How to connect my Cell Phone to my DAC?!?!

...some additional information.  The APP i would attempt to run on the Phone is Spotify Premium. 

How are you connecting the DAC  to the amp ? Is it going into the same Hagel 

DAC is going into a different amp, the SMSL DA-9 with Balanced XLR cables.

The Hegel is not really involved.  I just used that example to show that the phone and cable are working.

I am thinking there is some kind of SETTING on the DAC that i don't understand

+1 @allanblissett 

Since your DAC is displaying a sampling rate (44kHz), that implies it is connected to your phone and you should next explore your input connection to the Hegel.  Make sure you’re not trying to implement the DAC loop feature of some Hegel Amps. So, forget External DAC connection.  Just run RCA or XLR analog output from DAC  to Hegel analog input jacks.

Can you plug the DAC into the Hegal to be sure the DAC works.  If yes and it works (produces sound through the Hegal) the problem appears to be in your other amp.

Make sure you have the right USB input selected on the DAC and try running the DAC’s output to the Hegel and see if it works.  Best of luck. 

DAC works with Bluetooth and with Optical  but does not work with USB input.

Same behavior when connected to 2 different Amps.

Phone works with Hegel and with USB, just to show that the USB cable is not at fault, and MAYBE the phone is not at fault.

So the SMSL DAC does not make use of the USB input at all, but it does recognize that there is something plugged in.  (768KHz note lights up).  There is either a SETTING somewhere that is making the DAC incompatible with the phone or the DAC is totally defective when it comes to using the USB input.    :(

Good luck getting support from Shenzhen. If you bought from Apos the support is OK.

Any S.M.S.L DAC I've ever tried had no problems with USB in, including the 9n.

Try unplugging the dac and rebooting it,  sometimes that helps.

Not trying to be a smart ass here but when you hit play on your phone Spotify app, does it actually play anything and if it does did you try raising the volume on your phone? Sometimes the volume defaults to zero. 
Also check Spotify settings make sure you’re outputting either mp3 or redbook (16/44). 

@audphile1 you are probably closest to the truth !

This morning, tried to play Spotify on JUST the phone speakers and the volume WAS set on zero.  Even after i manually turned it up, would not even play on the cell phone speakers.  After re-starting the phone, it WOULD play on the phone speakers.

So, now, i am thinking it is not the DAC at all.  Something between my phone and Spotify...   Android Motorola $85 special, lol.

try playing youtube or pandora on your phone thru the smsl and see if it works. if so, try uninstalling and reinstalling spotify.

Thank you @loomisjohnson   The story comes to an END.

i did try Youtube on the phone - same bad result.

Got me thinking why not try the desktop computer?!

BAMMM !!  no problem.  DAC works with USB from the computer.

So immediate problem is solved - at least i know the DAC works.

And more confirmation that my phone is a piece of crap, but oh well, got what i paid for.

@rop45 Congrats man. My advice — Apple’s introducing their iPhone 14, and after that arrives go to their website and search for a unlocked, refurbed iPhone 11 that’s a great phone and you can probably get at a huge discount now that it’s a few generations old. I’ve bought all my family’s iPhones and iPads this way over the past 8 years or so and they’ve all arrived as new and have worked perfectly, and I’ve saved thousands of $$$. I’m still using an iPhone 6 I bought this way and still works fine, but I’ll likely now upgrade to a refurbed 11 for the larger screen and faster processor for about what I paid for the iPhone 6 many years ago. Just my $0.02 FWIW.

There may be something in the Spotify Connect app that isn’t allowing it to play into your DAC. Products advertise if they are compatible with Spotify Connect. Hegel probably is, thus everything works there, but your external DAC may not. So the problem may be with the expensive DAC and not the cheapo phone.  Investigate if your DAC advertises Spotify Connect compatibility.  If it doesn’t, than it probably isn’t 

Your computer can also load and play the dedicated driver for SMSL DAC (see instructions) that your mobile phone likely cannot.

@mahler123 makes a good point about compatibility.  Maybe your DAC just recognizes Spotify as an inferior source, which it is, and just refuses to play it, heh heh.  Seriously though, do a free trial of Qobuz (if available where you are) and see if that works, and if it does you’ll have even better sound.  Again, best of luck. 

@soix

actually I mixed up Spotify Connect, which is wireless, with plain vanilla Spotify. However, @soix might be on to something, because Spotify uses Ogg Vorbis, not mp3, for compression. It’s possible the DAC in question may not read Ogg