Android USB audio volume

[Barrelhouse Solly]

I use my Android tablet--Android 12--to watch videos. I use a DAC connected to the USB C port for audio output because the tablet doesn't have an aux audio output. The maximum volume from the tablet is considerably lower than my Raspberry Pis connected via USB to the same DAC. I've tried several different DACs. It's annoying to have to readjust the volume on the amp by about a third of the scale when I change to and from the tablet since I have to do it with the amp remote. Is this something to do with the way Android handles audio? Is there a simple fix? It's puzzling to me because the USB output should be data without volume information.

 

[Vincent Kars]

USB output should be data without volume information

Really? Volume control is perfectly possible. Any media player or operating system can do as much DSP as they want before the audio is send to an audio endpoint.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Really? Volume control is perfectly possible. Any media player or operating system can do as much DSP as they want before the audio is send to an audio endpoint.

AFAIK I'm using the volume control at the tablet set to maximum. When I play the tablet at maximum volume, the signal sent to the amp from the DAC is not as strong as a line level input. The only option for controlling volume on the tablet is the OS media volume which applications access. When the tablet media volume is set at maximum the result at the amp is not as loud as when I use a different USB source to the DAC.

 

[staticV3]

Is this something to do with the way Android handles audio?

Different ROMs leave different amount of digital headroom (to accout for inter-sample overs, I guess)

Some examples:

• Lineage OS 21: -1.5dBFS
• Oxygen OS 11: -1.4dBFS
• OneUI 3.1: -0.0dBFS (=full volume)

 

[voodooless]

Possibly a volume limit is active:

What is a volume limiter and why does it matter?

A headset's volume limiter can protect your ears from excessive sound levels. We explain how volume-limiting works and show you alternatives.

www.soundguys.com

 

[AnalogSteph]

Is this something to do with the way Android handles audio?

Not fundamentally, no. My bets are on gimped headphone volume to comply with EU regulations. Yes, just slapping on digital attenuation everywhere is a very crude way of doing it, but not at all unheard of.

Is there a simple fix?

Bit-perfect audio output traditionally requires a jailbreak / root and the right kind of player... so fix yes, simple not so much.

 

[staticV3]

Is there a simple fix?

For local audio files, internet radio, and streaming via Tidal, Qobuz, UPnP, you can use audio players like USB Audio Player Pro, Hiby Music, Neutron Player, FiiO Music to bypass the Android audio pipeline and send bit-exact audio to external DACs - no jailbreak/root required.

 

[quimbo]

Somewhat related - Samsung has a Sound Assistant app that let you change the the number of steps each press actually makes. mine is set to 3, it allows up to 10 step increase / decrease on a single click - https://galaxystore.samsung.com/detail/com.samsung.android.soundassistant

 

[unpluggged]

Possibly a volume limit is active:

What is a volume limiter and why does it matter?

A headset's volume limiter can protect your ears from excessive sound levels. We explain how volume-limiting works and show you alternatives.

www.soundguys.com

We don't know which DAC the OP is using. If it is something like the Apple dongle that defaults to lower volume level in hardware, then things (for us) are much less complicated, and a solution could be found using, e.g., UAPP to set the hardware volume for the session.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

We don't know which DAC the OP is using. If it is something like the Apple dongle that defaults to lower volume level in hardware, then things (for us) are much less complicated, and a solution could be found using, e.g., UAPP to set the hardware volume for the session.

I've used several different dongles that put out 2V RMS as well as a Schitt Modi 3. I'm going with the Android volume limit. I know that now and then I get a warning asking me if I want to raise the volume above a safe level. I appreciate the answers. I was afraid that that was the problem.

 

[nate122]

I achieve better results when I use USB Audio Player Pro because it enables bypassing this problem. The solution provides acceptable functionality although it does not offer a perfect solution.