Changing Audio output on Linux, with only ALSA

I created a drop-in file in my home directory

vi .asoundrc

Then created this config:

pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
    device 0
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

Based on:

aplay -l

with this output:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CS4206 Analog [CS4206 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: CS4206 Digital [CS4206 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [LED Cinema]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Audio [Display Audio], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Notes

• The audio player should be restarted
• I manage sound with alsamixer. Probably, it’s not the best setup, but I connect Apple Cinema almost never, and I don’t want to mess with pulseaudio or wireplumber as of now.

Based on this communication:

On Arch Linux, how would I change audio output to another source? I’m using ALSA.

On Arch Linux, using ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture), you can change the audio output to another source by following these steps:

1. List available audio devices

You can use the aplay command to list all available audio devices:

aplay -l

This will output a list of your available audio cards and devices. Look for lines like this:

card 0: Device [ALSA Device], device 0: ALSA PCM

Note the card and device numbers for the output you want to switch to.

2. Configure ALSA to use a specific device

Once you have the card and device numbers, you can specify the default audio device by configuring the .asoundrc file in your home directory or /etc/asound.conf for system-wide settings.

For example, if you want to set the default to card 1 and device 0, your .asoundrc would look like this:

pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
    device 0
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 1
}

3. Test the new audio output

You can test if the new audio output is working by playing a test sound:

speaker-test -D default -c 2

4. Switch devices dynamically

You can also use alsamixer to interactively switch between audio devices. Run:

alsamixer

Press F6 to select your desired sound card from the available list.

This should switch your audio output to the selected device.