Installation woes with "HiFiBerry DAC+/ADC, Pi 4" on latest Raspberry (Bullseye)

Hi there,

I've spent hours on getting my Hifiberry DAC+/ADC, Pi 4 to work, but to no avail. I'm a bit at a loss here and I think I need support.

Device purchased from you, white steel case, I can see a label through the slits of the case: DAC2, HW 1.0.

Desired outcome:
$ speaker-test -l5 -c2 -t wav
hear speaker test sound

What actually happens: silence

Here some configs and system infos:

```
$ uname -a
Linux enda 5.15.61-v7l+ #1579 SMP Fri Aug 26 11:13:03 BST 2022 armv7l GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/issue
Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 \n \l
$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_soc_pcm512x_i2c 16384 1
snd_soc_pcm512x 32768 1 snd_soc_pcm512x_i2c
regmap_i2c 16384 1 snd_soc_pcm512x_i2c
snd_soc_dmic 16384 1
snd_soc_hifiberry_dacplusadc 16384 2
snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s 16384 2
snd_soc_core 233472 5 snd_soc_pcm512x,vc4,snd_soc_hifiberry_dacplusadc,snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s,snd_soc_dmic
snd_compress 20480 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm_dmaengine 16384 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm 114688 6 snd_compress,snd_soc_pcm512x,snd_soc_hifiberry_dacplusadc,snd_pcm_dmaengine,snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s,snd_soc_core
snd_timer 32768 1 snd_pcm
snd 81920 9 snd_compress,snd_soc_pcm512x,snd_timer,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm
$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc], device 0: HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0 [HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
$ aplay -L
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
lavrate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Libav/FFmpeg Library
samplerate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
Open Sound System
pulse
PulseAudio Sound Server
upmix
Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
default
hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc, HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0
Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc, HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0
Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=sndrpihifiberry
snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc, HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0
Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc, HiFiBerry ADCDAC+ Pro HiFi multicodec-0
Direct sample mixing device
usbstream:CARD=sndrpihifiberry
snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplusadc
USB Stream Output
$

cat /boot/config.txt
# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable infrared communication.
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=17
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir-tx,gpio_pin=18

#hifiberry
dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplusadc
dtdebug=1

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
#dtparam=audio=on

# Automatically load overlays for detected cameras
camera_auto_detect=1

# Automatically load overlays for detected DSI displays
display_auto_detect=1

# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,audio=off
max_framebuffers=2

# Disable compensation for displays with overscan
disable_overscan=1

[cm4]
# Enable host mode on the 2711 built-in XHCI USB controller.
# This line should be removed if the legacy DWC2 controller is required
# (e.g. for USB device mode) or if USB support is not required.
otg_mode=1

[all]

[pi4]
# Run as fast as firmware / board allows
arm_boost=1

[all]
$ cat /etc/asound.conf
pcm.!default {
type hw card 0
}
ctl.!default {
type hw card 0
}

```

Alsamixer shows the device by default and everything seems to be fine, yet all I get is silence.

HiFiBerry team December 28, 2022 07:35

In general this looks fine. However, corrupted installations can result in all kinds of issues - including no sound output.
First I recommend to remove the DAC and Pi form the case and check without the case. When assembling the case it can sometime happen that the board doesn't plug correctly into the 40pin header.

If this doesn't help, install HiFiBerryOS on another SD card and test with this. If this works, probably something in your Raspbian installation is correpted.

Christian Folini December 28, 2022 14:21

OK, HiFiBerryOS worked nicely out of the box.

Now starting over with raspbian from scratch.

Is this still the best source of information?

https://www.hifiberry.com/docs/software/configuring-linux-3-18-x/

And please confirm the correct setting is:

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplusadc

Thank you for the prompt response btw.

HiFiBerry team December 28, 2022 17:21

The overlay is dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplusadcpro, but the output should work even with the dacplusadc driver.
I would just recommend a fresh Raspbian installation on a new SD card (e.g. the one you used for HiFiBerryOS).

Christian Folini December 29, 2022 20:21

Thanks.

I started over from scratch, new raspian, followed the instructions. Silence.

I restore the original /boot/config.txt, and it works. I'm seriously puzzled, I see 4 sound cards, but it works.

When I remove the audio cable from the DAC+, it goes silent. Re-Pluging won't change a thing, restarting alsa / pulseaudio: no effect. I have to reboot, but then it works again. This is not ideal, but it's good enough for my use case.

I am pleased this worked - after spending 6-8 hours on this. I am disappointed the installation guide does not give me any diagnostics.

I'm a system engineer with 20 years of experience. If I can not get it to work with your guide on a standard distro, then I'm afraid there are a lot of people in a very similar situation.

HiFiBerry team December 30, 2022 07:36

It sounds like your using the headphone jack. Is this right? For a line-output you should use the RCA jacks. not the headphone jack.

Christian Folini January 02, 2023 21:50

Gotcha. Thank you.

Yes, I was using the headphone jack to get the rig right - and then switch to RCA once everything is assembled.

I went out to purchase an RCA cable in the meantime and I can confirm it works nicely that way.

Apparently, I was under the assumption that the DAC's headphone jack would be using the same hardware / soundcard as the RCA; apparently not an audio person here. Maybe you want to make this clear in your documentation, or did I read over this?

Installation woes with "HiFiBerry DAC+/ADC, Pi 4" on latest Raspberry (Bullseye)

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