aplay fails on amd64 laptop

[Pierre Frenkiel <pierre.frenkiel@gmail.com>]

hi,
the sound works perfectly with vlc or audacity, but I can't make aplay to work.
the "aplay -l" output is:
   **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
   card 0: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: Generic Digital [Generic Digital]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC233 Analog [ALC233 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

and both audacity and vlc actually use the  HD-Audio output.

After configuring ~/.aoundrc like this:

pcm.!default {
        type hw
        card 1
}

ctl.!default {
        type hw
        card 1
}

running "aplay file.wav" gives:
   aplay: set_params:1081: Sample format non available
   Available formats:
   - S16_LE
   - S32_LE

I get the same thing with all .wav files I try.

This problem is specific to my amd64 laptop, as I don't have it on my desktop,
running the same OS version (Stretch), and with the same files.

Looking at Google didn't gave me any useful information.
Has anybody an idea?

best regards,
--
Pierre Frenkiel