NW-A105 and ifi zen Dac

[Garth12345]

  

Hi folks , had 105 for couple of weeks now and had an Ifi Zen Dac delivered to go with it . Bought a cable matters USB C to USB B cable to connect them both however I am getting no operating lights on the front of the zen and no audio from the Walkman . When I connect the two I get a USB

notification which says ‘USB CONTROLLED BY CONNECTED DEVICE ‘ iF I click on the only other option which is ‘THIS DEVICE’ it says ‘can not switch ‘ . I have plugged the zen Dac into my Windows 10 laptop and it functions perfectly . Anybody offer help ? ?

• Thanks 

[Joe_Dohn]

The NW-A105 doesn't support USB DAC mode, which means you can only use USB for charging and data access, so this connection wouldn't benefit you.

[Garth12345]

Ah ok thanks . For some reason I had it in my head that as it was android it should work . 

[Joe_Dohn]

I definitely understand that since it happened to me with a similar device before. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Sonyvores]

@Joe_Dohn you read it wrong, he wants to use the walkman as a transport and connect a Zen DAC to it.

@Garth12345 A105 can be used as a transport to send audio signal to a DAC but your Zen DAC might require extra power that the A105 can't provide to send the audio signal. There are some hit & miss. Some DAC will work, other won't. 

[Joe_Dohn]

Hey @Sonyvores,

Thanks for the clarification, but could you tell me more about what you meant by transport, or how you read this connection? I'm curious.

- JD

[Garth12345]

Hi , thanks but i was using the ipower mains adapter with the zen Dac . I have ordered the zen can instead so I can go 3.5mn to rca and no usb 

[Sonyvores]

@Joe_Dohn in hifi world, a transport is a device that is used to send the audio out to a dac.

Basically most audio devices that output audio by digital out play as a tarnsport because internal DAC is by passed.

@Garth12345 doesn,'t matter for your case it's the walkman power output that is too weak  for your DAC to be accepted

But great if you are satisfied with the analog output 😃