FPP 9.5 won't remember audio out device on reboot.

[csmith]

Raspberry Pi 4B 8GB running FPP 9.5

Have an external Sound Blaster Play! 3 plugged into a USB3 port.

In FPP I goto FPP Settings > Audio/Video and set the Audio Output Device to the Sound Blaster Play! 3

Then goto FPP Settings > System and set FPPD Boot Delay to 1 minute.

Reboot.

Sometimes everything works fine.

Sometimes it boots to the wrong sound device (it really likes vc4-hdmi-1)

Frustrating.  Tried different boot delay times but always end up with intermittent results.

Am I doing something wrong?

[csmith]

On a whim, I switched to a generic USB audio adapter.  Suddenly, the Pi could always remember the preferred audio device after a reboot or power cycle.  Compared the generic adapter audio output to the Sound Blaster Play! 3 and my unsophisticated ear couldn't tell any difference.

I'm guessing there was some low-level timing issue between the Pi and the Sound Blaster Play! 3... I just know life is better now with the generic adapter.

[MikeKrebs]

Thanks for the update. That's weird as the SB Play! 3 was the recommended solution for lots of years.

[csmith]

This issue came back.  In FPP, audio output is set for USB audio device.  On occasion, after a Raspberry Pi cold boot, it reverts to one of the HDMI audio ports.  

Ended up making some tweaks to the Linux config file, and things finally stabilized.

In the FPP GUI:
Help ->  SSH Shell
Login: fpp
Password: falcon

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Change the following (in red)

dtparam=audio=off    <=============== this is in 2 places
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d,noaudio

Save your work and exit by doing the following:

Ctrl+O to write file to memory card
Enter to confirm
Ctrl+X to exit sudo

Reboot the Pi

You might have to initially set the correct FPP audio output, but you'll notice there are no more HDMI audio outputs to choose from.