External USB Sound Card

sketos · March 10, 2017 at 2:20 AM

I have connected my raspberry pi 3 B to a projector. The speakers on the projector are too weak so I'm thinking of upgrading to a 5.1 surround system.
I've been scouring the internet to find out how to connect the pi to a reasonably priced 5.1 surround system (that only has 5.1 Analog Jack for input). The most "budgety" technique that I found was to get an external sound card. I'm still not sure if this will work with the pi. Will libreElec recognize the usb card automatically? Will there be any substantial sound degradation due to the card?

I was thinking of getting this sound card : External 6 Channel 5.1 Optical Audio USB Sound Box Card S/PDIF Adapter: Amazon.ca: Electronics or this Xonar U5 | Sound Cards | ASUS Canada

and these speakers : Creative Inspire T6300 5.1 Surround Speaker System - Creative Labs (United States) or these Logitech z506 5.1 Surround Sound System with 3D Stereo

Can anyone help me with that matter?

Thanks!

dmnc · April 13, 2017 at 10:12 PM

Hi, you have two (three) options, connect some USB sound card which generaly should work (via snd-usb-audio driver) or buy some HDMI audio extractor (or use surround receiver which is the most expensive option).

1) I've tried [url=https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-2-0-Sound-Card-6-Channel-5-1-Optical-External-Audio-Card-SPDIF-Controller-CM6206/32688311587.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10152_10065_10151_10068_5070016_10136_10137_10060_10138_10062_10156_10153_10141_10056_10055_10054_122_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10143_10051_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10037_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124-10051_10112,searchweb201603_1,afswitch_1_afChannel,ppcSwitch_7&btsid=5d727ea3-b209-430f-a3fd-d8336f59e269&algo_expid=417eb20d-92ec-4e76-87a5-e02be59b53de-0&algo_pvid=417eb20d-92ec-4e76-87a5-e02be59b53de]this cheap[/url] CM6206 sound card (same like you've choosen but way more cheaper). CM6206 has reversed right/left channels (on my linux laptop too) but you can solve that with custom cable or switching the RCA cables. I did some test now for you on RPi3 with LE8 and it is working good.

I have problems running Creative X-Fi (SB1090) on RPi3 - probably power issue (but it is working on WeTek Play 2 with cracking issues).

With external USB sound cards, make sure you're using at least 2.5A DC adapter.

2) I'm using stereo HDMI audio extractor from Aliexpress (like [url=https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1080P-HDMI-to-HDMI-Optical-SPDIF-RCA-L-R-Extractor-Converter-Audio-Splitter-High-Qulaity/32767932136.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10152_10065_10151_10068_5070016_10136_10137_10060_10138_10062_10156_10153_10141_10056_10055_10054_122_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10143_10051_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10037_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124-10051_10112,searchweb201603_1,afswitch_1_afChannel,ppcSwitch_7&btsid=b174b3da-13e3-4a3c-aeec-1cdbaa2d53d5&algo_expid=c60e9f1a-71e0-495e-8fe2-7a7d03a24d54-8&algo_pvid=c60e9f1a-71e0-495e-8fe2-7a7d03a24d54]this one[/url]) between my projector and Steam Link, works great and I'm happy that it is powered by HDMI (no adapter needed). So later I bought [url=https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-HDMI-to-HDMI-Audio-Decoder-Extractor-Splitter-HDMI-to-SPDIF-5-1-CH-Support-Dolby/32677307869.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10152_10065_10151_10068_5070016_10136_10137_10060_10138_10062_10156_10153_10141_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10143_10051_10171_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10037_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124,searchweb201603_1,afswitch_1_afChannel,ppcSwitch_7&btsid=a90b524f-3be1-4be1-aea3-eb58775a638b&algo_expid=4e701cf8-aaec-4936-a681-41315b23926f-29&algo_pvid=4e701cf8-aaec-4936-a681-41315b23926f]this[/url] 5.1 extractor for my next appliance which is WeTek Play 2 (LibreELEC). Here is some issue, sound quality is terrible but maybe it is just one piece or wrong product or compatibility or powering problem. (I'll do some test on my HTPC and RPi3 too but later). And DC power adapter is required here.

cheers

**Iridium** · April 14, 2017 at 6:06 PM Official Post

I've had great success with Hifiberry DAC's and ebay Chinese clones ~£10 via an amp, either phono or SPDIF depending on the Amp (All work on LE). The Hifiberry AMP would contain it all in one place but it is expensive

External USB Sound Card

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