Arch Linux

coda

Member

Registered: 2008-08-21

Posts: 36

KECES DA-152 Integrated Headphone Amp & DAC setup tips

Has anybody got a KECES DA-151 or the new KECES DA-152 DAC.

I have a DA-152 on order, should be delivered early next week, just wanted some feedback on how to set it up, what module to load and how to swap between onboard sound and the usb device.

I'm using alsa (alsa-utils) and moc to play music atm.

I realise without the device I'm limited to what I can setup now, but was hoping to get lucky and have a fellow archlinux user who has this device give me some tips.

Setting it up should be easy heres a quote from the web site

Installation? This could not be easier with USB DAC, just plug into an USB capable computer (Mac OSX/WINDOWS 2000/XP/Vista, or a recent version of Linux) and it will be instantly recognized and used.  Virtually no effort is required!

I plan on using

aplay -l

which out puts this atm

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I will try the same command when I plug the DAC in and look for a new device and maybe run

alsaconf

Like I say any tips on setting up this DAC would be great. I will edit this post when I get the DAC and let you know how the setup goes.

I will play about and hopefully get it working but any general sound setup tips would be much appreciated. Also how would I find out which module to load?

EDIT#1

Ok I got the DAC, With my computer turned off I pluged it in, Turned it on & started my laptop.

The output of aplay -l is now >>>

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCM2702 [Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I then started alsamixer and to my surprise it showed this >>>

So it would seem its plug & play, very cool! I thought I'd have to load a module. I don't get how this is possible, still I'm happy it works.

I'll post back if I think of anything else.

EDIT#2

I was having problems after rebooting with the onboard sound becoming the default soundcard.

So I made a file called alsa-base & put it here >>> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

options snd-usb_audio index=0
options snd-hda_intel index=1

This makes & keeps the USB DAC the default sound card.

Last edited by coda (2008-10-20 22:48:56)