The SIIG cable was completely random, it was available immediately at the local Fry's. Later I purchased a 'higher end' (aka more expensive) Monster aux cable, intending to swap, but I never did. Although I'm using the Monster cable now and as I reported the aux output is pretty good...unlikely due to the monster cable, more likely due to the new monitor.
I haven't given up. I have an OPPO HA2 DAC and I'm going to see what happens when that's inline.
I also plan to check out USB HOST CHECK and USB Audio Player Pro, per Audioquest:
https://www.audioquest.com/page/aq-d...eries-faq.html
Can I use DragonFly with Android devices?
Yes. DragonFly Black, Red, and Cobalt will work with most Android devices running on Lollipop OS (and some Android devices running on KitKat), provided that the device manufacturer has adhered to the USB specification and implementation, and supports audio over USB.
To verify that your Android device complies with asynchronous USB audio, download and run USB Host Check.
In our early pre-production testing, we found that some Android devices (4.1 OS and newer) do not provide native support for audio over USB. If you find that your Android device (4.1 or newer) does not support audio over USB, we ask that you please contact the manufacturer of your device. To determine whether your device supports audio over USB, consult the user manual or visit the manufacturer’s website.
Despite Android’s support of USB audio output, there are still hardware manufacturers that do not completely adhere to the USB audio class specification.
If you experience this, we recommend the USB Audio Player Pro application.
UAPP includes its own USB audio device driver that is compliant with the USB Organization’s USB Audio Host Mode Class specification. Further, it is compatible with various audio formats and will manage music on both the Android’s internal memory and inserted SD cards. With the phone connected to the Wi-Fi network, this application can also find and connect to DLNA servers/libraries. USB Audio Player PRO Version 5 now supports audio from Google Music, Tidal (including Tidal Masters), Qobuz, and Shoutcast, and includes an MQA Core Decoder, which will unfold MQA streams from 44.1/48kHz to 88.2/96 kHz and can be combined with DragonFly for further unfolding of even higher sample rates.
What is asynchronous USB?
Digital audio is stored in computers and delivered to DragonFly as 1s and 0s.
Contrary to common belief, making beautiful music out of 1s and 0s isn’t a case of simply getting all of the audio data from Point A to Point B. In order to successfully reconstruct the analog waveform, it’s crucial that subtle digital timing relationships are carefully maintained. Timing errors such as “jitter” have long plagued digital audio playback, and never more so than in recent years, as computers have been pressed into service as audio source components.
DragonFly uses a very sophisticated “asynchronous” USB audio data transfer protocol. Rather than sharing crucial audio “data clocking” functions with the computer, DragonFly alone, using asynchronous USB transfer, commands the timing of the audio data transfer, dramatically reducing digital timing errors.
DragonFly’s StreamlengthTM asynchronous USB code ensures low jitter, low resource load, minimal packet errors, world-class audio playback, and reliable connectivity between our DAC and any computing device compliant with USB Host Mode (as set forth by the USB Organization). Streamlength requires no additional drivers, making DragonFly virtually plug-and-play for Apple, Windows, iOS, and Android users.