# Raspberry pi zero phat dac

**URL:** <https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [February 1, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729 "2016-02-01T17:28:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/1 "2016-02-01T17:28:01Z")

</div>

Hello. I have a raspberry pi zero and install phat dac. I am getting no sound. I followed the instructions posted on your website, pimoroni. Any other ideas, thoughts?

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**Author:** ![RogueM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/roguem/32/311_2.png) [@RogueM](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/RogueM)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/2 "2016-02-01T17:36:21Z")

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have you tried the simple one-line installer:

```
curl -sS https://get.pimoroni.com/phatdac | bash

```

… it should just work.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/3 "2016-02-01T18:05:14Z")

</div>

Yes, I’ve tried that and it did not work. I am trying to play sound using the CLI, using cvlc, mplayer and speaker-test and it does not work. Is there a specific command to make that play?

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**Author:** ![RogueM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/roguem/32/311_2.png) [@RogueM](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/RogueM)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/4 "2016-02-01T18:35:12Z")

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it’s hard to tell without knowing what your system started as and where it is at now… what happens if you run the script again?

… if it does not offer you to run speaker-test then that means you have the default bcm2835 module still loaded up and it may be quite a challenge to route the sounds as required.

you can also run the following manually:

```
speaker-test -c2 -t wav

```

presumably the sound should come out of one of the output (HDMI or pHAT DAC)?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/5 "2016-02-01T19:35:00Z")

</div>

If I run the script, it finishes and then it starts speaker-test… I do not hear sound. I also ran the test manually and no sound.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RogueM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/roguem/32/311_2.png) [@RogueM](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/RogueM)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/6 "2016-02-01T21:15:14Z")

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I would verify your soldering, a flaky joint might well be the root of your troubles.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/7 "2016-02-02T12:59:52Z")

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I verified the soldering last night. I went one by one. I also checked it with a tester. I also installed a new copy of raspbian, ran the script and it still does not work.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RogueM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/roguem/32/311_2.png) [@RogueM](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/RogueM)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/8 "2016-02-02T13:28:59Z")

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then maybe your unit is dead. shoot [support@pimoroni.com](mailto:support@pimoroni.com) an email and they’ll sort you out.

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**Author:** ![gadgetoid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/gadgetoid/32/13_2.png) [@gadgetoid](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/gadgetoid)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/9 "2016-02-02T14:02:16Z")

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Just to be sure, can you check the following; in terminal run:

```auto
lsmod

```

And look for:

```auto
snd_soc_hifiberry_dac
snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s

```

And also try;

```auto
aplay -l

```

And see what it says,

And:

```auto
alsamixer

```

To see if that says `snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac` at the top left.

Even without a DAC plugged in, it should show up if the software-side is okay.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/10 "2016-02-02T14:41:29Z")

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This is it shows up:

root@pizero:~# lsmod | grep hifibe  
snd\_soc\_hifiberry\_dac 2911 0  
snd\_soc\_core 168662 3 snd\_soc\_hifiberry\_dac,snd\_soc\_pcm5102a,snd\_soc\_bcm2708\_i2s  
snd\_pcm 92581 3 snd\_soc\_core,snd\_soc\_hifiberry\_dac,snd\_pcm\_dmaengine

root@pizero:~# lsmod | grep 2835  
bcm2835\_gpiomem 3703 0

root@pizero:~# aplay -l  
\*\*\*\* List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices \*\*\*\*  
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd\_rpi\_hifiberry\_dac], device 0: HifiBerry DAC HiFi pcm5102a-hifi-0 []  
Subdevices: 1/1  
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

alsamixer has on the top left: snd\_rpi\_hifiberry\_dac

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![timgeyssens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/timgeyssens/32/792_2.png) [@timgeyssens](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/timgeyssens)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/11 "2016-02-05T16:21:51Z")

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Getting the same issue here, software side everything looks ok but getting no sound output…

Did you find a solution @hept?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/12 "2016-02-06T17:40:45Z")

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@timgeyssens I did not. They are sending me a replacement. I will let you know how it goes when I receive it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luigibrosse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@luigibrosse](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/luigibrosse)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/13 "2016-02-11T21:58:06Z")

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I was initially getting the same problem as reported by hept (my kit was a pHAT DAC - Wireless Audio Kit straight from pimoroni).  
Booting up on Raspbian lite. Instructions followed from [http://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/phat/raspberry-pi-phat-dac-install](http://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/phat/raspberry-pi-phat-dac-install)  
But no sound at all.  
Reflashed the uSD and this time used the one-line installer + reboot. Still no sound.

Finally, I went through all the files that are supposed to be modified by the one liner and noticed some difference on /etc/asound.conf  
I had some strange character between the “!” and the “default”. I removed that and also I splat the “type hw card 0” on two lines. Reboot and voila.

So if this can help someone else.

`pcm.!default { type hw card 0 } ctl.!default { type hw card 0 }`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/14 "2016-02-12T05:05:30Z")

</div>

You are right there was that character there and I removed it. I rebooted and still no sound.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RogueM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/roguem/32/311_2.png) [@RogueM](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/RogueM)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 9:59am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/15 "2016-02-12T09:59:53Z")

</div>

Yes, I’m not convinced the asound is an issue in your case as aplay -l seems happy enough… it can’t hurt to fix the script though (it’ll be done soon).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luigibrosse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@luigibrosse](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/luigibrosse)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/16 "2016-02-13T10:58:17Z")

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Sorry, maybe I should have precised better that splitting it in 2 was really what worked for me. On one line (even with the strange character removed), I was still getting no sound. I have no clue however about what this should achieve, I was just copying/pasting what I found on the web (where it was on two lines).  
But it was the only way I could get it to work and I thought about sharing here “my solution” if it could help someone else.

My aplay -l was also correct after the one liner. But still I couldn’t get any sound without the above mentioned trick.

@RogueM, thanks for correcting the script.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hept](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@hept](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/hept)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/17 "2016-02-22T15:33:01Z")

</div>

I received my replacement device plugged it in and it worked like a charm…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![greatdane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/51bf81/32.png) [@greatdane](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/greatdane)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/raspberry-pi-zero-phat-dac/1729/18 "2018-01-02T21:55:21Z")

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So I spent a good few hours on this until I realised that Pimoroni assumes you use the phat-dac as user ‘pi’. If you use your sound software as any other user, ensure that your user is a member of the ‘audio’ group:  
sudo usermod -a -G audio