Pipewire-alsa suitable replacement for native ALSA? Firmware update for Linux?

I have a Khadas Tone1 Board and am on Linux where Pipewire seems to be the recommend sound server. I came across this page in the docs where it suggests native ALSA for maximum performance.

  • Does this mean pipewire-alsa (API replacement for ALSA using Pipewire backend) is not suitable? AFAIK without Pulseaudio/Pipewire and with only ALSA, it is not possible to have per-application volume control–is this correct? Currently I’m using pipewire-pulse without issues but I want my hardware to be taken full advantage of. I assume pipewire-alsa is not technically a replacement for ALSA so is not optimal, but curious if it’s still “good enough”. I do not know any way to quickly confirm this through e.g. benchmarks to ensure that the the benefits of the DAC is actually utilized other than sound works–any tips?

  • What is the recommended way get the latest firmware for using the DAC on Linux, since those instructions seem to be for Windows only? Do I need to find a Windows machine to update the firmware for the DAC? Would it be possible to run Windows on a flash drive (live CD or full installation?) so that I can do this on the Linux machine?

Much appreciated.

Hi
You can ask kenny and nick for help.@kenny,@numbqq.

Hello @hyphop

Do you have any suggestion about this ?

ALSA works always for linux like a low level - hardware driver
Pipewire same as PulseAudio works like upper layer under ALSA

PS: u can user native ALSA directly, same as Pipewire with alsa together
PSS: pipewire not only audio, its also support video midi and many other features https://pipewire.org/

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