External DAC for Android Units

[eskirvin]

Is anyone running an external DAC with their Android head unit? I've seen some people complain the sound quality isn't good, or the output is too low. I'll be installing my aux in soon on my newly acquired AVIN 12.3" unit and hope to use a Sound Blaster external DAC to alleviate any signal woes.

[Mistercamp]

Yes - an old behringer. Sounds quality is fine, I need to upgrade speakers/amp before that would really be an issue for me. As far as low output, I have set this at boot with either Tasker or an app called Volume Control.

[eskirvin]

DO you intend to upgrade amp/speakers in the future? I have base audio, so I'm pretty much resigned to having to do something.

[Mistercamp]

Same, base audio is pretty lousy. I would love to upgrade but have a million other projects going on - just bought a house, and really focusing on actually restoring my w123 instead of just letting it sit and continue to rust. Really for me though you need to go to a larger diameter speaker to get better sound and open up available options. I just really don't feel like hacking up door panels to do so. This is unfortunate as I have a full set of high end 6" polk component speakers and amp just collecting dust as the don't fit in either of my current vehicles.

[Warmy]

There's a discord channel for the android HU's, and using an external DAC seems to be recommended there a lot, such as the FIIO E10K.

[Mistercamp]

Yep, if it's the channel I'm thinking of I also wrote a post in there how to modify the headunit with an Arduino and ldr to have truly automatic screen dimming. Not sure if that issue was ever resolved in the newer units. I'm getting off track now though.

[eskirvin]

I've seen a few discussions about modifying the HU, but there's just so much to learn to do "one" simple thing, like having a nice dashboard.

[Mistercamp]

Yeah, there was a bit of hackery I had to do to get the unit working with another media player/launcher/video player/etc. You have to disable the factory launcher and media player, basically program actions on boot - i.e. launch media player, send media play command, set dac volume, etc. Also disabling the factory media player disables the ability to have it boot to Android and will boot to CIC side. Theres a byte command you can send from tasker to set which side the unit should display, CIC or Android. If you have questions just let me know. I've spent a little time to get my unit what I consider acceptable.

[Mistercamp]

[Warmy]

Originally Posted by Mistercamp

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Looks great, I've been thinking about installing a unit on my own car.


How has functionality been for you, any issues?


Does the OEM FM radio still work?