Need help getting I2S audio to work

Jackslayerr

So I've been trying to get I2S audio to work using https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-max98357-i2s-class-d-mono-amp and I think the hardware part is correct when I boot up the pi I hear a quick crackle from my speaker. I can't get it to work past that though. when I try to go to audio settings I get the error "On-board audio disabled or not present". When I try to run the command "alsamixer" it says "cannot open mixer: No such file or directory" I also followed the steps on the adafruit website to set it up but no luck. I've been referring to this to try to solve my problem https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/30389/on-board-audio-disabled-or-not-present but still no luck. What am I doing wrong? Is it a hardware problem?

I am using a raspberry pi model b

mitu

@Jackslayerr said in Need help getting I2S audio to work:

When I try to run the command "alsamixer" it says "cannot open mixer: No such file or directory" I also followed the steps on the adafruit website to set it up but no luck.
...

The instructions on the site (particularly this page) show how to add a software mixer, so that alsamixer doesn't error out.
Did you create the /etc/asound.conf with the contents give on that page ? Does running the speaker-test command produce sound ?

Jackslayerr

@mitu My "asound.conf" file looks the same as the one on that page. I also have an asound.conf.old file that's identical and doing the speaker test plays no sound. The only time I've heard anything from the speaker was on boot where it makes a quick crackle noise.

mitu

Can you run

aplay -l
aplay -L

and post the output ?

Jackslayerr

@mitu Here is what I got

pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac], device 0: HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0 [HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

pi@retropie:~ $ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
speakerbonnet
dmixer
softvol
default
output
sysdefault:CARD=sndrpihifiberry
    snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac, HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0
    Default Audio Device
dmix:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
    snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac, HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0
    Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
    snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac, HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0
    Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
    snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac, HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
    snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac, HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0
    Hardware device with all software conversions

mitu

The output looks ok, seems the configuration is applied. Can you run

amixer scontents

and post the output ? Make sure you don't have any $HOME/.asoundrc file present, if it's there then delete it.

Jackslayerr

@mitu said in Need help getting I2S audio to work:

amixer scontents

Ok, got rid of the file and ran the command.

pi@retropie:~ $ amixer scontents
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 255
  Front Left: 255 [100%]
  Front Right: 255 [100%]

mitu

The output seems correct, does alsamixer still throws an error ?

Jackslayerr

@mitu Now it does work and the audio is at 100. The sound card is set to default and the speaker test says it's doing something but I don't hear anything

pi@retropie:~ $ speaker-test

speaker-test 1.1.8

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2229 to 8916
Period size range from 1114 to 1115
Using max buffer size 8916
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1114
was set buffer_size = 8916
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.834187
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.995269
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.995473
 0 - Front Left

and it keeps on doing that. Maybe my speaker itself is bad? Here are the specs of it

Size: 20x30x7mm
Impedance：8ohm
Rate Input Power: 1.5W
Max Input Power: 2.0W
Wire Length: 10cm

mitu

speaker-test would output just some white-noise, but at 100% volume it should be audible.
As for the speaker - if it works with other sources, then it should be ok. Don't have experience with the I2S hardware, so can't help here I'm afraid. As far as the software configuration is concerned, you're fine.

Jackslayerr

@mitu When I used this speaker before I had another audio module that worked with an audio jack and it worked. So this is a hardware problem? If it is then I don't know what I'm doing wrong because everything looks fine

mitu

@Jackslayerr said in Need help getting I2S audio to work:

So this is a hardware problem?

Could be, as I said everything else on the Pi side looks fine.

You can try an audio-oriented distro like Volumio, which has an easier to cofigure UI for all kind of models of I2S chips. Flash the image on your sdcard and set-it up, then test to see if it's working.

EDIT: it could be that the configuration is correct, but the AMP needs a different overlay configuration - without hifiberry-dac. The doc is dated 2017 and could be dated.

Jackslayerr

@mitu How would I give the AMP a different overlay configuration?

mitu

@Jackslayerr There's an overlay called max98357 which might be of help. See here.
On the other hand, you say you have a _ raspberry pi model b_ - is this a Pi1 ?

Jackslayerr

@mitu Pi4 and I’ll check it out