Sound problem on Creative X-Fi Titanium (SB0880)

Maykro · 2025-06-26 08:27:25

On my home PC I use a Creative PCI Express X-Fi Titanium (SB0880) sound card.
My only requirement is to use the digital SPDIF output in 2.0 mode.
SPDIF is connected to a Bluetooth transmitter (BT-B21), which receives the digital signal and transmits it via Bluetooth to my headphones.

In Windows 11, the sound card works fine using standard drivers - the audio is clean and uninterrupted.

However, in Arch, the sound over SPDIF is completely distorted and choppy.
When playing audio directly through aplay to the SPDIF output, there is no sound at all - complete silence.
When playing audio through aplay to the analog output, sound is reproduced correctly and cleanly.

lspci -k -nn -d ::0403
07:00.0 Audio device [0403]: Creative Labs EMU20k2 [Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Series] [1102:000b] (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Creative Labs Device [1102:0042]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_ctxfi
        Kernel modules: snd_ctxfi
_________________________________________________________________________

pactl info | grep "Server Name"
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.4.5)
_________________________________________________________________________

ps aux | grep -E 'pipewire|pulse|alsa|jack'
maykro       786  0.0  0.0 111148 23680 ?        S<sl 08:17   0:01 /usr/bin/pipewire
maykro       789  0.0  0.1 193240 33160 ?        S<sl 08:17   0:01 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse
maykro     27472  0.0  0.0   6736  4332 pts/1    S+   11:17   0:00 grep --color=auto -E pipewire|pulse|alsa|jack
_________________________________________________________________________

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 0: ctxfi [Front/WaveIn]
  Subdevices: 256/256
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #255: subdevice #255
card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 1: ctxfi [Surround]
  Subdevices: 256/256
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #255: subdevice #255
card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 2: ctxfi [Center/LFE]
  Subdevices: 256/256
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #255: subdevice #255
card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 3: ctxfi [Side]
  Subdevices: 256/256
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  ...
  Subdevice #255: subdevice #255
card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 4: ctxfi [IEC958 Non-audio]       <-----------------------------
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
_________________________________________________________________________

aplay -L
sysdefault:CARD=XFi
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    Front output / input
rear:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Surround
    Rear speakers
center_lfe:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Center/LFE
    Center and Subwoofer speakers
side:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Side
    Side speakers
surround21:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=XFi,DEV=0
    Creative X-Fi, Front/WaveIn
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=XFi,DEV=0                                                 <---------------------------
    Creative X-Fi, IEC958 Non-audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
usbstream:CARD=XFi
    Creative X-Fi
    USB Stream Output
_________________________________________________________________________
(excluded: nvidia hdmi, usb sound card, motherboard sound card)
_________________________________________________________________________
lsmod | grep '^snd'
snd_seq_dummy          12288  0
snd_hrtimer            12288  1
snd_seq               135168  7 snd_seq_dummy
snd_hda_codec_realtek   221184  1
snd_hda_codec_generic   114688  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_scodec_component    20480  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     90112  1
snd_hda_intel          69632  2
snd_usb_audio         573440  1
snd_intel_dspcfg       40960  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_intel_sdw_acpi     16384  1 snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_usbmidi_lib        49152  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hda_codec         217088  4 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_ump                40960  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hda_core          143360  5 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_rawmidi            53248  2 snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_ump
snd_ctxfi             196608  1
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_ump,snd_rawmidi
snd_hwdep              24576  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               212992  6 snd_ctxfi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core
snd_timer              57344  3 snd_seq,snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm
snd                   155648  25 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_ctxfi,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_ump,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi

_________________________________________________________________________

aplay -D hw:0,4 -r 44100 1.wav
Playing WAVE '1.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo      <-------------------------------------  SILENCE
_________________________________________________________________________

aplay -D hw:0,0 1.wav
Playing WAVE '1.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo    <-------------------------------------  OK (analog out to jack headphones)
_________________________________________________________________________

speaker-test -D iec958:XFi -c 2 -r 44100
speaker-test 1.2.14
Playback device is iec958:XFi
Stream parameters are 44100Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 44100Hz (requested 44100Hz)
Buffer size range from 256 to 32768
Period size range from 16 to 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 11025
was set buffer_size = 22050
 0 - Front Left                   <-------------------------------------  Crackling sound
...

Is it possible to make the SPDIF output work properly with this sound card on Arch?
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

PS
I've noticed that when audio is played at 48,000 Hz sound is audible beneath of noise.

Last edited by Maykro (2025-06-26 18:56:33)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-06-26 08:27:25

Sound problem on Creative X-Fi Titanium (SB0880)

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