[111MilesToGo]

My feeling now is, as underpinned by these logs:

• Either ALSA even in its latest version does not have appropriate code to output native DSD to the specific Chord Hugo 2 hardware,
• and/or the Hugo 2 does not reveal its native DSD capability appropriately to ALSA/Linux.

I am suspecting the first-mentioned item to encompass the solution, i.e. I am suspecting the ALSA folks should take care of the Hugo 2 specifics.

In fact, it is the Linux quirks.c that handles DSD matters: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/sound/usb/quirks.c. It doesn‘t have anything for Chord‘s... too bad. But doing DSD as DoP up to DSD256 with Hugo 2 is great. quirks.c a.o. handles XMOS devices like e.g. the Oppo HA-2.

Regarding MPD, I am missing one capability now: Decoding the infamous HDCD format!

 

[Jonas Kvinge]

If you like the look of Amarok 1.4 and Clementine, but want an updated player with more advanced settings audio output, you can check out my fork of Clementine called Strawberry: https://github.com/jonaski/strawberry/releases
It's aimed at audio enthusiasts and users who play local music files.
It has support for multiple backends (gstreamer, xine and VLC), with advanced audio device options, like setting a custom alsa device string.

 

[filippoaceto]

If you like the look of Amarok 1.4 and Clementine, but want an updated player with more advanced settings audio output, you can check out my fork of Clementine called Strawberry: https://github.com/jonaski/strawberry/releases
It's aimed at audio enthusiasts and users who play local music files.
It has support for multiple backends (gstreamer, xine and VLC), with advanced audio device options, like setting a custom alsa device string.

Hi, how i can play in native mode dsd file with strawberry? i think that my topping d10 play in Dop becaouse the bitrate remain 44 hz

 

[luemas]

You can get bit-perfect audio from Linux without too much difficulty using ALSA. Most popular distributions of Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse) to name but a few, use the Pulse Audio Sound Server which, by default, will mix all audio down to 16/44.1 or 48 for movies. Not good for 24/96 or higher. Those who want bit perfect audio in Linux need to bypass this "feature"

.

While I am no Linux guru, here are a few ways to do it using Ubuntu Linux, without removing Pulse Audio or hopefully resorting to the terminal/command line. All will yield excellent results:

1. You need to install a music player that allows you to select certain ALSA settings. Each of my recommendations has pluses and minuses. IMO, the closest to perfection is "gmusicbrowser". My 4 recommendations for top notch music players are:

DeaDBeef http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/
Gmusicbrowser https://launchpad.net/~shimmerproject/+archive/ppa
Guayadeque http://sourceforge.net/projects/guayadeque/
Quod Libet https://code.google.com/p/quodlibet/

2. To get bit-perfect output from each of the above:

DeaDBeef: (a) Click on the Edit menu, then Preferences.
(b) In the Preferences window under "Sound" tab > "Output plugin" = "ALSA"
"Output device" = "HDA Intel ALC889,
IEC958, S/PDIF"

NOTE: the "Output device" choice will depend on the type of sound card in your computer. It may be labeled differently from the one I have.

(c) In the same Preferences window select > Plugins
In the left column select "Alsa Output Plugin" and then click the "Configure" button
In the configuration window make sure that ALSA resampling is unchecked and that you place a check in box to "Release device when stopped".

You are now done setting up DeaDBeeF for bit perfect playback.

Quod Libet: (a) click on the Music menu > Preferences > Player tab
(b) for the "Output pipeline" type "alsasink device=hw:0,1" (omit quotes)

Gmusicbrowser: see post 5 in this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/561961/bit-perfect-audio-from-linux#post_7596563


Guayadeque: (a) click on Library menu > Preferences and select "Playback" from left column
(b) for Output device = ALSA and in the white box to the right type "hw:0,1" or "plughw:0,1" (omit quotes)

PLEASE NOTE WELL: in each case above, you will see that ALSA hardware device setting for the sound card is "hw:0,1". This is usually the case if you have one and only one sound card in your system. If you have more than one sound card, you should, if possible, remove or disable all sound cards but one you intend to use for audio output. Motherboard sound chips are usually disabled in the BIOS. If the above "hw:0,1" doesn't work for you, sorry, but you will have to open a terminal and type:

Code:


for a single sound card setup, this command (aplay -l) will display a result like:

Code:


The above output shows that my primary sound card is, card "0", device "1" (written as: "hw:0,1") for my digital S/PDIF output.

Please read post 5, Notes 1 & 2 below for additional helpful info on using "aplay -l" for ALSA output. http://www.head-fi.org/t/561961/bit-perfect-audio-from-linux#post_7596563

Also be aware that when using exclusive ALSA mode, Gmusicbrowser, Guayadeque and DeaDBeeF have one significant advantage over other players. When you stop playback with the "stop" button, you immediately have access to sound for other programs, like answering a Skype call. With other players (like Quod Libet), they take exclusive control of the audio (like Windows WASAP mode) and no other applications can use audio.

This can also be done using the Linux MPD (Media Player Daemon) but it requires more work and file editing.

Thank you! This helped me

 

[Stevko]

what linux distro/player is best for bitperfect?

 

[delooper]

what linux distro/player is best for bitperfect?

I think any of them should be pretty-much equivalent. Maybe in some you might have to do a little more work to set things up. On my server I've been using LUbuntu.

I think the main concern I'd have setting something up is trying to avoid lots of updates. So something fairly minimalist. The more bells-and-whistles your distribution has, the more frequently you'll need/want to update the system, which means more frequent issues.

 

[111MilesToGo]

what linux distro/player is best for bitperfect?

I think any of them should be pretty-much equivalent. Maybe in some you might have to do a little more work to set things up. On my server I've been using LUbuntu.

I think the main concern I'd have setting something up is trying to avoid lots of updates. So something fairly minimalist. The more bells-and-whistles your distribution has, the more frequently you'll need/want to update the system, which means more frequent issues.

Regarding Linux distros, I agree, it is a matter of your tastes, not of the distro capabilities. I guess all will do well. I suppose you are into listening only, you don‘t need low latency for live music production. Myself, I use openSUSE Tumbleweed and Manjaro, which are rolling releases with frequent updates (as opposed to the previous recommendation). I did find that standard fixed-update distros are lagging behind with software updates, which often hurts the more demanding audio software (like mpd, cf. below).

Regarding music player software and bit perfectness:

The most important point is to bypass pulseaudio in your audio chain. This is most easily accomplished by correct preference settings for your players, i.e. let them do audio output directly to alsa. Discard any player that doesn‘t give you such setting right away. And don‘t even try to remove pulseaudio from your system as you find recommended every once in a while - nonsense which will cause more harm and grief.

If you want a stand-alone player: My recommendation would be DeaDBeeF. Easy right out of the box, set output to be alsa directly to your hardware. If you want it to look different and provide more features, you can tweak and design it a lot.

But the best audio replay system would use mpd (Music Player Daemon) as a player. Lots of true audio goodies at your disposal. Even though the hurdle of creating an appropriate configuration file for mpd might look complicated, it in fact is straightforward. As mpd is a server-type of player, one needs a GUI front-end for it. To me, Cantata is the most appealing one.

Depending on what your background is: You might like to start with DeaDBeeF, then add mpd/Cantata to your system.

In summary, I do in fact think that a Linux system with either of the audio softwares mentioned is a great alternative to Windows, actually better. No driver hassles, great resource efficiency, old machines do exceptionally well. The only things you will miss are streaming services like Qobuz and Tidal, and you might miss Roon and the like if that were your routes.

 

[Stevko]

thank you. trying to buy most music in flac. why rent music forever? using qobuz, deezer etc to discover new music. but all these offer webplayer. Webplayer will work in Linux?
Today I use Musicbee and windows. looks like my Thinkpad x260 don`t will support win 11.
I will not buy a new pc.
So Linux next...

 

[cycler2]

thank you. trying to buy most music in flac. why rent music forever? using qobuz, deezer etc to discover new music. but all these offer webplayer. Webplayer will work in Linux?
Today I use Musicbee and windows. looks like my Thinkpad x260 don`t will support win 11.
I will not buy a new pc.
So Linux next...

I'll add my 2 cents, as a Linux noob. As others have suggested, use ALSA when you set up your music player, not pulseaudio. I use Linux Mint and find it very noob friendly. It's a derivative of Ubuntu, which is probably the most popular distro. But Mint is very familiar to Windows users, like me. As for music players/library managers, I use JRiver Media Center (https://www.jriver.com/). I use it on Windows, so using it on Linux was an easy choice. Strawberry is another option, which I like (https://www.strawberrymusicplayer.org/). Both are free to try; a JRiver license is inexpensive and Strawberry asks for donations if memory serves me. Both music players yield bit perfect music playback if you set it up correctly using ALSA.
I hope you enjoy music playback through Linux. I'm beginning to think that it yields better sound quality than Windows using the same music player.

 

[delooper]

Yes, as mentioned the key is to set up mpd through ALSA. Most distributions will be using pulseaudio as their main sound mixer. You need to bypass that, and pump your music out directly via ALSA. mpd is probably the most popular music server, as it's unobtrusive, flexible and is happy interacting directly with ALSA. I think all cell phone operating systems have good cheap applications that interact directly with mpd.

Any linux distribution will let you do this. Depending on the distribution you choose there will be slightly different issues.

I run a headless linux server, i.e. the computer has no monitor or keyboard connected to it. Basically it's a computer with no moving parts, that's tucked away where nobody notices it. The advantages is it's minimalist. The downside is it's a bit of work to perform major software updates -- most can be done by wifi, but occasionally you need a monitor and keyboard for direct access. That's why I prefer distributions with little overhead and infrequent updates.

 

[Stevko]

thanks. will check out strawberry. tried jriver for a 2 years ago. works ok. but i dont need so much futures. like it simply.
not installed linux yet. will try to find a old laptop for testing distros and musicsoftware.

 

[Stevko]

Tried strawberry in win10. work great. easy and great. Look like clementine as I tried yesterday.

But wasapi don`t work in windows.
I choose wasapi. But i can hear all windows sound!
maybe it works better in linux

 

[Stevko]

I really don`t need a laptop.
can I use ubuntu on a RPI4 with strawberry and music libarry on o USB stick?

 

[tjw321]

I really don`t need a laptop.
can I use ubuntu on a RPI4 with strawberry and music libarry on o USB stick?

You should be able to but I haven't tried that exact combination. I'm running Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi, but not playing music on that one (it's a server). I have another one to play music with Raspbian (the default Raspberry Pi linux) with my music library on an external 1TB SSD.

 

[Stevko]

so a RPI with std pi linux and a usb SSD works ok? what player do you use on rpi? strawberry?