Arch Linux

slavetothesound

Member

Registered: 2017-01-07

Posts: 2

No sound from Audioengine A2+ USB DAC

I just finished my first Arch install and everything is great except that I can't get sound through the built-in DAC in my Audioengine A2+ speakers. Analog audio seems to work fine. I've used them with other distros and in most cases it was plug and play. I installed alsa-utils and alsa-firmware, but I that didn't change anything that I noticed.

Another person on this forum had an issue with these speakers/DAC, but he was getting sound as root. I am getting no sound as root or other users. I'm not sure what output would be helpful so I'll post what he posted, but let me know if I can include something more useful. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=212934

[root@~]# cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xeff40000 irq 52
 1 [HDMI_1         ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
                      HDA ATI HDMI at 0xefd60000 irq 54
 2 [HDMI           ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
                      HDA ATI HDMI at 0xefe40000 irq 56
 3 [A2             ]: USB-Audio - Audioengine 2+
                      Audioengine Audioengine 2+ at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, full speed

[root@ ~]# aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC262 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=0
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=1
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=2
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=3
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 3
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=4
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 4
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI_1,DEV=5
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 5
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
sysdefault:CARD=A2
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=A2,DEV=0
    Audioengine 2+, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

[root@~]# lsmod |grep '^snd' |column -t
snd_usb_audio          155648  1
snd_usbmidi_lib        28672   1   snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi             28672   1   snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_hda_codec_realtek  69632   1
snd_hda_codec_generic  69632   1   snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_seq_device         16384   1   snd_rawmidi
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     45056   2
snd_hda_intel          32768   9
snd_hda_codec          106496  4   snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_core           65536   5   snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hwdep              16384   2   snd_hda_codec,snd_usb_audio
snd_pcm                90112   6   snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_core,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_timer              28672   1   snd_pcm
snd                    69632   31  snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_usb_audio,snd_timer,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm

I haven't made an asound.conf. I did try to copy the .asoundrc from the solution of the poster that I mentioned since the devices seemed to match up, but it made no difference on my system.

pcm.!default {
     type hw
     card "A2"
     device 0
}

ctl.!default {
     type hw
     card "A2"
}
defaults.pcm.!card "A2"
defaults.ctl.!card "A2"
defaults.pcm.!device 0
defaults.ctl.!device 0

The one listed as "Audio Codec" and Digital Sereo (IEC958) Output disappears when the speakers are powered off or disconnected, so that must be the device I'm trying to use, but the settings in the GUI don't appear to change much, sound keeps coming through the system speaker only on the z420. Setting it as default doesn't seem to persist after logging out.

http://i.imgur.com/FNjCfoo.png

http://i.imgur.com/qCnM6EB.png

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot further would be welcome!

moderator edit:  Convered image tags for over sized pictures to URL links

Last edited by ewaller (2017-01-07 19:39:42)

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: No sound from Audioengine A2+ USB DAC

Did you try if you get sound with plain ALSA and without pulseaudio running?
Make sure that the card is unmuted with alsamixer and use speaker-test for testing: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … e_channels

Also, please don't post images that big: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

Welcome to forums :)

Last edited by ooo (2017-01-07 19:16:14)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,804

Re: No sound from Audioengine A2+ USB DAC

Welcome to the Arch Linux forums.  In general, I shun GUIs, with one major exception -- have you played with pavucontrol?
It is an intuitive interface that does an excellent job revealing the options available to you.  I suggest you install it and see what your sources and sinks are and what is 'hooked' to what.

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

slavetothesound

Member

Registered: 2017-01-07

Posts: 2

Re: No sound from Audioengine A2+ USB DAC

This is solved!

A friend came over and pointed out to me that there is also an option in the audio settings panel that sets the audio output for each program individually. We changed that and things are working fine. I would post a screenshot of that as well or at least try to describe it better but I can't get into KDE now after he had me install pacaur from a script - a few minutes later (..possibly unrelated) the title bar of the windows (where you would click to drag them around) disappeared. I rebooted and now I can't start kde anymore ("Could not start kdeinit5, check your installation."). I deleted my .xinitrc and still can't get into a gui, but no eror messages either... Time for a new thread! or just starting over. Arch is fun!

I'm still going to look into the tools and tips mentioned here when I get running again. Thanks for the pointers!

Last edited by slavetothesound (2017-01-07 20:51:03)