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Volume Control for DAC8X

Denisvella

May 17, 2025 14:07

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Hi,

I'm trying to control the volume of the outputs from the DAC8, but the amixer command just tells me that I have 0 controls.  I don't need to control each output individually, although that would be nice.

raspberrypi@raspberrypi:~ $ amixer -Dsysdefault:CARD=sndrpihifiberry info
Card sysdefault:CARD=sndrpihifiberry 'sndrpihifiberry'/'snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac8x'
  Mixer name    : ''
  Components    : ''
  Controls      : 0
  Simple ctrls  : 0

I do get 8 channels of audio to play, which seems to indicate that all is installed and working correctly.

raspberrypi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -Dsysdefault:CARD=sndrpihifiberry -c8 -f S24_3LE -r 44100 -I 1.wav 2.wav 3.wav 4.wav 5.wav 6.wav 7.wav 8.wav

Can someone please give me a pointer of how I can address the devices so that I can vary the volume level?

Thanks,

Denis

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3 comments

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 17, 2025 15:54

  There is no ALSA volume control. You need to either use the volume control of ypur player application or use things like ALSA softvol, Pipewire or similar.

• 0
  
  Denisvella May 18, 2025 20:29

  Thanks for the suggestion to use ALSA softvol.  However, I've just spent a day trying to figure out how to get softvol to work.  After going through many websites, it seems the consensus for the asound.conf file is as per the below:

  pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave {
      pcm "softvol"
    }
  }
  
  pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave {
      pcm "hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0"
    }
    control {
      name "Master"
      card 0
    }
  }
  
  

  I've also tried 'SoftMaster' instead of 'Master'.  Running

  amixer set Master 10%

  appears to work, but it seems to be adjusting some other volume level.

  Also,

  speaker-test -Dsoftvol -c8 -twav

  seems to work just fine.

  Does anyone have a working example configuration of using softvol with the DAC8X?  Any help would be much appreciated.

• 0
  
  Denisvella June 23, 2025 20:24

  I just wanted to put this here, to help anyone who may face the same problems
  which I had ... 
  I did get the DAC8X to work and I used 'softvol' to control the volume ...
  This is worked for me .... /etc/asound.conf
  
  pcm.softvolplug {
         type plug
         slave {
            pcm "softvol"
         }
  }
  
  pcm.softvol {
          type softvol
          slave {
                pcm "plughw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0"
          }
          control {
              name "SoftMaster"
              card 0
          }
  }

  To play files I used 

  aplay -Dsoftvol -c8 -q -f S16_LE -r 44100 -I 1.wav 2.wav 3.wav 4.wav 5.wav 6.wav 7.wav 8.wav

  Edited by Denisvella June 23, 2025 20:32