Raymond - thank you for all your help. I now have my Xonar U7 Echelon Ed. working with SPDIF. Clemend from the alsa-dev team suggested the following:
""" Try changing /usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf. Dont add an entry to the USB-Audio.pcm.iec958_device list near the top, but go to the bottom, to the USB-Audio.pcm.iec958.0 definition, and change this: USB-Audio.pcm.iec958.0 { @args [ CARD AES0 AES1 AES2 AES3 ] @args.CARD { type string } @args.AES0 { type integer } @args.AES1 { type integer } @args.AES2 { type integer } @args.AES3 { type integer } @func refer name { ...(lots of stuff)... } default { ...(lots of stuff)... } } to this: USB-Audio.pcm.iec958.0 { @args [ CARD AES0 AES1 AES2 AES3 ] @args.CARD { type string } @args.AES0 { type integer } @args.AES1 { type integer } @args.AES2 { type integer } @args.AES3 { type integer } type hw # no @func card $CARD device 1 } """ I believe this fix ignores card-identification and assigns ALL USB soundcards so that iec958 is on device 1 rather than device 0. It is a hack because I cannot use other USB for iec958 cards but currently that is not a requirement so I am happy. When I made the fix alsa picked it up without needing a restart i.e. I when I run aplay -L | grep -A 2 iec958 I get iec958:CARD=Ed,DEV=0 Xonar U7 Echelon Ed., USB Audio #1 IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output Pulseaudio needed restarting to pick up the change and then everything worked well. I will make a better fix when my Linux version supports the alsa release which has support or special characters. Thank you again or helping me resolve this. ======================================================================================= aoandr - I have a friend who has an original Asus Xonar U7 (which identifies itself to Alsa as "Xonur U7"). I have helped him get this working with iec958. This worked for him: aplay -l [ to identify the card] amixer -c[x] sset 'IEC958 In' on [to ensure it is unmuted in alsa - [x] is the card number from aplay -l] add the USB-Audio.pcm.iec958_device { "Xonar U7" 1 ... } to USB-Audio.conf restart Pulseaudio and alsa (a reboot is easier than killing everything) All worked after this for his Xonar U7 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to alsa-driver in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1498129 Title: Asus Xonar U7 S/PDIF output not recognized by pulseaudio Status in alsa-driver package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: The external USB audio card Asus Xonar U7 is capable of both analog and digital output. ALSA name for the digital (S/PDIF) output is hw:1,1, and it is listed in aplay -l output, and aplay can output to it: aplay -D plughw:1,1 sample.wav. So, direct alsa sound works fine. However, pulseadio does not recognize the digital output of Xonar U7, it offers only analog output. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: pulseaudio 1:4.0-0ubuntu11.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-63.103-lowlatency 3.13.11-ckt25 Uname: Linux 3.13.0-63-lowlatency i686 ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.13 Architecture: i386 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC1: aoand 3756 F.... pulseaudio /dev/snd/controlC0: aoand 3756 F.... pulseaudio CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Mon Sep 21 21:29:54 2015 EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-02-20 (1674 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007.1) SourcePackage: pulseaudio UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-05-19 (490 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 11/29/2012 dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO dmi.bios.version: 7WET71WW (3.21 ) dmi.board.name: 7448CTO dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO dmi.board.version: Not Available dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO dmi.chassis.version: Not Available dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7WET71WW(3.21):bd11/29/2012:svnLENOVO:pn7448CTO:pvrThinkPadX200Tablet:rvnLENOVO:rn7448CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable: dmi.product.name: 7448CTO dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X200 Tablet dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1498129/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp