Can you paste you mpd.conf file here? Do you have alsa-utils installed? If so, what do you see when you type 'aplay -l" with your USB DAC plugged in? Is the DAC 16 bit or 24 bit? Also, what version of mpd are you (type mpd --version) running?
Thanks Nick, I appreciate any insight you can offer. My Havana is a 16 bit DAC but it has never had a problem playing 24 bit files.
EDIT: I decided to let Ubuntu do an upgrade that it was nagging about. MPD and Sonata still work as they were before, however when I go to the Sound preferences panel the whole setup has changed. I no longer see my DAC there, now all that is there is a internal audio choice and a Turtle Beach card that is not even installed.
EDIT 2: Ubuntu is seeing my USB DAC as the Turtle Beach unit but it doesn't call it a USB DAC.
Best,
Ed
Here is what aplay -l shows:
root@linux:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: default [USB Sound Device ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
root@linux:~#
and this is my mpd.conf:
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
######################## REQUIRED PATHS ########################
# You can put symlinks in here, if you like. Make sure that
# the user that mpd runs as (see the 'user' config parameter)
# can read the files in this directory.
music_directory "/home/ed/Music/nmt"
playlist_directory "/var/lib/mpd/playlists"
db_file "/var/lib/mpd/tag_cache"
log_file "/var/log/mpd/mpd.log"
error_file "/var/log/mpd/errors.log"
################################################################
######################## OPTIONAL PATHS ########################
#
# If you wish to use mpd --kill to stop MPD, then you must
# specify a file here in which to store MPD's process ID.
#
pid_file "/var/run/mpd/pid"
#
# If specified, MPD will save its current state (playlist,
# current song, playing/paused, etc.) at exit. This will be
# used to restore the session the next time it is run.
#
state_file "/var/lib/mpd/state"
#
################################################################
######################## DAEMON OPTIONS ########################
#
# If started as root, MPD will drop root privileges and run as
# this user instead. Otherwise, MPD will run as the user it was
# started by. If left unspecified, MPD will not drop root
# privileges at all (not recommended).
#
user "mpd"
#
# The address and port to listen on.
#
bind_to_address "any"
port "6601"
#
# If the address is a path, then a UNIX domain socket will be
# created instead of listening on a TCP port.
#
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/sock"
#
# Controls the amount of information that is logged. Can be
# "default", "secure", or "verbose".
#
#log_level "default"
#
################################################################
########################### ZEROCONF ###########################
#
# If yes, service information will be published with Zeroconf.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The service name to publish. This name should be unique on
# your local network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
################################################################
########################## PERMISSIONS #########################
#
# MPD can require that users specify a password before using it.
# You may specify one ore more here, along with what users who
# log in with that password are allowed to do.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# Specifies what permissions a user who has not logged in with a
# password has. By default, all users have full access to MPD
# if no password is specified above, or no access if one or
# more passwords are specified.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
################################################################
########################## AUDIO OUTPUT ########################
#
# MPD supports many audio output types, as well as playing
# through multiple audio outputs at the same time. You can
# specify one or more here. If you don't specify any, MPD will
# automatically scan for a usable audio output.
#
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs>
# for examples of other audio outputs.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "HAVANA"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of an OSS output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
# device "/dev/dsp" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
# user "source" # optional
# description "My Stream Description" # optional
# genre "jazz" # optional
# public "no" # optional
# timeout "2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
#}
#
# Force all decoded audio to be converted to this format before
# being passed to the audio outputs.
#
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
#
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this
# specifies the sample rate converter to use. Possible
# values can be found in the mpd.conf man page or the
# libsamplerate documentation.
#
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
#
################################################################
############################# MIXER ############################
#
# MPD needs to know what mixer settings to change when you
# adjust the volume. If you don't specify one here, MPD will
# pick one based on which ones it was compiled with support for.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA mixer:
#
mixer_type "alsa"
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"
#
# An example for controlling an OSS mixer:
#
#mixer_type "oss"
#mixer_device "/dev/mixer"
#mixer_control "PCM"
#
# If you want MPD to adjust the volume of audio sent to the
# audio outputs, you can tell it to use the software mixer:
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
################################################################
######################### NORMALIZATION ########################
#
# Specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. Can be "album" or
# "track". ReplayGain will not be used if not specified. See
# <http://www.replaygain.org> for more details.
#
#replaygain "album"
#
# Sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# Enable on the fly volume normalization. This will cause the
# volume of all songs played to be adjusted so that they sound
# as though they are of equal loudness.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
################################################################
########################### BUFFERING ##########################
#
# The size of the buffer containing decoded audio. You probably
# shouldn't change this.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# How much of the buffer to fill before beginning to play.
# Increase this if you hear skipping when changing songs.
#
#buffer_before_play "10%"
#
# Similar options for the HTTP stream buffer. If you hear
# skipping while playing HTTP streams, you may wish to increase
# these.
#
#http_buffer_size "128"
#http_prebuffer_size "25%"
#
################################################################
########################### HTTP PROXY #########################
#
# Specifies the HTTP proxy to use for playing HTTP streams.
#
#http_proxy_host "proxy.isp.com"
#http_proxy_port "8080"
#http_proxy_user "user"
#http_proxy_password "password"
#
################################################################
############################# LIMITS ###########################
#
# These are various limits to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. You should only change them if they start
# restricting your usage of MPD.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "5"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
################################################################
###################### CHARACTER ENCODINGS #####################
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly, then you
# may need to change this. In most cases it should be either
# "ISO-8859-1" or "UTF-8". You must recreate your database
# after changing this (use mpd --create-db).
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# The encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
################################################################
######################### OTHER OPTIONS ########################
#
# Try disabling this if you have MP3s which appear to end
# abruptly. If this solves the problem, it is highly
# recommended that you fix your MP3s with vbrfix (available from
# <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point you can re-enable support for gapless MP3 playback.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# Enable this if you wish to use your MPD created playlists in
# other music players.
#
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# A list of tag types that MPD will scan for and make available
# to clients.
#
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
#
################################################################
