@SirAlice, I am far from the expert around here, but I have a BTR5 and I also use it with an Android phone. As you point out, many Androids (mineās a Samsung) require a bypass of the USB port, and for this Iāve found the UAPP app to be the best solution.
In fact, before I got the BTR5, I was using a connected Dragonfly and the manual for that device specified UAPP as the only app that would make the bypass work. (The BTR5 is more versatile, of course, because it works either wired or over a Bluetooth connection. If you go wireless, I donāt think the bypass is an issue anymore - itās a question I asked at the time and Iām still not sure I ever got the right answer. But UAPP is still there for me whenever I hook back up with a wired connection. Thereās a small one-time download fee, but itās more than worth it.)
Most importantly for your purposes, you can use UAPP even though youāre playing music through the Amazon service (instead of music files that live directly on your phone). To do this, select the āRelease USB audio driver on Homeā option in your System settings. This will allow other apps to play through the DAC, so long as you leave UAPP running when you go to Amazon. Hope that makes sense, and enjoy!
P.S. I hear ya on the well-travelled ears! I probably went to too many loud rock concerts back in the day (and when those little hairs in the ear are damaged, they donāt grow back!), but my own journey into this newfound hobby has convinced me that the right equipment can still make a big difference. As in, once you hear it, you can never go back.
P.P.S. Not everyone uses EQ, I know, but if you do, UAPP gives you the option of a built-in Toneboosters parametric EQ, much more powerful than those olā primitive sliders.
@StevehamNY, Wowā¦ your answer hits my questions right on the nose! Thanks for taking the time to elaborate. I once downloaded UAPP but ended up not keeping it because I was not able, hard as I tried, to access my Amazon downloaded contentā¦ the app couldnĀ“t find it. I contacted the developer but he said the files were likely kept in an encrypted folder and were inaccessible to the app. At the time I never considered using the app directly as I streamed the content, I also did not find anyone else to steer me in the right direction, so I gave up the attempt. I am glad for your comments because I now know itĀ“s at least possible, so Iāll be purchasing the app, and fiddling about with it till I figure it out. Even if I canĀ“t ever regrow the little hairs in my ears, I can certainly create new neural pathways as I put 2 and 2 and 2 together. ThatĀ“s worth something!!!
@StevehamNY - Hi again, just a quick question: I have a setting in the Developer Options menu that says: āDisable USB audio routingāā¦ is that the setting you are referring to? Cheers! .j.
Iām referring to an option that itās in the UAPP app itself, in the Systems section of the settings, where you specify to let other apps use the DAC. Let me know if and when you have UAPP installed and Iāll do whatever I can to help! (You might want to PM me directly so we can take this offline.)
And to be clear, you canāt access those Amazon files and use them with any other player (as far as I know). All youāre doing is letting Amazon do its Amazon thing, but also letting it āborrowā the DAC bypass set up by UAPP.
(UAPP does let you go directly to Qobuz and Tidal, but those are other services and certainly not Amazon!)
Ok. Thanks much! I am going to take some time to get acquainted with what IĀ“ve got. Thanks for all the help! Not sure if this back and forth is the correct use of this space, for which I apologize, in case not. All the best. .j.
As far as I understand the option and the app, this option wonāt help getting throug android stack.
Uapp has built in drivers that bypass the android sound stack, and allow sending directly to the dac.
If you activate the āallow other appsā¦ā Option, you wonāt let others access the dac directly: you will just prevent uapp from getting exclusive use of the dac.
So when youāll use the Amazon player, it will send itās data via Android stack anyway.
Possibly, having this option on will even prevent uapp from doing its thing correctly: Iām not sure of the real usefulness of having exclusive control on a sound device.
We should probably take this elsewhere, but just to clarify one more time: The āRelease USB audio driver on Homeā option in UAPP āCan allow other apps to play through the USB DAC when you temporarily leave the app.ā From context, I take āthrough the USB DACā to mean through the DAC you have attached (e.g. the BTR5) and NOT through the default Android sound stack. Which is the whole point of the bypass. If this wasnāt how it worked, why would it even be an option?
But I honestly have to raise both hands right now, because Iāve been in this hobby for a minute and I know there are people here who know this stuff WAY better!
Well guys, maybe a little late to the party but be sure I read the whole thread in my excitement. I got my unit from someone who said he didnāt care about the lyrics game unfortunately so didnāt post it here earlier. Here comes from big krit:
OK let me start with thanking @hawaiibadboy for the iem and all of you for contributing.
I agree with most of the impressions so far. Especially @Tonytex_Teixeira 's impressions align with mine a lot. Well I havenāt necessarily A/Bād them with another IEM, Iām more of a Full Size Headphone guy and have several kilobuck pairs. And Olina still managed to show me some nuances I havenāt noticed before. However when I begin to enjoy my music too much I tend to crank up the volume and when I do, like Akros says, upper mids loses its composure and begins to get piercing. Bass is mostly enough but I think the need to raise the volume also comes from lack of bass on some songs. If I donāt crank up the volume, I enjoy the vocals a lot.
I havenāt tried any mods yet, having a busy week. But I ordered a pair of Tanyas to try. Also when I get the chance I will try the double filter mod. But I suspect I will settle on Tanya filters because, bad news, I noticed a little condensation on the nozzle that one time. It wasnāt clogged or anything but just to be safe.
Iām open to tip suggestions by the way. Happy listening.
