HIFI DAC+ Digi+ in Koli/OpenElec

Configuring the sound card in Koli/OpenElec using device-tree-overlays.

Important: The easiest way to configure the drivers for your sound card is using the Check it out!

Should I configure OpenElec using device-tree overlay?

If you are either using OpenElec 6 (Isengard) or using a Raspberry Pi 2 with OpenElec 5.0.8 then yes you should. If however you are using OpenElec 5.0.8 on a Raspberry Pi 1 then you need to use module configuration.

Login to your OpenElec system using ssh.

When you first boot you should enable SSH when the Welcome to OpenElec wizard is displayed. You can enable SSH, later, via the OpenElec settings. The SSH login details are:

Login: root
Password: openelec

Make /flash writeable

Once logged in via SSH the disk partition mounted under the /flash directory needs to be made writeable. Run the following command in the SSH console to do this:

mount -o remount,rw /flash

Edit config.txt

Edit the configuration text file /flash/config.txt using an available text editor, such as nano or vi. Add the following lines,depending on the type of sound card, to config.txt.

for DAC

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac
dtdebug=1

for DAC+

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus
dtdebug=1

for Digi/Digi+

dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi
dtdebug=1

Save the changes to config.txt and then reboot your OpenElec machine. If the sound card isn’t recognized after the reboot, check the log output via the command:

vcdbg log msg

Select the sound card

Once rebooted, navigate the OpenElec menu to System → Settings to show the Change Your Settings panel. Select the System submenu followed by the Audio output page. From the Audio output device select the ALSA enabled sound card. All sound will now go to the sound card’s output.

Mixer control for DAC+

OpenElec seems to set the mixer to 100% by default. This can result in distortions of the music output. Therefore you should set this to around 80%. Login and use the following command:

amixer -c 0 set Digital 80%

You may want to experiment with the percentage volume in order to tune it to your desired preference.