Using the Zodiac DAC with Linux / Ubuntu (Screenshots created using Version 10.10) • Playing Audio through the Zodiac DAC using S/PDIF (electrical or

optical input cable) Source • Playing Audio through the Zodiac DAC using USB Sources • Advanced User Notes: • How to play back Bit-Perfect Audio to your Zodiac DAC.

o Using Audacious Audio Player Application

o Using DeaDBeeF Audio Player Application • MPD (Music Player Daemon Setup) for Linux and Zodiac DAC

Using the Zodiac DAC with Linux / Ubuntu Playing Audio through your Zodiac DAC using S/PDIF (electrical or optical input cable) Source When connecting your Zodiac DAC to a computer running Linux, if you have only one sound card in your computer then you do not have to adjust any settings for the OS to recognize the Zodiac device. You just need to choose the correct ‘PCM Device’ in your Audio Player Application (it will always be the option containing: ‘IEC958 (S/PDIF)’. See further instructions below for Audacious and DeaDBeeF Audio Player Application setup).   Playing Audio through the Zodiac DAC using USB Sources 1. Click on the Volume icon in the Menu bar at the top of your screen. 2. Select Sound Preferences from the menu options to open the control panel.

3. Click on ‘Output’ tab. 4. If plugged-in via USB, the Zodiac appears as an option in the window under other available output devices. 5. Click on the Zodiac option to select it as your output device.

NOTE: If your version of the Linux kernel does not support USB Audio Class 2, then you must install the latest Linux kernel (from version >= 2.6.35 onwards) to be able to use USB Audio Class 2. The benefit of using Audio Class 2 is that it enables you to playback audio through the Zodiac, up to a sample rate of 384kHz. (See Zodiac Manual for further information on USB Audio Class)

Advanced User Notes How To Play Back Bit-Perfect Audio (ie. that every bit arriving at an audio input remains unchanged until received by the audio application, and every bit sent out by an audio application reaches your Zodiac DAC exactly as it was sent). For Linux (GNOME) / Ubuntu – Enabling Bit-Perfect Audio Using Audacious Audio Player Application To play back Bit-Perfect Audio through your Zodiac DAC:

1. Install and open the ‘Audacious’ Audio Player Application (free to

download). 2. Right Click on the player panel to open Preferences.

3. Click on the ‘Audio’ tab.

4. In ‘Current output plugin’ listbox, select ‘ALSA Output Plugin’.

5. Click on ‘Output Plugin Preferences’. This opens the panel for ‘ALSA Plugin Preferences’.

6. Click on the ‘PCM Device’ listbox and select:

‘plughw:CARD=Gold,DEV=0 (Zodiac Gold, USB Audio Hardware device with all software conversions)’

7. Click ‘OK’.

8. Click the tickbox ‘Use Software Volume Control’

9. Click ‘Close’.

Using DeaDBeeF Audio Player Application To play back Bit-Perfect Audio through your Zodiac DAC:

1. Install and open the DeaDBeeF Audio Player Application (available free to download).

2. Click ‘Edit’ in the DeaDBeeF Menu bar and Select ‘Preferences’.

3. In the ‘Sound’ tab, click on the ‘Output plugin’ list box and select ‘ALSA output plugin’

4. Click ‘Output device’ and select: ‘Zodiac Gold, USB Audio Hardware device with all software conversions’.

5. Click ‘Close’.

MPD (Music Player Daemon Setup) for Linux and Zodiac DAC

Music Player Daemon is a server that runs in the background and gives arguably the best sound from any software available to date. MPD’s main attraction is that you can install a client (the interface that controls MPD) on any machine, PC or Mac (or even an iTouch or iPhone). Having a client on another machine or iTouch like MPod, makes MPD the choice for a headless computer.

You will need to change the following section in your ‘/etc/mpd.conf’:

audio_output { type "alsa" name "Zodiac Gold" device "plughw:1,0" auto_resample "no" user_mmap "yes" period_time 0 buffer_size 0 period_size 0 mixer_device "default" mixer_control "PCM" mixer_index "0"}

ENJOY. Antelope Audio January, 2011.