USB DAC and Pulse Audio

[wind]

Hello All,

Recently I installed LM with the intent to use it as a main PC (its dual boot with Windows 11) and, so far, my experience has been consistently positive.
My only grief is that something prevent the signal from reaching my USB DAC. And no matter the online searches and posts reading I could not resolve the issue (I am not an expert by any means).

Since the system recognise the DAC, but PA doesn´t I suppose the later is the culprit, and irrespective with changing it's various settings the DAC doesn´t show up.

Here is the inxi -Aa terminal response:

$ inxi -Aa
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.1
    chip-ID: 1002:15de class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
    driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel
    alternate: snd_rn_pci_acp3x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_pci_acp6x pcie: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Realtek driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.6
    chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Device-4: Micromega MYDAC type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio bus-ID: 1-1:18
    chip-ID: 26f2:0100 class-ID: 0102 serial: 0000
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-88-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes

And here that for the pacmd list-cards command:

$ pacmd list-cards
2 card(s) available.
    index: 0
    name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_03_00.1>
    driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
    owner module: 7
    properties:
        alsa.card = "0"
        alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xfe7c8000 irq 58"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:03:00.1"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:03:00.1/sound/card0"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "1002"
        device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
        device.product.id = "15de"
        device.product.name = "Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio Controller"
        device.string = "0"
        device.description = "Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio Controller"
        module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    profiles:
        output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5900, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra3: Digital Stereo (HDMI 4) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra3: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra3: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
    active profile: <off>
    ports:
        hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-3: HDMI / DisplayPort 4 (priority 5600, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
    index: 1
    name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_03_00.6>
    driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
    owner module: 8
    properties:
        alsa.card = "1"
        alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xfe7c0000 irq 59"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:03:00.6"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:03:00.6/sound/card1"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "1022"
        device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
        device.product.id = "15e3"
        device.product.name = "Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller"
        device.string = "1"
        device.description = "Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller"
        module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    profiles:
        input:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Input (priority 65, available: no)
        output:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Output (priority 39268, available: unknown)
        output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Duplex (priority 6565, available: unknown)
        off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
    active profile: <output:analog-stereo>
    sinks:
        alsa_output.pci-0000_03_00.6.analog-stereo/#21: Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller Analogue Stereo
    sources:
        alsa_output.pci-0000_03_00.6.analog-stereo.monitor/#30: Monitor of Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller Analogue Stereo
    ports:
        analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency offset -10000 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
        analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
        analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"

And finally the info from running the inxi -Fxz

inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-88-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0
    Desktop: Cinnamon 5.8.4 Distro: Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Mini-pc Mobo: N/A model: AM02 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.16_P2C10M3_AMILogo date: 05/30/2022
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
    bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen/Zen+ note: check rev: 1 cache: L1: 384 KiB
    L2: 2 MiB L3: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1235 high: 1316 min/max: 1400/2300 boost: enabled
    cores: 1: 1222 2: 1223 3: 1316 4: 1223 5: 1224 6: 1221 7: 1229 8: 1223
    bogomips: 36729
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,ati
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1680x1050~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 10 Graphics (raven LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.42
  5.15.0-88-generic)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.1
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
    driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.5
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Realtek driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.6
  Device-4: Micromega MYDAC type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio bus-ID: 3-1:5
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-88-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.0
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-2:2
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 478.81 GiB used: 220.53 GiB (46.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda model: NS512GSSD340 size: 476.94 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: USB DISK 2.0 size: 1.87 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 324.79 GiB used: 219.66 GiB (67.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 51.3 MiB (53.5%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: N/A mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 56.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 328 Uptime: 1d 3h 8m Memory: 13.59 GiB used: 4.75 GiB (34.9%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 Packages: 2507 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.13

Any suggestions please of further steps to take(?)


Thank you in advance

P.S. When I boot in Windows the DAC is recognised and play straightaway.
And when in Linux the USB ports play audio with other devices like ASUS wireless headphones, it appear immediately on PA control panel.

 

[osprey]

The output indicates that both sound servers, pulseaudio and pipewire, are running.

Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes

This is unnecessary and unwise and may lead to one capturing part of the sound system against the other. To see who is controlling the sound devices, run:

lsof /dev/snd/*

The way of things at present in linux is for pipewire to replace pulseaudio. Both sit on top of alsa, so there's no need to touch that since it looks to be running fine.

You can check which sound servers are running in systemd with the systemctl commands, e.g.:

systemctl --user status pipewire.service
systemctl --user status pulseaudio.service

and then stop or start them with the "stop" and "start" options in place of "status" in the above commands.

I don't know how this will help with the DAC issue, but it should get the sound system into a more normal state from which to work.

 

[wind]

Thank you for the input and suggestions.

Checking the PA showed some issues though I can´t judge whether its related to the DAC problem.

systemctl --user status pulseaudio.service
● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor >
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-11-01 08:47:53 GMT; 1 day 22h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1173 (pulseaudio)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 16534)
     Memory: 27.4M
[CODE]flo@florentis:~$ lsof /dev/snd/*
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() tmpfs file system /run/snapd/ns
      Output information may be incomplete.
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() nsfs file system /run/snapd/ns/kompozer.mnt
      Output information may be incomplete.
COMMAND     PID USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
pulseaudi 39847  flo   17u   CHR 116,11      0t0  810 /dev/snd/controlC1
pulseaudi 39847  flo   18u   CHR  116,7      0t0  796 /dev/snd/controlC0
pulseaudi 39847  flo   25u   CHR 116,11      0t0  810 /dev/snd/controlC1
flo@florentis:~$ inxi -Aa
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.1
    chip-ID: 1002:15de class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
    driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel
    alternate: snd_rn_pci_acp3x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_pci_acp6x pcie: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Realtek driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.6
    chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Device-4: Avnera Asus Wireless Audio Device type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-1:22 chip-ID: 170d:0001
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-5: Micromega MYDAC type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio bus-ID: 3-1:25
    chip-ID: 26f2:0100 class-ID: 0102 serial: 0000
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-88-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
flo@florentis:~$ systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.service
Warning: Stopping pulseaudio.service, but it can still be activated by:
  pulseaudio.socket

CPU: 2min 12.329s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]/session.slice/pulsea>
└─1173 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Nov 03 07:02:55 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to load module "module-alsa->
Nov 03 07:02:56 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to find a working profile.
Nov 03 07:02:56 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to load module "module-alsa->
Nov 03 07:02:57 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to find a working profile.
Nov 03 07:02:57 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to load module "module-alsa->
Nov 03 07:02:58 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to find a working profile.
Nov 03 07:02:58 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to load module "module-alsa->
Nov 03 07:02:58 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to find a working profile.
Nov 03 07:02:58 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Failed to load module "module-alsa->
Nov 03 07:02:58 florentis pulseaudio[1173]: Tried to configure /devices/pci0000>
lines 1-21/21 (END)
system[/CODE]

Bizarrely even removing the PA with Software Manager it continue to show as 'Active'..

And still no luck with the DAC - USB-connected headphones shows in Sound, but the DAC doesn´t.