[MPlayer-users] What output driver for USB DAC?

[Alexander Strasser]

Hi John!

On 2018-02-04 13:31 +0100, Erik Auerswald wrote:
> On 02/04/2018 01:21 PM, John Long wrote:
> > On Sun, 2018-02-04 at 12:56 +0100, Erik Auerswald wrote:
> > > On 02/04/2018 12:41 PM, John Long wrote:
> > > > On Sun, 2018-02-04 at 11:59 +0100, Erik Auerswald wrote:
> > > > > On 02/04/2018 09:32 AM, John Long wrote:
> > > > > > Does anybody know how to get mplayer to send the correct signal
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > a
> > > > > > USB DAC?
> > > > > 
> > > > > I've never done this and don't have that kind of device, so I
> > > > > cannot
> > > > > give you a definitive answer.
> > > > 
> > > > Thank you for the suggestions! I feel I am on the right track.
> > > > 
> > > [...]
> > > Please note that you may have PulseAudio interfering by hijacking
> > > calls
> > > to ALSA. I used to use the Hi-Fi DAC via ALSA back before PulseAudio
> > > was
> > > a thing...
> > 
> > Pulse audio is definitely running. I don't know how to send anything to
> > it from mplayer (seems to be using alsa) or how it interacts with
> > anything else. I am pretty lost...
> 
> I never looked into this, but using PulseAudio directly from MPlayer (-ao
> pulse instead of -ao alsa) seems to work better than outputting to ALSA
> since PulseAudio crept onto my system in 2012. Before, -ao alsa was the way
> to go for me. AFAIK PulseAudio "emulates" ALSA (partly and not very well) to
> automatically add PulseAudio greatness to every ALSA using application. Of
> course this does not include all unusual use cases.


Might be worth a shot to deactivate pulse audio (just shut it down
manually) and try with alsa directly.


  Alexander