Usb squeezelite alsa setting for DS senior

Hi, i use ds senior connecting to audiolinux based computer with squeezelite as a player.
in squeezelite config file i can choose some settings for alsa usb output.

** -a params

Specify parameters used when opening an audio output device. For ALSA, the format b:p:f:m is used where

b - is the buffer time in milliseconds (values less than 500) or size in bytes (default 40 ms);
p - is the period count (values less than 50) or size in bytes (default 4 periods);

f - is the sample format (possible values: 16 , 24 , 24_3 or 32 );
m - is whether to use mmap (possible values: 0 or 1 ). For PortAudio, the value is simply the target latency in milliseconds. When the output is sent to standard output, the value can be 16 , 24 or 32 , which denotes the sample size in bits.

is someone has knowledge what settings is best for ds senior?
best regards Dominik

It’s not DS specific or any DAC for that matter, it’s ALSA. The trick is finding the largest values that work reliably with the application you’re using to talk to ALSA. I found it not reliable and stopped tweaking the values beyond defaults.

You really just have to experiment and find the breaking point. You’ll know it as the music will skip or not start, etc.

The DS supports 32-bits

I am sorry, none of what you wrote means anything at all to me. I have a new DAC that when connected Roon says is ALSA. What is ALSA? What does it mean? And what values need to be tweaked and how do you decide what to try?

I hope to learn something here. Thanks!

ALSA is the Linux sound driver interface.

The settings are set in the Squeezelite configuration and affect the ALSA configuration/interface.

https://www.max2play.com/en/wiki/command-line-options-for-squeezelite/

Increasing buffers to several megabytes sounds awesome but is wildly unstable but fun to try. Even small increases in the buffers can improve ‘smoothness’.

1 Like

Thank you! So when I am looking at Roon on my iPad and it identifies my new DAC as ALSA it is indicating I am connecting to it using Squeezlite? That makes sense. I have another setup I am working with that also says ALSA. A MicroRendu to Chord Qutest controlled by a Squeezebox application.

I hate being totally in the dark when someone starts talking tech, tech that I am using. But that message of yours just meant nothing to me. Now it does. Thanks!

I’ve used Linux sound sources of several flavours.
I’m using it now as squeezelite on picoreplayer on a pi 3.
I’ve never had to touch any alsa settings, it just works :slight_smile:
(Although as mentioned above, tweaking may improve things if you have issues )

Squeezelite is not necessarily in the mix. You’d know if it was. Are you running Rock or other Linux? That’s why you see ALSA.

I am running Euphony OS.