# No sound with USB speakers



## v0idE (Sep 13, 2009)

Hi forums,

I've never tried to get sound working before but so far have managed to stumble along OK by Googling and searching other forums.

I have sound working through the front audio/headphone jack by loading snd_hda (Realtek ALC885 sound card), but want to get my Bose speakers working.

The speakers connect to my computer via USB and are detected on bootup:

```
uhid2: <Bose Corporation Bose USB Audio, class 0/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 2> on uhub3
```

Not sure what other output is needed, but here's /etc/sndstat:

```
hackedpackard# cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2007061600/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex default)
pcm1: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)
pcm2: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)
pcm3: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #3 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (0p:0v/1r:1v channels)
```

At this point I'm not sure how I'm supposed to redirect sound from the front audio jack to the USB speakers.


----------



## SirDice (Sep 13, 2009)

You will need to load a driver for the USB audio. Try kldload'ing snd_driver and see what else is detected besides the HDA audio.


----------



## v0idE (Sep 13, 2009)

I loaded snd_driver and `$  ls /dev` now shows an additional device, /dev/dsp1.1.

I read elsewhere that the numbering of /dev/dsp matches the pcm numbers. If I `$  cat /dev/sndstat`:

```
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2007061600/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex default)
pcm1: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)
pcm2: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/1r:1v channels duplex)
pcm3: <HDA Realtek ALC885 PCM #3 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0 kld snd_hda [MPSAFE] (0p:0v/1r:1v channels)
```
With that information, I assume that /dev/dsp0.0 = pcm0, /dev/dsp1.0 = pcm1, and so forth.
How can I find out what this new device (dsp1.1) is?

Also, I was reading about another person who was trying to use snd_uadio for their USB speakers (with no result). I loaded this instead of snd_hda and `$  cat /dev/sndstat` showed pcm0 as "USB audio", although not all the information was shown, and there was no sound coming from the speakers (this may also have to do with MusicPD configuration). Should I be troubleshooting snd_uaudio or focusing on /dev/dsp1.1?


----------



## v0idE (Sep 13, 2009)

On the topic of snd_uaudio, this is output from dmesg when booting with snd_uaudio instead of snd_hda:

```
uaudio0: <Bose Corporation Bose USB Audio, class 0/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 2> on uhub3
uaudio0: audio rev 1.00
pcm0: <USB Audio> on uaudio0
uhid2: <Bose Corporation Bose USB Audio, class 0/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 2> on uhub3
```

and /dev/sndstat:

```
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2007061600/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <USB Audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio [GIANT] (mixer only)
```
The `?' makes me think that it's still not loaded correctly...


----------



## online-music (Sep 15, 2009)

*hi*

It could be possible that your speaker requires some sort of drivers since it is a USB device


----------



## v0idE (Sep 16, 2009)

I have been trying various configuration changes with little result. A brief search didn't return any drivers from Bose for FBSD, but I will update this thread if anything changes.

Thanks.


----------



## pcfxer (Apr 5, 2010)

*Bose Canada Companion 5 driver request FreeBSD*

I have contacted Bose Canada requesting some device documentation. I will update as I receive information.

Thank you,
Brodey Dover


----------



## pcfxer (Apr 6, 2010)

I wonder if there are any other USB speakers that we can test against or, if you can try to get the Bose to work on Linux and work from there.


> Dear Mr. Dover,
> 
> Thank you for your inquiry.
> 
> ...


----------



## mudskipper (Apr 11, 2010)

I wouldn't worry that much about the `?' in the /dev/sndstat output. I have usb sound working on a Texas Instruments (Burr Brown) PCM2705 chip, the digital output of which is sent to a seperate DA-converter (although analog output works too).

dmesg output on my media PC (7.1-RELEASE):


```
uaudio0: <Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio DAC, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on uhub0
uaudio0: audio rev 1.00
pcm0: <USB Audio> on uaudio0
uhid0: <Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio DAC, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on uhub0
```

and


```
$ cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2007061600/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <USB Audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio [GIANT] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels default)
        mode 1:(output) 2ch, 16/16bit, pcm, 32000,44100,48000Hz
        mode 2:(output) 1ch, 16/16bit, pcm, 32000,44100,48000Hz
```

On 8.0-RELEASE, it is


```
ugen0.2: <Burr-Brown from TI> at usbus0
uaudio0: <Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio DAC, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on usbus0
uaudio0: Play: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16-bit S-LE PCM format
uaudio0: No recording!
uaudio0: No midi sequencer
pcm0: <USB audio> on uaudio0
uhid0: <Burr-Brown from TI USB Audio DAC, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on usbus0
```


```
$ cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm: 32bit 2009061500/i386)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <USB audio> at ? kld snd_uaudio [MPSAFE] (1p:1v/0r:0v channels simplex default)
```

For my chip, the uhid device corresponds with optional play/stop/volume buttons that can used for multimedia control (not implemented). Also note that this chip is used in a lot of commercial USB soundcards. It works out of the box on all OS's because it is compatible with the generic USB audio device class. In FreeBSD this is through the snd_uaudio driver. Your reply from BOSE seems to imply that their product complies too - it therefore surprises me that yours isn't working. Also note that volume buyers have the USB/dmesg identification modified to their own name and product, so it may in fact be a chip from the same family even if it identifies otherwise.

Now, your sndstat output states "(mixer only)" where I think it should also state playback and (optional) recording channels to have it working. It seems like it only recognises the mixer in your soundcard chip.

I wouldn't know how to solve this, but, anyway, can you post the output of the `$ mixer` command with your Bose set connected and the snd_uaudio driver loaded? Is it a surround system? Can you find somewhere if it is a 16-bit or higher resolution system?

Good luck!


----------



## pcfxer (Apr 12, 2010)

Unfortunately I don't have a Bose Companion 5 system to test with. I can tell you a few things about what the C5 system is. 

The companion 5 takes 5.1 digital signals from the USB connector. The DSP on-board processes it and applies HRTFs, Frequency domain stuff and some compression/eq techniques.

So, it suffices to say, in the ideal support we could have 5.1 signals from FreeBSD but from the OP it seems we're getting nothing. Which as you have mentioned, is a surprise.

Hopefully not to go too far off topic, is the Burr Brown setup that you have working an Asus Xonar kit?


----------

