[Hammer1]

Thinking about using a android tablet for a head unit. I know for a ipad you can use a pure i20 to get a toslink out to processor. What is out there to do the same for android. A 7 inch tablet would be much easier to get in my dash or I would of just use a iPad mini.

 

[quickaudi07]

Alot of people use Nexus 7 2013 which is 2nd generation of a tablet, there is lots of custom rooms for it, check out some youtube videos you will be very impressed at what it could do. I'm thinking of it myself.

 

[charliekwin]

Thinking about using a android tablet for a head unit. I know for a ipad you can use a pure i20 to get a toslink out to processor. What is out there to do the same for android. A 7 inch tablet would be much easier to get in my dash or I would of just use a iPad mini.

Audio is easy: Android 5.0 natively supports USB audio, so most any USB DAC will work. (5.0 also has 32-bit floating point audio, which should make for better audio quality when using digital volume control, but I don't know what -- if anything -- is required in the app space for that.)

I have a 2013 Nexus 7 in dash; you can check the later pages of my build log.

 

[BlueGhost]

I'm using my S4 and a bluetooth apt-x receiver with toslink. You could d the same with a tablet and apt-x.

 

[bugsplat]

I've used an Archos tablet for all my music in the past coming out of the HDMI. Worked well. I stopped using it because of processing power. With the newer apps it would slow down too much. I've never had good luck with the sound quality coming out of the headphone jack but the Nexus may be different.

 

[charliekwin]

I've never had good luck with the sound quality coming out of the headphone jack but the Nexus may be different.

Output from the headphone jack on the two Nexuses I have (5 and 2013 7) is straight-up terrible.

 

[Hammer1]

So could I use a mhl adapter and run that to a hdmi to toslink converter ?? And would it also charge the tablet.

 

[mfenske]

I tried it but abandoned it because I couldn't get the external USB drive to recognize consistently to the same mounting point. Windows does a better job but the interface sucks.

 

[BlueGhost]

I tried it but abandoned it because I couldn't get the external USB drive to recognize consistently to the same mounting point. Windows does a better job but the interface sucks.

That's why I would skip on the Nexus tablets and go for something with an SD slot.

 

[Hammer1]

I got a LG G pad 7 for .99 cents when I upgraded my phone it has a SD slot. Just wondering if I use a mhl adapter and run that into a hdmi to toslink converter how would I charge the tablet

 

[Alextaastrup]

Android less than version 5 should work with otg cabel. This makes it to be host, but not slave. With appropriate app you will be able to send usb audio to usb/toslink converter. Then - digital in of the dsp or amplifyer.

 

[Navy Chief]

So could I use a mhl adapter and run that to a hdmi to toslink converter ?? And would it also charge the tablet.

Yes, you can do that. I am actually doing that now with my Sony Xperia phone. There are a ton of MHL to HDMI cables that also have a USB plug attached for charging. Run that into an HDMI to Toslink adapter and your good to go. I am feeding mine into one of the open digital ports on my Alpine H701.

 

[Hammer1]

Yes, you can do that. I am actually doing that now with my Sony Xperia phone. There are a ton of MHL to HDMI cables that also have a USB plug attached for charging. Run that into an HDMI to Toslink adapter and your good to go. I am feeding mine into one of the open digital ports on my Alpine H701.

That's what I need. Where is a good place to pick one of those cables up

 

[Infinity]

MHL HDMI Cable for Samsung Galaxy SIII & S4 - Black - Monoprice.com

 

[1fastkingcab]

You gotta be careful using a Samsung specific MHL cable Samsung uses a non-standard 11-MHL connection

I've used the Rocketfish RFG1171 with success on my HTC One M8 it is a powered unit and it does charge the phone through the MHL connection. it also comes with a 11-pin Samsung MHL adapter ($40 @ best buy)

 

[eddieg]

I'm using a Nexus 7 2012 the following way

Nexus 7 2012 loaded with CM10.1 Timur's USB ROM and Kernel
Y-OTG
MiniBox USB-DCDC-200 power supplier tuned to 5.4v output to the y-OTG cable
D-Link USB hub DAB-7
HiFiMeDiy USB Sabre DAC/Converter
Kingston 240GB SSD hard drive

As for ROMs -

The 2012 version of the Nexus is better to use than the 2013, has more car dedicated ROMs for example Autodroid over SlimKat

Most of the issues with most other tablets and smartphone is fast charging in fact - you may find a good working solution for USB audio but in most cases you will find an issue with how to charge the device fast enough.

For some devices wireless charging is possible but is it fast enough?

The PSU I have can be output programmed so I've programmed it to output 5.4v and it charges the nexus fine, other possibility is to set the DCDC-200 with OFF timer so after a drive it keeps charging the tablet if needed.

But - if you install a fix installed and you do not intend to extract the tablet from the car each time - then take out the battery from the first place!!! it is a ticking bomb!

What you do instead is you buy two power suppliers:

1. 4.2v connected directly instead of the battery to the HU board.
2. 5V connected to the YOTG cable

As for sound quality - I use the Sabre DAC as a converter to optical but if you use analog 3.5 PL jack than the sabre DAC has an excellent sound quality.

Players -

I use Mortplayer due to its usability - awesome app!

I use USB Audio Player Pro for maximum quality - I've written a lot about it.

I also use the tablet for OBD fault scanning using Torque and a BT ELM323 scanner.

As for Radio - I use WiFi threading with my Iphone and apps like - 8tracks, TuneIn Radio

As for FM radio I use SDR Touch and a DVB-T dongle that has the required chip in it (in the apps site page you will find a list)

As for reverse camera - currently do not need it as I have a dedicated screen for that but there are good easy solutions for that using UVC based video grabbers (easy cap does not work on many ROMs) and a patch USB cable with a relay.

To put it short - if you are not using a fixed install than I would go for a smartphone with Android L or something the native supports USB Audio such as Samsung Galaxy series or LG G2/G3 or smartphones with Android L

If you are using a fixed install and do not wish to remove battery - worry about fast charging

But I would really recommend to remove the battery if it is a fixed install - due to this:

This is a GPS device with 1000Mah battery exploded in a car

Now - the nexus 7 has a 4500Mah battery!!!

Just type in google images "old gps battery explodes" and see what happens if something of that sort happens.

Hope I helped.

 

[ANDRESVELASCO]

Good info... Thnks