I was using USB Audio, Altec sound system since, 1999/Windows 98. On some Linux I had by that time, as I tried, kudzu decided it's USB printer and suggested to print test page - I've refrained. Kept doing USB audio tests from time to time, and around 2008 something finally worked (had some issues with Firefox AFAIR, but other player was able to produce sound).
Now also USB audio just works