[Solved] RPi 3B+ with HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro and LibreElec 9.2.0 no sound output

1st Official Post

    Hello, I beg of you all to help me resolve my HiFiBerry Digi issue, please!

    After wanting it for a really long time, I just bought the HifiBerry Digi+ from their own store - I ordered the standard version, but I believe they sent me the Pro version, since the COAX output seems to be gold plated and also in the LibreElec audio settings I see "snd_rpi...HifiBerry Digi+ Pro...". On the board itself, there's no "Pro" marking, so I don't really know... The HW ver. is 1.3. If it is the Pro version, does it maybe require its own power?

    Up to now I've been using OSMC and when I initially put together the Rpi and the HifiBerry, OSMC didn't recognise the card at all, and I've tried everything I found on the internet...and eventually gave up, since there seems to be an issue with the current kernel after the October '19 update or sth like that...

    So then I tried LibreElec and istalled it on the original SD card via NOOBS. The HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro does show up in audio settings, but I get no sound out the COAX output connected to my Sony DAV-F200 home cinema. I'm not even trying the TOSLINK connection, because I need it for my Samsung TV... I've tried adding dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi to the config.txt and later also dtdebug=1, but to no avail. Although I'm not sure I've done that 100% correctly - I don't know where exactly in the config file should I add those lines. But I also read that it's not necessary to add them if the system recognises the card in audio output settings.

    The HDMI audio works OK in OSMC and LibreELEC.

    Can someone please help me, because I'm out of Ideas. My perfect setup would be to use HDMI as my original audio output and HiFiBerry Digi for passthrough...

    Edited once, last by jokl81 (January 25, 2020 at 4:03 PM).

    • Official Post

    dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi is the right overlay for your device, there is no need for a "Pro" option. Please do a research whether you can use TOSLINK and COAX at the same time (the HiFiBerry company should know). Maybe you can only switch between those two output options.

    Yes, I already had overlay set in the config.txt, but it didn't help - still no sound out of the card. Sound works over HDMI.

    I don't think you understood me - I just said that I need sound over coax SPDIF, not TOSLINK. Nevertheless I tried the optical connection and it also doesn't work.

    Does anyone else have a similar setup and knows if there is something else that can bed done?

    And by the way, there is a green led constantly on - on the HiFiBerry. So there is power... Should it be flashing or something?

    Should I somehow check for the volume - if it's maybe muted. I just don't know how. On the HiFiBerry site there's a command

    amixer -c 0 set Digital 80%

    but doesn't work for me. I get

    amixer: Unable to find simple control 'Digital',0

    Issue RESOLVED. I got in contact with HiFiBerry support and Mr. Daniel was very helpful indeed - he responded immediately. The card actually is Digi+ Standard version, but it had the Pro version driver on the EEPROM. So all it needed to be done was add

    force_eeprom_read=0
    dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi

    to the config.txt and it started working as it should. Also, they're preparing a newer version of the HiFiBerry OS which will include an EEPROM update tool and then I will be able to write the correct driver to it...

    • Official Post

    Glad you got it sorted. I was perplexed by your problem and tried to replicate it on an old hifiberry-digi without success,

    Hifiberry support (Daniel) has always been excellent IMHO.

    So it looks like (cough) someone make a mistake!

    Can you, as a test, try dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi-pro and see what the outcome is.

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

    I've changed the title to [Solved]

    Believe me, no one is happier than me!!! I'd go nuts if I had to send it back, since postage is half the price of the board.

    Setting

    dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi-pro

    makes LibreElec think it's Digi+ Pro again and it doesn't work...

    But I believe this setting doesn't exist. It's only "dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi"

    I'm more or less guessing with some common sense, but I'd say the thing is, that Digi+ Pro cards have drivers on EEPROM so that they work out of the box - you don't have to set overlay. But if the driver is wrong (doesn't match the board), as was in my case, you first have to set "force_eeprom_read=0" which prevents automatic loading of the drivers from the eeprom, but then you HAVE TO correctly set which overlay it is - if you don't set anything or you set a wrong overlay (like "dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi-pro"), then it uses what EEPROM says.

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

    • Official Post

    If I understand it correctly. The on-board EEPROM tells the kernel what model it is, and loads the relevant driver. It would seem that in your case the EEPROM tells the Kernel that it is a digi-pro when it should be just a digi.

    So it looks like Hifiberry have shipped a dodgy EEPROM with your board.

    In the end it won't make any real difference to it's operation, but I wonder how many other people have had the same issue.

    Daniel said they later realized they have a whole batch of boards like mine. I don't know how many they actually shipped, but for me the important thing is a quick and efficient support response - which I got, so it's all OK.