External AMP/DAC for 950??

[alllies]

@jayramphone, could you please try if the Butterfly will work on a L650?

Good work guys! I am eyeballing this: FiiO-Born for Music and Happy and will be checking my local shop for some auditioning. It believe it is also plug and play so it should work with the L950.

My L1520 is not due for upgrade so I am praying that USBaudio/LOD will be enabled via Firmware update.

 

[dashrendar]

Hi all,

I am using an external DAC via Bluetooth. Last year, I bought a B1 Bluetooth Music Receiver and I use it with my 950 in the car today. Since Lumia 950 supposedly supports aptX in A2DP the music is supposed to be very high quality (not lossless though), which is fine, because I am listening to music in the car and not in a soundproof recording studio so I prefer the convenience of wireless streaming.

Due to SD card space limitations I have my music on the phone in mp3 320kbps rather than FLAC.

 

[stoneshop]

Just to confirm that this DAC does indeed work with the 950.
Sound quality is clearer and louder.

After reading this post I ordered the Audioengine D3 both for better sound quality and some extra power. I received it yesterday but I am sending it back. On my L950 and my Phonak Aud?o PFE 232 the music through the DAC is less loud then through the standard audio exit. I expected it to be the other way around. When the maximum volume on the head phone connection is a 10 the DAC delivers an 8 at the most.

 

[dashrendar]

After reading this post I ordered the Audioengine D3 both for better sound quality and some extra power. I received it yesterday but I am sending it back. On my L950 and my Phonak Aud?o PFE 232 the music through the DAC is less loud then through the standard audio exit. I expected it to be the other way around. When the maximum volume on the head phone connection is a 10 the DAC delivers an 8 at the most.

Isn't your complaint related to the amplifier on the D3 rather than the DAC? The phone might have an amplifier that produces louder sound than the D3 but it might still have a worse DAC.

Also, did you go through the Audioengine "break-in period" of 40-50 hours? Yes, it's not unreasonable to spend 40-50 hours listening to music since yesterday.

 

[stoneshop]

Isn't your complaint related to the amplifier on the D3 rather than the DAC? The phone might have an amplifier that produces louder sound than the D3 but it might still have a worse DAC.

Also, did you go through the Audioengine "break-in period" of 40-50 hours? Yes, it's not unreasonable to spend 40-50 hours listening to music since yesterday.

First of all my post wasn't meant as a complaint but more as a warning for others that might try this to gain on volume. And yes you're probably right, my "complaint" is about the amplifier and not the DAC. And no, I didn't break them in for 40-50 hours because I don't think that will change much to the maximum volume the D3 produces. It might increase the already very good sound quality though :wink:

 

[vonchowder]

After reading this post I ordered the Audioengine D3 both for better sound quality and some extra power. I received it yesterday but I am sending it back. On my L950 and my Phonak Aud?o PFE 232 the music through the DAC is less loud then through the standard audio exit. I expected it to be the other way around. When the maximum volume on the head phone connection is a 10 the DAC delivers an 8 at the most.

I can confirm that the Dragonfly DAC (v1.2) works on my 950XL and sounds good. However, it also has a loudness issue similar the one you describe above. I must turn up the volume all the way (which happens to show on the phone volume slider as 'external screen').

I am using Sennheiser HD650s which are a little harder to drive but the phone still does drive them louder through the headphone out jack. I am guessing it is a problem with the USD DAC interface implementation in the phone OS. My laptop does not have this issue when driving the same setup through the Dragonfly. It will go very loud.

 

[TheChazas]

Microsoft really need to check and update audio driver, firmware or OS, because there are really a lot of issues with audio playback, speaker and headphone jack.
But as always it needs to be reported on a Windows Feedback.

 

[captaincomps]

I bought a USB C male > USB A female adaptor and plugged my Cambridge Audio DAC Magic XS into my Lumia 950. OTG functionality did not work. I tried to download the driver to install for the DAC but W10 mobile does not allow the user the rights to install. Does anyone know how I can get around this?

 

[jayramphone]

After reading this post I ordered the Audioengine D3 both for better sound quality and some extra power. I received it yesterday but I am sending it back. On my L950 and my Phonak Aud?o PFE 232 the music through the DAC is less loud then through the standard audio exit. I expected it to be the other way around. When the maximum volume on the head phone connection is a 10 the DAC delivers an 8 at the most.

Strnage - I dont get any volume drop off at all. In fact, very slightly louder to my ears via the DAC. Which app(s) were you using? I wonder if the usb-c to usb-a adapter can make a difference? I wouldn't have thought so, but there are so many potential variables within the 'chain'. There is a discussion on USb cables and impact on audio over on the NAIM forum...some differing views and some interesting points on shielding

High End USB Cables - Real or Fantasy? | Naim Audio Forums

 

[atchi123]

I also have the dacmagic xs and tried with my Lumia 950 xl but no success. I believe its to do with the current draw of the particular DAC. This DAC has a higher requirement apoparently.

 

[vonchowder]

Strnage - I dont get any volume drop off at all. In fact, very slightly louder to my ears via the DAC. Which app(s) were you using? I wonder if the usb-c to usb-a adapter can make a difference? I wouldn't have thought so, but there are so many potential variables within the 'chain'. There is a discussion on USb cables and impact on audio over on the NAIM forum...some differing views and some interesting points on shielding

High End USB Cables - Real or Fantasy? | Naim Audio Forums

Which DAC are you using? The post below made me think that maybe it is the USB power draw requirements which may be affecting the volume. There was a new Dragonfly product announcment at CES 2016 that mentioned the new version has a much lower draw.

Thanks.

 

[jayramphone]

Which DAC are you using? The post below made me think that maybe it is the USB power draw requirements which may be affecting the volume. There was a new Dragonfly product announcment at CES 2016 that mentioned the new version has a much lower draw.

Thanks.

Audioengine D3.. as per discussion further up in the thread. Works fine for me, but does drain power. About 7hrs from 100% to off.

 

[mprebich]

Posting this link, which is a discussion of sensitivity. (I'm sure one can find many other information sources on the subject.)

What is sensitivity?

The problems noted above involve amplifier power output and headphone sensitivity, i.e. headphone amp output (usually in mW), headphone and IEM sensitivity in Ohm.

I searched last night but could not find these most basic and most relevant specs for either the Audioengine D3 nor the Phonak IEMs. Very strange. You must consult these specs to properly match a headamp and headphones/IEMs.

Although I only have the Lumia 930, with my Surface Pro, I'm using the portable USB DAC from LH Labs, Geek Out 1000, the 1000 being the power rating in mW, i.e. 1000 milliWatts, or 1 Watt. This can power any pair of IEMs and almost all headphones.

I also have a few different headamps that I use with my L930 (and previously L920, L900, and L1020), and all are significantly lower volume output than with a headamp. My experience is that the Lumia don't crank up when it comes to music volume. But using a headamp is more than just volume. Having additional output power allows the headamp to better "drive" the IEMs/headphones, even at lower volumes.

The sensitivity rating is such that the higher the number, the easier they are to drive, meaning less power required from the amp. The lower the sensitivity rating, the more power needed.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy the Music!

 

[kulf]

There is another thread here on Windows Central,
search for
external-audio-dac-support-usb-otg

 

[lars2206]

Cool, looking to DAC, Audioquest DragonFly v1.2 for myself.

Did anyone try Audioquest Dragonfly with the Lumia models? Must require an usb-c to usb3 adaptor.

 

[vvasch]

I tried the Dragonfly Black with my Lumia 950. Music is definitely coming through the DAC (detected as an external screen). I got some digital noise when listening to music with Groove, but I also got noise on my old Macbook Pro with 2Gb RAM. Maybe it has something to do with that. With the Lumia 950, you cannot set the sampling rate so it uses the default 96kHz (magenta). First I thought this was the source of the noise, but as mentioned I heard it with the Macbook too, where I set the sampling rate to 44.1kHz.

Sidenote: I discovered that when an external screen is attached, you first need to turn up the volume and turn it down again in order to get the right volume on your external screen. Otherwise the volume is extremely soft.

 

[odairduque]

Finally my lumia 950 can use a Sony pha 1a, i'm using 10.0.14915.1000 fast ring

 

[delpinsky]

Hi there guys.
Recently I've bought a Lumia 950 XL and with it I decided to buy the LG G5 Hi-Fi Plus (B&O PLAY) DAC, as it's also standalone and compatible with Windows OS, considering the price was a bargain for both phone and DAC.

Since it has a Type-C to Micro USB adapter-cable, I bought a Type-C to Type-C cable to use it with my Lumia 950 XL.
When I plug it in with the earphones in the DAC, I got a notification saying the USB device could not work and to try it on a PC.
The DAC doesn't work, but the on/off + volume buttons on the earphones pad, they work!

Could it change anything by using another adapter?
I ordered a mini adapter micro USB to Type-C to use with the original LG cable.

I'm also downloading a Fast Ring build now, to see if there's a small chance to make it work.
I'm wondering if I'm the only one who bought the LG Hi-Fi Plus DAC, using it with a Lumia phone.
On my OnePlus One it works amazingly.
Damn... I'm quite upset.
C'mon Microsoft, do something right!!! Don't let me regret the phone.

UPDATE:
After downloading the latest Fast Ring build, at least the DAC is seen as External Screen.
Unfortunately the audio is completely distorted, as the pitch is wrong. Without earphones the audio pass through the phone speaker and not the DAC.
At least is a small step forward, but I can't believe the are so far away from Android or iOS, as if they created Windows OS few months ago...