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 Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1498129 Title: Asus Xonar U7 S/PDIF output not recognized by pulseaudio To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1498129/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs