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View Full Version : [ubuntu] Using Dragonfly USB DAC with 12.10



eduardoB
April 12th, 2013, 07:57 PM
Only found one thread for this and it wasn't clear as to how to get audio to USB DAC (using lsmod?) and required blacklisting sound card. I assume the settings for one USB DAC will apply to any, so where might I look for this. The company that makes this DAC only has setup info for Windows and Mac.

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As usual, my queries are works in progress. In this case, AudioQuest, maker of Dragonfly DAC, suggested looking at XBMC, which was unknown to me. I installed it and it appears to recognize the USB DAC. Will test and report back for those who might be interested and also are unaware of XBMC. It appears that XBMC is meant to be used on a mobile device or desktop to work with television via cable connection, but it also seems to be fine for running on Dell laptop with Ubuntu and USB DAC. We shall see.

AudioQuest indicated they plan on releasing a Linux install guide this summer.

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Not a bad solution using XBMC with Dragonfly USB DAC, but default setting of system sound for DAC of 100% is much too low even with XBMC at maximum volume, so the solution is to decrease XBMC volume to lowest setting (use + and - on num pad for this) and then increase the system setting for DAC (likely last item down on list). If you don't lower XMBC volume first, your ears will not be happy. Don't increase system over 100% by much as the volume increase seems exponential.

I tested using 24 bit/192 kHz flac files of Carly Simon's No Secrets album, and the sound was excellent through this DAC into very high quality earphones. Hope anyone who finds this thread via search will find it helpful. Cheers.