[SOLVED] Hifiberry DAC+ HW Parameter Optimizing Volume

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29. November 2016 at 15:38 #24338

Hi

thank you for your latest tips about getting best audio quality

Top 5 Tipps für das optimale Max2Play Setup

Question: i’m confused about the best settings for a Hifiberry Dac+

i entered
-o hw:0 -V Digital (or ‚Master‘ for IQAudio …)
to the command line options of Squeezelite in its Advanced Settings menu?

BUT what does the following statement mean?
Important: With HiFiBerry sound cards, the official recommendation from HiFiBerry is that you should keep the playback boost off and reduce the Digital Volume slightly to about 96%.
Do i have to make any further settings?

kind regards
Thomas

kind regards

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by rttm.
• This topic was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Heiner.

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jcu-muc Moderator

29. November 2016 at 16:23 #24346

Hi there, good question, I would also like to know…

I have two RPIs with Max2Play – and on both I have the setting „Disable Build-In-Audio on RPI3“ activated)

1. RPI3 with IQaudIO Pi-DAC+

Here I used -o hw:0 -V Digital and it seems to have worked. Should I use „Master“ instead of „Digital“?

2. Audiophonics RaspDAC with I-Sabre V3 DAC ES9023 TCXO

Here I also used -o hw:0 -V Digital – this card uses the Hifiberry DAC (not DAC+!) I2S driver, and supposedly has no hardware volume controls. I believe the setting made a difference, does that make any sense?

@ Thomas – check this out to set max volume 96%: https://support.hifiberry.com/hc/en-us/articles/205385241-Mixer-controls-on-the-HiFiBerry-boards.

But that does not work for my I-Sabre… alsamixer says no volume control.

Any help or comments?

Best regards,
JCU

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29. November 2016 at 16:47 #24353

Hi Jason!

nice to hear again from u

my comments
RPI3 with IQaudIO Pi-DAC+
u are right
use ‚Digital‘ according to what the command “amixer” in SSH session delivers back

Audiophonics RaspDAC with I-Sabre V3 DAC ES9023 TCXO
“amixer” in SSH session delivers ‚Master‘
therefore i would use
-o hw:0 -V Master

Thanks for the max volume 96% link – will do so
more thanks for your help with the power button Audiophonics Network Player
I finally was successfull
if there is a chance i could sent u the updated ‚how to‘

kind regards
Thomas

[jcu-muc Moderator]

jcu-muc Moderator

29. November 2016 at 17:16 #24355

Hi Thomas!

Great to hear from you too, and that you were able to get the power button working on the Audiophonics Network Player. I bet you were relieved when it stopped blinking! 😉

Perhaps (probably!) I am missing something… when I SSH into the IQaudIO RPi and enter ‚amixer‘ I get the following output, and no indication regarding whether to choose ‚Digital‘ or ‚Master‘:

login as: pi
[email protected]'s password:

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
pi@max2play:~ $ amixer
Simple mixer control 'DSP Program',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'FIR interpolation with de-emphasis' 'Low latency IIR with de-emphasis' 'High attenuation with de-emphasis' 'Fixed process flow' 'Ringing-less low latency FIR'
  Item0: 'FIR interpolation with de-emphasis'
Simple mixer control 'Analogue',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 1
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 1 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Analogue Playback Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 1
  Front Left: 1 [100%] [0.80dB]
  Front Right: 1 [100%] [0.80dB]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [on]
  Front Right: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Mono',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Time Left',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '21ms' '106ms' '213ms' '533ms' '1.07s' '2.13s' '5.33s' '10.66s'
  Item0: '21ms'
Simple mixer control 'Auto Mute Time Right',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '21ms' '106ms' '213ms' '533ms' '1.07s' '2.13s' '5.33s' '10.66s'
  Item0: '21ms'
Simple mixer control 'Clock Missing Period',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1s' '2s' '3s' '4s' '5s' '6s' '7s' '8s'
  Item0: '1s'
Simple mixer control 'Deemphasis',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 207
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock DAC',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 40
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock DSP',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 40
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Max Overclock PLL',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 20
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Emergency Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Emergency Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '4dB/step'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Down Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '1dB/step'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Up Rate',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '1 sample/update' '2 samples/update' '4 samples/update' 'Immediate'
  Item0: '1 sample/update'
Simple mixer control 'Volume Ramp Up Step',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '4dB/step' '2dB/step' '1dB/step' '0.5dB/step'
  Item0: '1dB/step'
pi@max2play:~ $

EDIT: Since I have disabled to on-board audio of the RPi3, is it possible that that is the reason why it does not differentiate between Digital and Master, i.e. amixer only „sees“ one audio device, the IQaudIO?

An updated Power Button how-to with your edits would be great, aber kein Stress… 😉

Best regards,
Jason

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30. November 2016 at 12:16 #24367

Hi Jason!
sorry for the confusion – i did some testing yesterday
for Audiophonics RaspDAC with I-Sabre V3 DAC ES9023 TCXO
the following statement is working
-o hw:0 -V Digital
kind regards
Thomas