Alpine audio with a Tablet interface SQ help

[aimless]

Rebuilt my system after I got robbed.

Before: Alpine 9886 with audio coming from Asus Infinity Tablet via the Alpine 3.5mm interface. Aftermarket speakers but nothing high end. Sound quality great.

Now: Alpine CDE 121 with audio coming from Asus Memo Tab via a 3.5mm to 3.5mm interface on the front. Different sub (lil better) but same interior. Sound quality bad.

Would a lower end USB DAC NuForce uDAC-2 help the SQ? The CDE 121 has a USB interface on the front.

Let me know what you think, thanks.

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[aimless]

Bump. I've been using a USB drive that has music files on the front port and SQ is great. Would a 3.5mm to USB setup improve sound quality from tablet?

The tablet has no USB port so it'd be audio out would be from the 3.5mm jack on the tablet into the USB port on the HU. Would like some suggestions as I'd prefer to use my tablet in combo with the HU.

THANKS

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

3.5mm will never have the same SQ that USB can offer. It sounds like you have a cheap aux cable. Also, the 9886 was a much nicer head unit, IMO, and that could be contributing to the SQ differences.

 

[aimless]

Yeah the 9886 had better overall features I just can't justify the cost of a full replacement.

Current HU sounds better when playing straight from USB, but that's not what I want.

All the pop is gone when playing from the tablet.

I noticed in my last system that Poweramp sounded much better than Google Play which I'm using now. Been trying to get Poweramp to install but it won't for some reason....

 

[bbeljefe]

I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet running to my 9886 through the phono cord and I have great sound quality. And, it's a cheap cord.

I would check the audio settings on the tablet you're using, because I don't notice any SQ differences between USB and aux in. If you haven't tried it, Rocket Player is working quite well for me.

Also, it's true that the 9886 is a superior head unit but that doesn't explain the loss of quality through the aux inputs. If anything, I would think the less expensive HU would have worse sq on the USB due to a less expensive DAC driving the USB port. Aux in is just an analogue input with no DAC needed.

 

[WestonWW]

Does your tablet sound poor with a good set of headphones? If not then I would check your volume level on the tablet, make sure you have it as high as you can go without clipping, start out at about 75% volume and adjust the head unit volume to get a good balance. When using a head unit with an analog input it kinda becomes a glorified line driver. Also make sure all the sound processing is turned off on the tablet, this can color the sound and may sound good with headphones but not through a car system.