On Sat, 27 Dec 2025 at 19:33:33 -0500, Josh Rickmar wrote:
> I just picked up this audio interface for some recording tasks, and
> gave it a spin on OpenBSD. Unfortunately, playback through the
> headphone outputs is unusable due to frequent interface resets.
>
> When I open a file in VLC, unless audio was already playing, the
> device is currently stopped, and takes a couple seconds before I hear
> the relays in the device click and then I can hear the playback. When
> I pause the playback in VLC, the device stops, and resuming playback
> must start the device again (with playback only heard after another
> couple seconds).
>
> If I keep another file playing in a second VLC instance, I can pause
> and unpause the first VLC without any resets/stuttering.
>
> aucat has the same behavior when nothing else is currently playing
> audio. I don't hear the first few seconds of the WAV file until the
> device has finished starting.
Does it help if you use sndiod's -a flag?
-a flag
Control whether sndiod opens the audio device or the MIDI port
only when needed or keeps it open all the time. If the flag is
on then the audio device or MIDI port is kept open all the time,
ensuring no other program can steal it. If the flag is off, then
it's automatically closed, allowing other programs to have direct
access to the audio device, or the device to be disconnected.
The default is off.
