Tablet as a source recommendations

Audiobro

Active Member
I am looking for recommendations for a tablet to use with a USB DAC/headphone amp. I have not purchased either of these. I spend a good amount of time travelling on trains and using a heavy laptop as music source. I would like to lighten my load, it seems that a tablet and outboard DAC would fit the bill. I have read that not all tablets can stream via USB, and need to know what to look for. Thanks.
 
I can't help with a specific make/model, but I will say do your homework when it comes to connections.
I have an Acer Iconia. I like it fine, but there are a few things about it that bug me. One is that the mini/micro(?) USB port also doubles as the port for the wall wart. So, I can't plug it in and use the port for USB at the same time. The second is that even though it gets it's power through a USB port a regular USB power adapter won't work. It's a goofy proprietary voltage that requires an Acer power adapter. I lost mine on vacation a few years ago, and $65 later I had a new one from Acer.
 
Tablets will not do unless it is a more high end one - like the Surface Pro (which has more than one USB port).
Does the Surface Pro have more than one USB port?
Maybe I was looking at an older model or maybe I'm just arithmetically challenged but i counted just one USB port.
 
iPad(s) + Apogee One
$269 to $499 + $299 to $349





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You can use other DACs (preferably self powered) with the iPads via the Lightning to USB cable. The Apogee connects directly.
 
Why more than 1 USB? I have found a couple units in the $100 range that have 2 USB, a regular and micro. I have never used an outboard DAC, it sounds like there maybe some sort of physical or software limitation that will not allow some tablets to stream to USB. I am trying to find out what sort of specs are necessary in a tablet to stream. So far the Ipad seems like the only logical choice.
 
Why more than 1 USB? I have found a couple units in the $100 range that have 2 USB, a regular and micro. I have never used an outboard DAC, it sounds like there maybe some sort of physical or software limitation that will not allow some tablets to stream to USB. I am trying to find out what sort of specs are necessary in a tablet to stream. So far the Ipad seems like the only logical choice.
All iPad, iPhone, and most Android devices enforce a peripheral power consumption limit. If you have a self-powered DAC, this requirement is easily satisfied since the DAC only consumes power from its own battery. Apple tabs and phones running iOS 7 and above support direct digital output. Most Android devices can use USB Audio Player Pro to complete the loop.

As for an other post here insinuating a need for multiple USB ports...that was vague/bad intel. :blah:
 
For the iPad Air 2/iPhone 6+, I just wanted to add that when a USB DAC doesn't have power, you might be able to put a "Plugable" USB hub in between the "Lightning to USB" and the DAC to fool the iPad. ( I have an example in " my stuff" thread ...see my signature for the link). Obviously, a powered DAC has the advantage of not needing the hub and it won't drain your iPad/iPhone battery as fast, but it comes down to the DAC you want to use.
 
All iPad, iPhone, and most Android devices enforce a peripheral power consumption limit. If you have a self-powered DAC, this requirement is easily satisfied since the DAC only consumes power from its own battery. Apple tabs and phones running iOS 7 and above support direct digital output. Most Android devices can use USB Audio Player Pro to complete the loop.

As for an other post here insinuating a need for multiple USB ports...that was vague/bad intel. :blah:

It depends on the situation.
With the way my tablet gets power it ties up the USB port. I'd love to have an extra USB port on mine, so I could plug the tablet in while using it. Hitting the road and plugging in an un-powered portable hard drive gives me about 2 hours of music before the battery dies. Using a memory stick obviously gives me way more time, but then I have to manage what tunes I put on it. The convenience of having a 1tb drive full of tunes is fantastic on longer trips.
Which brings up another question for the OP. Have you thought about how you are going to manage your files?
 
I have an iPad Air 2 and a Galaxy Tab S2 9.7". The huge advantage of the S2 is the micro SD slot, which can accept up to 128GB, plenty of room for portable music. (The better AMOLED display, much better performance, and the extra RAM that prevents heavily laden web pages from crashing Chrome, which is very annoying on the iPad, are icing on the cake).

A pair of Sennheiser PX-100s, and I'm good to travel. The internal DAC on the S2 drives them beautifully.
 
Some of the Android 'devices' come with internal 'Wolfson' DACs which can be good enough depending on your personal playback requirements.
To get digital output of Androids to an external DAC some DACs will work natively and some won't. Some require USB Audio Player Pro as stated upthread. There *was* a free trial download but it wasn't working (404 ERROR) when I wanted to trial it the other day.
OPs stated aim of 'lightening the load' would lead me to suggest trying to use the onboard DAC, (possibly add USB Audio Player Pro), of whichever device you get and to point out that even 'phones' are getting powerful as micro computers and will have lots of storage ad even more if you add a micro SD as above.
 
The Asus Nexus 7 natively supports usb as does the Fire HDX and although they don't have sd card slots , you can connect a flash drive with an OTG cable ( on the go).
 
I have an iPad Air 2 and a Galaxy Tab S2 9.7". The huge advantage of the S2 is the micro SD slot, which can accept up to 128GB, plenty of room for portable music. (The better AMOLED display, much better performance, and the extra RAM that prevents heavily laden web pages from crashing Chrome, which is very annoying on the iPad, are icing on the cake).

A pair of Sennheiser PX-100s, and I'm good to travel. The internal DAC on the S2 drives them beautifully.
The geekbench and battery performance are both better on the iPad Air2, so you may need to take yours into Apple if you are getting better performance from the S2. Sounds like you iPad has a problem.

I can't speak to Chrome performance on the iPad, but I don't have crashing issues ever using Safari. I have a workflow that will pull up 5 tabs of the Verge simultaneously (one of the most data heavy sites out there) and it has never crashed my iPad. It sounds like you are getting performance similar to the iPad Air 1 and prior models. This shouldn't be occurring with the Air2 unless Chrome isn't optimized properly for the iPad...which I have never heard that Chrome has issues running on the iPad.

That being said, some people prefer Android, although it doesn't have nearly the number of tablet specific apps, but if you have an Android phone it may be better to stick to one ecosystem.
 
Oops, had to look up the model, A1475, which is, indeed, the original iPad Air. The 2 was for sale at the time I got this one, but MegaCorp hadn't yet updated its concession devices. Time for a refresh!

Only 1GB of RAM, and a much slower experience overall. Explains why Chrome keeps crashing.

If Apple would add an SD slot, make their keyboard as intelligent as the S2's, and add the two additional buttons, I'd probably spend my own money for the next model. They do make a quality product.
 
Apple will likely never add a SD slot in our lifetimes, they love their walled garden too much.
Apple strives to have as few ports on their products as possible. I think it is a design decision more than anything. Less ports means that it leaves more room for battery space without making the product heavier and thicker. Apple have a 128GB iPad/iPhone option, so people that need space have an option available. For those that require even more space, there are numerous options that plug into the lighting port, so they aren't putting a wall up to other options for people that need it. That being said, many people are using network/cloud streaming and network/cloud storage, so a large portion of iPad users that need more space just live with one of the abundant cloud hosting platforms (or network drives at home) for their files.
 
Apple right now cares more about Apple than they do their users. And they are so obsessed with slim and too lightweight to the point of impractical. And iTunes needs to be replaced with modern, more stable, less bloated software. In fact, iTunes needed replacing years ago. They need to split the new software into 2 programs to keep it efficient and more stable. A streaming/radio program and a music management program.
 
I have a lenovo yoga, have single USB charging issue as well. It works well though, even if I have to remember to charge it. HDMI out also works well. So in this case you have a couple options to get your audio out, USB or HDMI. I liked it's form factor of having a kickstand type setup and that it's fully windows, which is also what I don't like about it. Tablet apps are just better for touch interfaces. Hope more windows apps come out.
 
Apple right now cares more about Apple than they do their users. And they are so obsessed with slim and too lightweight to the point of impractical.
In the case, it is much easier to add a battery case or carry along a portable charger for those that don't care about the weight, than for those that want their mobile devices to be light to somehow remove that weight from a heavy iPad.
 
To answer the OP , I choose a Toshiba with Windows 8.1 exactly for avoiding the situation where some Android devices don't support USB out streaming to a . DAC. Even if I preferred a device self powered , solved the problem for the amp but I ended by buying a dongle dac wich I am waiting to come....It was at a good price and had an itch .....We'll see how fast does it drain the power...
I am curious if a splitted Y OTG cable could help to add an extra power rechargeable battery on one branch and the Dac on the other one ???
 
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