DAC is recognized by the programs they frequently turn the initial volume level to 100%. If you do this while you've started music playing and have the headphones on you will be in for a very rude surprise. Trust me I learned this the hard way - plug everything in with no music playing and be sure to lower the volume first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this, I was searching just today for something that would be compatible with the USB-C output and I didn't want to waste money on anything that won't work on the Essential. And I have an Onkyo receiver for my living room to boot. I wonder how the Iron Maiden flavored version of the app works? I am a Maiden fan as well. Maybe I'll try that version and report back on this thread.
A quick update. For $9.00 I figured I’d give the Google Pixel DAC a try. It only samples at 48kHz. It also provides no identifying information as to manufacturer. So it works, but the Essential DAC is superior.
For a small compact passive DAC the new Razer Phone DAC at $20 would be the one to try. It is 24bit and THX certified, but as yet untested on the Essential Phone. So it may only work on the Razer.
How do you know if the app has native support?
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs
avd said:
How do you know if the app has native support?
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Onkyo program will identify the DAC and tell you the sampling modes. Both programs bring up a dialog box noting a USB device when it is plugged in.
But you have to rely on the program author and description to see if they support DACs natively.
Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.
oken735 said:
Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?
chiadrum said:
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes a "regular" USB to USB C. Monotone had it on sale this week.
Out you can use software like synching.
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs
chiadrum said:
And this has a trial version, perfect. I will give it a try. After I get some files on my PH-1. Had to order a cable to connect to my PC since Essential doesn't include one! I am guessing that none of these apps work with Tidal,Spotify,Pandora etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use a UPnP source, or ftp/webdav, but yea, no option to use any of those natively, without downloading the songs to local storage as far as I know
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Initially was very disappointed with the supplied dac. I can hear static n audio breaking up. Then i realised that the issue only appear when I'm on low volume with equalizer turned on. Bumping up the volume fixed the static n breaking up issue. So my current setup is supplied dac + portable amp. The amp is to control the volume as connecting directly to the dac is too loud for my preference. It is the best sounding setup i have thus far. Sounds better than pairing my old mp3 player with the same amp. I'm using poweramp to play my songs.
oken735 said:
Personally I have been using Neutron Music Player on the Play Store, and it has been working great.
I picked it up years ago on sale and downloaded it on my PH-1 to see if it added a setting to support USB DACs, and it turns out it did
However, it did not use the external DAC by default, you have to enable it in the settings. The setting was specifically under Audio Hardware, as 'Direct USB Driver' to allow direct access to the USB device. I am on Nougat and after closing and reopening the app, the background hiss/static I could hear while using the default output is now gone and my Essential USB-C DAC has been working great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using Neutron Trial version (which is a full version limited to 5 days) and I don't see much of a difference between its direct USB driver vs generic driver. Could you please check in the settings Audio Hardware, what is the bitrate listed? For me when I enable "Direct USB Driver" its fixing the bitrate to 48kHz, is it the same for you as well?
Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.
mvadu said:
I am using Neutron Trial version (which is a full version limited to 5 days) and I don't see much of a difference between its direct USB driver vs generic driver. Could you please check in the settings Audio Hardware, what is the bitrate listed? For me when I enable "Direct USB Driver" its fixing the bitrate to 48kHz, is it the same for you as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The direct USB driver, to my knowledge, is the setting that enables direct DAC driver. The generic driver is a setting that says to use a less specific version of the direct DAC driver that should work with more USB DACs. Each of these settings have submenus that you can play with that should allow you to change the format, frequency, mode, and other settings you might want.
When I have both direct USB driver and generic driver selected, my driver shows up as conexant USB audio, and my bits show up as 32, and frequency 44100. I haven't tryied to tweak the bitrate/frequency as I am happy with the sound from the stock settings with some small EQing for my headphones.
cgprats said:
Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used PowerAmp for a while sound was OK, but it did not appear to be loud enough some times. also tweaking the settings, EQ, etc. seem to make it worse for me.
I had paid for Power amp back with my nexus 4 and loved the app, but it just does not sound right for me know.
Also I'm definitely not an audiophile just want to hear my music.
I have been testing Vinyl Music Player and it seems to sound better to me. This is from the Fdroid repository.
Free, No adds and no extra permissions, but no extra settings also.
oken735 said:
The direct USB driver, to my knowledge, is the setting that enables direct DAC driver. The generic driver is a setting that says to use a less specific version of the direct DAC driver that should work with more USB DACs. Each of these settings have submenus that you can play with that should allow you to change the format, frequency, mode, and other settings you might want.
When I have both direct USB driver and generic driver selected, my driver shows up as conexant USB audio, and my bits show up as 32, and frequency 44100. I haven't tryied to tweak the bitrate/frequency as I am happy with the sound from the stock settings with some small EQing for my headphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense.. Have you been able to use the headset to receive to calls while you are listening to music? I can't hear the incoming calls, and if I make a call, it goes to device speaker. Both cases it stops the music though.
mvadu said:
Makes sense.. Have you been able to use the headset to receive to calls while you are listening to music? I can't hear the incoming calls, and if I make a call, it goes to device speaker. Both cases it stops the music though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it depends on the Rom you are running. When I was on nougat, receiving phone calls while music was playing was a crapshoot.
On Lineage OS, the few times I have received or made a call with the headphones plugged in, it worked fine, I could hear them and it came through the headphones, and it even switched to earpiece when I unplugged the adapter. :good:
I'm not sure how it is on the current official Oreo 8.1 release as I haven't used it for enough time where I would have ran into a situation where I was making or taking a call with headphones in.
cgprats said:
Has anyone tried the Essential DAC with PowerAMP? I know it supports USB DACS pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I wrote this originally I tried the paid version of PowerAMP and its beta version. Neither was able to natively recognize the Essential DAC. I'd used PowerAMP for years.
I haven't bothered to try it since I switched to Onkyo HF
Maybe you want to add BlackPlayer EX to the list. I proved with the Onkyo HF Player, HibyMusic and USB Audio Player Pro and I can hardly find any significant difference.
Also I tried with the LeEco LeMax 2 headphones (the only one with usb- c port I have) and the ubs-c to 3.5mm adapter. The LeEco headphone are way much better. Better bass, better clarity, greater sharpness. Even at louder music. So, if you want to recomend a cheap but great usb-c headphones, the LeEco option is wonderful.
So glad I found this thread. we just got two essentials in the house and I am interested in some of the add-ons but really just wanted the USB to mini adapter to work a bit better.
I'd forgotten about USB audio pro, which I bought some time back for a tablet and outboard DAC.
works great with the usb-c to mini, and it lets you browse Tidal and, iirc, upnp libraries.
For those interested, just now essential is offering 3 months of Tidal for free.
I have no clue where the perfect forum section for this would be so I do it here and hope people find it.
Especially Nvidia devices seem to suffer from a problem that can drive you nuts if you are a power user.
But I had the issue with a few other chipsets and amps as well.
The problem seems to always look like this:
After some use you put your device in sleep mode, turn the TV/monitor off and when you want to continue there is no sound.
All drivers and hardware seem to perform normal and nothing you do bring the sound back until you restart.
Usual recommendations from the web, Nvidia forums, MS and dedicated tech sites include:
Installing a different driver
Using full featured and quality cables
Searching for drivers and services that might interfere
Getting new graphics card or upgrading the TV/monitor
None of the above really works or makes and difference if you ask me.
The fix on many modern TV's is simple and some monitors should have similar settings available.
For me the trick works like this:
Check the HDMI setting on the TV/monitor.
For the affected input you are likely to find something to change/activate/de-activate HDMI 2.0.
Usually this setting is set to auto mode and the system should use the right setting once a HDMI device connects.
And there is the culprit of the implementation for (mostly) Nvidia devices!
Sound will be activated after a video signal is established but the card will do the HDMI settings after establishing the video.
In the meantime the sound part fails to initialise.
Changing the TV HDMI setting from AUTO to anything else will fix the issue.
Of course it makes sense to first check if your device fully supports and uses HDMI2.0, if so enable it otherwise disable it on the TV.
Now, when coming from sleep the sound shouls always be active.
What exactly happened and why does it work?
HDMI2.0 mainly provides a higher bandwidth, so all quality HDMI1.4 cables and equippment will work just fine.
But to make it work both ends must use the same standards.
Some chipsets like Nvidia like to negotiate the standards for best possible performance.
This goes something like that:
Graphic system is activated
Check for HDMI connection, multiple standards supported
Set resolution as reported from the TV
Enable sound
Check HDMI standard and if HDMI is supported switch from 1.4 to 2.0.
The last step here is what messes things up.
It seems that even if the standard remains unchanged the sound will be initialised again but fails to know where to go.
If the HDMI settings on the TV are fixed instead of being set to AUTO it goes like that:
Graphic system is activated
Check for HDMI connection, fixed setting
Switch to the set HDMI standard
Set resolution as reported from the TV
Enable sound
A tiny difference in the approach and the sound finally knows where to go
Special case, amplifiers...
For Nvidia the same problem happens if you have an amp connected for better sound.
There are different ways to connect an amp these days.
Sometimes the amp passes the HDMI signla through and hijacks the audio signal only.
Sometimes you use a dedicated output from your device for the amp.
And in rare cases you feed the amp back from the TV with a dedicated amp output.
The possible options for failure are a bit higher as you can imagine by the number of combinations.
Either way the approach is the same.
If you can change the HDMI settings on the amp then check there first.
After all it could be that the amp tries to negotiate the right standard.
If not then again check on the monitor/TV and change the HDMI setting from auto to something else.
If you use a dedicated sound output on your device, even if it is optical, then please make sure it is set as the default audio output.
Even better, if you only use the amp for sound and make no use of the sound coming over HDMI then disable the sound for HDMI completely.
This way the HDMI output won't get priority or be mixed in, which can often cause crackling sound.
I've been experimenting with the Bluetooth options in developer options, but every time I change them, they change back to the default settings.
Has anyone any help on how to make them stick?
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I've experienced this as well. I believe by design, you must first have an audio device paired and connected before changing these settings, and even then, when doing so, the BT device must be capable of such settings. As an example, when my BT headphones are connected, I can set the DEV option to a lower than 24 bits "per sample" but not higher. All the settings here depend on the hardware in use and whether it is capable of the setting. ->Then when disconnected, the dev options return to their default settings. -But they should return when re-connected.
-hope this helps to at least get the discussion ball rolling.
oryanh said:
I've experienced this as well. I believe by design, you must first have an audio device paired and connected before changing these settings, and even then, when doing so, the BT device must be capable of such settings. As an example, when my BT headphones are connected, I can set the DEV option to a lower than 24 bits "per sample" but not higher. All the settings here depend on the hardware in use and whether it is capable of the setting. ->Then when disconnected, the dev options return to their default settings. -But they should return when re-connected.
-hope this helps to at least get the discussion ball rolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ The above is definitely not true. At least not for everyone. I have a galaxy note 9 and I've tried connecting headphones as well as a pair of edifier speakers. Nothing except AVRCP version sticks, and that sticks whether I have a bluetooth device connected or not. Everything else does not stick, even though both devices are of course capable of aptX and 48khz and 24b/s. In fact the speakers are intended for 48khz 24b/s, it causes audio stuttering if I have anything else. No matter what I do, everything just defaults to SBC, 44.1khz, 16b/s. It's clearly broken and has been for like 3 versions of android OS lol. Every android phone I've ever had has had this problem too. So clearly it has nothing to do with the hardware you're connected to, since all the devices I've connected are intended for aptX, 48khz, 24b/s. And I don't think it has anything to do with the phone's hardware either, since I used to use an essential phone which is advertised as being intended for aptX HD use with the "TIDAL" app. They gave me a 3 month free trial to this service and said it output high fidelity audio via aptX HD. But no, the essential phone's bluetooth developer options behaved in exactly the same way. I've tried a lot of other things as well, so I'm pretty sure this UI element is either just fundamentally broken, or is intentionally locked from the user, presumably for some patronizing reason
I just got a Redmi Note 10 Pro. All is good except when playing PUBG with headphones plugged in.
All the regular gameplay sound goes through the headphones except for when my teammates talk through the voice chat. The voice chat audio gets routed through the phone's speakers instead of going through the headphones like all the other audio.
However, when using Bluetooth headphones, this problem doesn't occur.
I've tried restarting the device, restarting the game, changing game settings, but nothing.
I assume this is a software issue right? Otherwise I'll look to change the device.
Thanks.
raymanh said:
I just got a Redmi Note 10 Pro. All is good except when playing PUBG with headphones plugged in.
All the regular gameplay sound goes through the headphones except for when my teammates talk through the voice chat. The voice chat audio gets routed through the phone's speakers instead of going through the headphones like all the other audio.
However, when using Bluetooth headphones, this problem doesn't occur.
I've tried restarting the device, restarting the game, changing game settings, but nothing.
I assume this is a software issue right? Otherwise I'll look to change the device.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually Software issue
This app (lesser Audio Switch) will solve it no root required but you have to manually change the settings everytime you want to use Speaker, headphone, int mic or headphone mice/ bluetooth
Google Play link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nordskog.LesserAudioSwitch&hl=en&gl=US
note to reset to default phone settings you must reboot your phone
flairepathos.info said:
Usually Software issue
This app (lesser Audio Switch) will solve it no root required but you have to manually change the settings everytime you want to use Speaker, headphone, int mic or headphone mice/ bluetooth
Google Play link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nordskog.LesserAudioSwitch&hl=en&gl=US
note to reset to default phone settings you must reboot your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, says my device isn't compatible with it however?
raymanh said:
Thanks, says my device isn't compatible with it however?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will update you just now , are you by any chance rooted?
Actually I have an idea, download the apk from somwhere on the internet
Download Apk editor
edit the apk
common edit : then change the Sdk? target version to 39
it should work from there
else some of these methods may be viable to your phone
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