Linux settings for an audiophile

[Hypnotoad]

With Ubuntu 18, Pulseaudio finally implemented the "avoid resampling" feature.

Thanks for the info, I just tried it using the line in your link as below on this PC, which I only use to surf the net etc, and now with my ATH-AD700 headphones plugged in I am listening to Barb Jungr in glorious 24/96

"It is possible to disable resampling by simply adding the avoid-resampling = yes line in the /etc/pulse/daemon.conf file if you have PulseAudio 11.0 installed."

To check your playback while music is playing you can use (change the card0 to card1 if your using a USB Dac): sudo cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params

 

[TiborG]

Looks like this was introduced in version 11 of PulseAudio.
https://www.soundphilereview.com/news/pulseaudio-11-0-brings-native-sampling-playback-linux-1200/

FWIR, Ubuntu 16 repos had Pulseaudio version 8, and Ubuntu 18 has version 14.

I confirm that under Linux Arch, PulseAudio v. 12 it works - tested at 96 and 192 kHz and Topping DX3 delighted shows the required values. Sound identical to ALSA on SPDIF input to PULSE on USB input. Tested via mpd and Deadbeef.

 

[monkeyboy]

I use pulse, mpd, and ncmpcpp...with Mint 19.1

I've found that using Firefox while playing music can result in click and pops when videos/ads are running, even if the tab is muted. Stopping autoplay in Firefox seems to have fixed that issue.

Also speech-dispatcher seems to cause problems with pulse, causing garbled sound until pulse is restarted...deleting speech-dispatcher seems to have fixed the issue

 

[AndrovichIV]

I use pulse, mpd, and ncmpcpp...with Mint 19.1

I've found that using Firefox while playing music can result in click and pops when videos/ads are running, even if the tab is muted. Stopping autoplay in Firefox seems to have fixed that issue.

Also speech-dispatcher seems to cause problems with pulse, causing garbled sound until pulse is restarted...deleting speech-dispatcher seems to have fixed the issue

This is very useful. This is the second data point that I have in this regard. I also was hearing pops on Firefox and they stopped when I switched to listening Tidal on Chrome. For me stopping autoplay helped but didn't fixed the issue.

I'm running Firefox Nightly on Wayland BTW

 

[Mistic]

INMHO:

- Mpd, with Ronald script ( bit perfect) (lacocina.nl )

https://lacocina.nl/audiophile-mpd

mpd as daemon

Cantata as gui.
At any case,u'll want learn new..., DRC, etc
can do togerher.

 

[MRC01]

For years, I avoided Pulseaudio because it resampled everything, so I used ALSA to ensure I was getting direct sound. But using ALSA always had annoying quirks. It allowed apps to take exclusive control of the sound card, preventing other apps from using it. Sometimes when you close the app that was using sound, it didn't release the card properly which made the sound card unusable.

When Pulseaudio finally added the capability to play sounds without resampling, I started using it again and found the experience was much better. Apps share the sound hardware, no more annoying errors taking & releasing the card, everything works smoother.

One thing I like about VLC is built-in parametric EQ and gain control. When listening on my LCD-2 headphones, I apply +3.5 dB @ 4.5 kHz, Q=0.67 as a gentle correction to a dip in its response, and set gain at 67% (-3.5 dB) to avoid clipping. Other players have EQ, but they're not parametric, so you're dealing with narrow Q which is less transparent. And they don't always have gain offset, so you risk clipping. Actually, I changed my gain offset to 84% (-1.5 dB) because I listen to broadband music, not single-frequency test tones.

 

[AndrovichIV]

That's good to hear, Pulse has always been a major PITA for audiophiles and the HT crowd.
I have simple needs as to metadata and tagging, not having interest in Classical music. My preferred player has been Clementine for the last decade or so. Unfortunately I had to lock the version build back at 1.2.3 when the developers decided to remove the ability to point around Pulse direct a bit perfect stream to the Alsa soundcard. They had the nerve to tell us, "we don't care about audiophile things". Check out arrogant second post by dev hatstand I couldn't believe this attitude by a media player developer.
https://github.com/clementine-player/Clementine/issues/5344
There's a fork called Strawberry that replaced the coding but has been very marginalized in it's features.
I'll be in the market at some point for a replacement player, I'm sure the day will come when my hacked Clementine build will no longer function with the rolling release design of PCLinuxOS. That will piss me off big time as I'm perfectly satisfied with what I have. Plus the fact the I have less and less need for a player as streaming has taken over much of my music playing needs.
That's the problem with all computer software, it's never stable for long periods of time, change change change.

Yeah, I remember when I was trying to get Clementine to input BP and stumbled on that thread. Couldn't believe it, honestly.

Anyway, check Quodlibet it's an amazing player under development, native Wayland playback and BP to ALSA

 

[AndrovichIV]

FYI: I've updated my github repo (see my signature) with my configuration for Ubuntu 20.04. I incorporated feedback that I received from Tanu Kaskinen, a pulseaudio developer.

 

[hellboundlex]

I wake up in the middle of the night screaming "pulseaudio" still sometimes.

But I have been away from Linux as a desktop for a while now, so I haven't bothered to keep up with the latest developments. I certainly don't use alsa on my raspberry pi streamers, but it is good to know that I can if I need to now.