PulseAudio and USB sound.

[Peter Smout]

On 28/09/14 23:02, Gerhard Magnus wrote:
> On 09/28/2014 02:38 PM, R Kimber wrote:
>> Under 12.04LTS, the only way I could get Ubuntu to play
>> music through my DAC via USB was to disable PulseAudio, the default sound
>> system chosen by Ubuntu, and just use Alsa.
>>
>> Two years later, with 14.04 and a new PC, this still seems to be the
>> case.
>>
>> Sometimes PulseAudio Volume Control recognises the DAC and sometimes it
>> doesn't. When it does it seems to expect an s/pdif connection.  The whole
>> thing seems a mess, and given that USB DACs have been around for quite
>> some
>> time it's odd that it's still a mess.  It's not clear to me what
>> advantage
>> PulseAudio offers. Is there a solution to this, or must I disable
>> PulseAudio
>> yet again?
>>
>> I find this sort of issue very frustrating, and I'm suprised that no one
>> offers a commercial support service on a per-problem basis.  I'd
>> certainly
>> pay (a reasonable amount of) money for a solution if there is one.  Maybe
>> it can't be solved.  Maybe PulseAudio is rubbish, I don't know.
>>
>> Years ago, it was printers that were a real pain to set up, now they're
>> straighforward and it's audio that is a real pain.  Perhaps one day audio
>> will be straightforward - but will I live that long?  ;-)
>
> Straightforward audio on Linux? 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky! I'm
> still waiting for somebody... somewhere... at the great IT help desk in
> the sky, or perhaps at the wilderness retreat of a wise old linux gnome
> here on Earth, or maybe even a genius at the Apple Store... can give a
> simple, coherent explanation of what pulseaudio actually does. In the
> meantime, remember that with Linux every little thing is an adventure!
>
>
Hi,

I have been using a USB logitech speaker & sub woofer set since 10.04 
right through the introduction of pulseaudio and beyond......just plug 
it in select it in the menu thingy and sound comes out never any hassle 
at all.

Perhaps I'm just lucky ;D

Pete S