Hello, Has anyone tried using an external DAC for audio and using HDMI for movies? Currently Zidoo is connected to Marantz AV8801 which does not support DSD but can play DSD songs using Zidoo, the signal resolution displayed by the AV receiver is the same as the song being played, so I'm sure there is a conversion to PCM inside Zidoo. Attached is the diagram of the expected installation. If someone has already tried, what software is used to play music for USB audio and what are the suggestions for an external DAC under US$300?
https://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=3868.0 I think it answers all questions plus matching the drawing (just using USB2). Works fine but handling will be a bit clumsy to start the music playing via USB and control playback next. A curious fact: If you use an external APP for Music playback using USB you even can play a movie at the same time with 5.1 sound using a single HT AMP. The other 2 channels are then used for 2nd-zoning with analog DAC input. Just tried it for fun and in fact it worked. Using Zidoo Music Player 5 via HDMI combined with another music player APP via USB concurrently works too. Use this dual sound output capability occasionally for sound (blind test) comparisons (toggling HDMI/Analog sources on my AMP). Bottomline the answer is YES and even concurrently.
Thank you Nice Monkey.. I still considering which DAC to buy. Meanwhile.. do you have suggestion for air mouse that can flick (slide left, right, up and down)? Just installed Poweramp in Zidoo and yes, the control is clumpsy.
I do have a really excellent air mouse. The problem with (probably all) RF airmouses is that the install is actually conflictive with USB DAC's. A cheap one like this one probably does the job too? https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/33022316741.html? I would love an equivalent using BT instead of RF (just to avoid the stupid conflict). When I plug in the RF mouse it straight works but the USB DAC is then disconnected. When I re-plug that one it asks for install and it may or may not work and the mouse has probably gone when it does work. Doing this many times I always get them to work concurrently but it is simply not practical doing it that way. My AK86 BT remote control (in fact made by/for Egreat) obviously also works with my Z9S when paired with it. This one has also a cursor mouse which lacks on the otherwise very similar Zidoo BT remote control. That works just fine and I use cursor mouse with USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) for the sporadic functions not accessible using it as a standard remote control. Workable but not as nice as it could be. For standard playback controls and folder selection UAPP works directly using any remote without needing a mouse function. HibyMusic like Poweramp really needs a mouse for all controls this unless you for a Client/Server setup with it.
@adwin Re-read this one. Moved to using HibyMusic in Client/Server setup with my USB DAC. Thus far a bit happier with that. http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/uhd2000-vs-x20pro-sound-bugs.67396/ Thanks go to my friend who made this working on his UHD2000 which is even simpler to manage as a whole.
I have not yet decided to choose the DAC to be purchased, it might be the Topping D50S, but the Topping E30 looks very good. While I've tried listening to music using the Zidoo Music Player compared to directly plugging a USB flash drive into an AV receiver, with the same level, the difference is quite difficult to hear. Tested using FLAC music. As for HibyMusic, I will try to look at the Play Store again. Thank you very much for the advice. In the meantime I will be waiting for the Covid outbreak to disappear.
The music directed by Zidoo is not the best. I have a Topping D50s connected to a laptop with USB direct output to an AV receiver (direct mode) and the music sounds good. I can't use Zidoo with USB output, not work I want to try HibyMusic with Zidoo
I think as long the DAC doesn't require specific driver to be loaded, it should works. Poweramp have audio through USB feature. Maybe, you should try USB Audio Player Pro. UAPP also offered a trial. That is said that UAPP have their own audio driver for Android. Hibby doesn't show in Play Store. I just purchased Topping DX3, hopefully will arrive within a week.
Both HibyMusic and UAPP should work with them. For specifics just look at the review. HibyMusic to be downloaded from the source directly.
good morning sorry for the intrusion but, I don't understand one thing: if the source is connected to the amplifier section digitally, then optically, hdmi, who does the DA conversion, are the converters of the amplifier section ...... So, the reason for looking for an external USB DAC to listen to music is not clear to me, unless the amplifier section is really poor ........ If you could make me understand, I would be happy .......
There are 2 reasons for doing so: - External DAC's are indeed typically of higher quality than those build into Home Theater or Soundbar Amplifiers. It is not just the DAC chip itself but using a better mostly linear PSU and more precise clock circuitry. With good speakers this is audible. - More important Zidoo media players can't forward the SACD DSD format via HDMI/SPDIF and convert DSD to PCM to bypass that shortcoming. Using an External DAC the SACD DSD samples can be forwarded in native format via USB without the need for conversion. This makes even a bigger sound difference. If you have a good quality HT AMP and you never play SACD's then it is questionable if it it is worth doing so. With the UHD2000 available now I recommend buying that one instead. This for the ease of use with similar total spendings.
just wonder if there is an andriod player that can trasncode dsd into dts-hd format which then can be transmitted via hdmi. The Dac in my HT AMP is quite good, it will be great if I can just use that wo flocking more $ on an usb DAC. btw, i tried the hibymusic player, it installed but just hung at start up.
Zidoo Music Player 5 in fact does that for Stereo. It will transcode DSD to PCM at 176.4 kHz 24 bit and next output that via HDMI to your AMP. For Stereo PCM => MCH DTS (or DD, THX) just use the DSP of your AMP it will just do that perfectly for you. Sounds remarkable with some albums. It will not do MCH DSD to MCH PCM as about 3x the CPU power is needed to do such a thing. None of the currently sold Android media players will do that. I have my doubts about RTD1619 based players but Dune confirmed to me to be looking into that possibility. Running HibyMusic should work for sure as I am using it myself with my external DAC. Be aware you really need a pointer mouse as the remote control won't even get you through the startup reading the instruction pages!
Good evening, sorry for the inconvenience, but there are asynchronous multichannel USB DACs, in order to use the hdmi as video and the multichannel amplifier as audio, which however has no hdmi inputs ......... Thanks in advance, Andrea.
thx nick. I tried a song by janne mammina which has wav, flac and dsd at different sample rates. the difference between 44-16 vs dsd256 was actually fairly small (might be bcos the amp upsamples) for this particular song. I tried another song at 48-24 and it didnt sound that great once there were more instruments. interestingly the zidoo music player shows sample freq at 44khz for dsd256. thx for the tips on hibymusic. I eventually figured out that I had to do like a swipe on touch screen to get pass the initial screens.
Zidoo Music Player converts DSD64 to 172.4, DSD128 to 88,2 and DSD256 to 44.1 This has to do with the processing power needed. Forget about DSD256 and mostly about DSD128 too, what is important is DSD64 the rest is overkill (oversampled). Be sure to get real studio recordings/sources for compares not conversions by hobbyists. Upscaling does normally not make it sound any better.
believe the janne mammina tracks were transferred from tape by the studio. I tried the dsd64 ver and it is as you said, sample freq at 172.4. thx for the added info.
Tried Topping DX3 Pro external DAC, the sound is better. I didn't try blind test, but I can be sure it's different. After making a level matching between hdmi and analog output the difference is even clearer. Different bass weights, mid and high sounds more detailed. Perhaps this difference is due to the op-amp on the external dac, I don't know for sure. I also finally added a linear power supply to the DAC, it didn't sound different, but I feel better with the linear power supply. Before installing an external DAC, I once tried playing a song directly on the av receiver and compared to Zidoo, the difference was little or practically nothing. I think this improvement will differ from one another, depending on the audio system. In my case, the following system was installed: Zidoo z9s Topping DX3 Pro + linear power supply Marantz AV8801 AV receiver Marantz MM8077 amplifier (7 channel) Marantz MM7055 amplifier (5 channel) Jamo C series speakers (main, center, front wide, surround back) Jamo A series speakers (front height and surround) Jamo 10 "subwoofer, forget the type. Before installing the external dac, I didn't get carried into the song too deep, now I often stomp my feet. Emotionally, I can say the external dac is worth every penny. Sorry for the long post. Thank you so much to everyone and thank you Nice Monkey for a detailed explanation.
