I’m currently using Ubuntu 17.04 on my PC, which runs Kodi. I have 2 screens attached to it: a 27″ 1080p PC monitor (via DVI), and a 50″ 4K TV (via HDMI).
At the moment I don’t have a dedicated graphics card, and both video outputs are driven by my motherboard (Gigabyte with Intel Z77 chipset).
I also have a JVC HiFi Stereo connected to the Digital (S/PDIF) output of my PC, which I would like to use as the default audio source for my PC.
Since I’ve been struggling to find a setting that works for my configuration, here’s how I finally managed, in 4 easy steps.
In my configuration, Ubuntu lists 2 audio output sources:
- HDMI/DisplayPort
- Digital Output (S/PDIF)
1) Let’s use aplay first to identify which card/device we want to use:
aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: VT2020 Analog [VT2020 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: VT2020 Digital [VT2020 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 2: VT2020 Alt Analog [VT2020 Alt Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
In my case it’s card 0 (I only have the integrated sound card), device 1 (Digital output).
2) Now let’s modify the default setting by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa
In the modules section (towards the bottom of the file), let’s add:
### Modules to allow autoloading of filters (such as echo cancellation)
### on demand. module-filter-heuristics tries to determine what filters
### make sense, and module-filter-apply does the heavy-lifting of
### loading modules and rerouting streams.
load-module module-filter-heuristics
load-module module-filter-apply
load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,1
Notice how 0 and 1 are the values we retrieved previously: these depend entirely on your specific setup.
Now save the file and restart your PC.
3) Open a terminal and run the following command:
pacmd list-sinks | less
2 sink(s) available.
* index: 1
name:
driver:
flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
state: SUSPENDED
suspend cause: IDLE
priority: 9950
volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
balance 0.00
base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
volume steps: 65537
muted: no
current latency: 0.00 ms
max request: 0 KiB
max rewind: 0 KiB
monitor source: 2
sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
channel map: front-left,front-right
Stereo
used by: 0
linked by: 0
configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 371.52 ms
module: 21
properties:
alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
device.api = "alsa"
device.class = "sound"
alsa.class = "generic"
alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
alsa.name = "VT2020 Digital"
alsa.id = "VT2020 Digital"
alsa.subdevice = "0"
alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
alsa.device = "1"
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7d10000 irq 28"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
device.bus = "pci"
device.vendor.id = "8086"
device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
device.product.id = "1e20"
device.product.name = "7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "hw:0,1"
device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
device.description = "Built-in Audio"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
index: 2
name:
...
4) Now we know our newly added sink is number 1. All we have to do is set it up as default by editing /etc/pulse/default.pa again. This time let’s add this line at the bottom:
### Make some devices default
#set-default-sink output
#set-default-source input
set-default-sink 1
That’s it 🙂
DesperateNerdLife 
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