# car interface for tablet or PC?



## fuzzysig (Feb 4, 2010)

are there any products that act as an interface between a tablet or pc and a 4 channel amplifier for example?

I'm looking for a minimal component solution

pretty much I want to use a mini amp to power the speakers

and have a control interface that has a volume knob and basic control buttons

and have a good preamp that doesn't headphone jack from the tables
how do you all interface the tables to car anyway?
is it only headphone jack or is there something digital available that I can plug into a usb or expansion slot from the tablet?


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

*Re: car interface fro tablet or PC?*

Not sure what you are asking, if you want physical buttons to control the tablet there are USB pots, but I have no experience with them. 

Depending on your set up you can run steering wheel controls. I use a joycon to interface between my tablet and the steering controls giving me all the basic functions. As for audio I use a USB DAC which outputs via optical to the DSP. 

I run a USB hub which is powered via DCDC-USB, the other output powers the tablet.


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## fuzzysig (Feb 4, 2010)

*Re: car interface fro tablet or PC?*

sht this is the best news ever
I have already a collection of DACS that I want to use in the car but somehow missed the native support of android 5.0 for dacs.


I'm just hoping that it supports all or most of them since the ones I found are already with built in amplifier and basic control interface


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

*Re: car interface fro tablet or PC?*



fuzzysig said:


> sht this is the best news ever
> I have already a collection of DACS that I want to use in the car but somehow missed the native support of android 5.0 for dacs.


Nice, I run a HiFiMedy Sabre DAC but have also used a little EL-D01 which worked as well. The Sabre was much better quality though and also gave me optical out.


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## fuzzysig (Feb 4, 2010)

how do I do 4 channel output? I didn't see many dacs that have 4 channel output


I'm honestly very surprised that its been 10 years since first car PC and we still have no dedicated interface for car computer or tablet in the car


what I mean is an interface that has controls just like a typical indash would

car audio industry is somewhat known for lagging far behind everything else but this is ridiculous..

we have 2 channel DACS we have usb DACs we have usb 2 channel DACs with 12 volt input for home use

just a crazy idea... 
why not combine a 4 channel mini amp like kenwood with a usb DAC and a fn volume button and make is din or double din size


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## fuzzysig (Feb 4, 2010)

what I was trying to say before the rant took over

now that there is usb to dac interface

are there DACs with really good sound processor with lots of options ?(eq, crossover, time alignment etc)

android audio options are embarrassing. windows 95 had better EQ than android.

so I can have a good sound by connecting a tablet to usb DAC and then usb dac to say kenwood mini amp 4 channel...


I'm assuming there are no sound processors like jbl or 3sixty that have usb input?


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

fuzzysig said:


> how do I do 4 channel output? I didn't see many dacs that have 4 channel output


In my case I only need the 2 channel's into the DSP, from there that sorts everything out into the 7 channels I use. Most amp's should allow you to just use 2 inputs though and split that to 4 outputs. There are 4 channel DAC's out there, no idea on the cost or if they work with Android though.




fuzzysig said:


> what I was trying to say before the rant took over
> 
> now that there is usb to dac interface
> 
> ...


Take a look at Mini-DSP, I think, not 100% sure on this though, that they have a USB input and would do what you are after. Although like most other DSP's I would not be surprised if it is Windows only for configuring. 

No DAC that I know of with onboard processing.


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## strohw (Jan 27, 2016)

How many channels do you need?

Minidsp 2x4 HD has usb input for digital audio. Most people in your situation will turn the micro usb out of their device into whatever digital input there chosen dsp has. There are converters to do both optical and coax spdif. So pick the dsp you want first since for under $30 you can give it any input it needs.


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## fuzzysig (Feb 4, 2010)

I have a 3 way setup up front and 6.5 woofers in the rear


should I get a windows tablet instead if I want better EQ then?
would EQ even work if I output signal via USB to external DAC?


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