The user really does not have to be in group audio or pulse on Debian.

---
 src/common.c |    4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

--- a/src/common.c
+++ b/src/common.c
@@ -929,6 +929,7 @@ void check_pulseaudio_device (misc_t *mi
    struct group *grp;
    FILE *p;
 
+#if 0
    grp = getgrnam ("audio");
    found = 0;
    for (g = 0; grp->gr_mem[g]; g++)
@@ -949,6 +950,7 @@ void check_pulseaudio_device (misc_t *mi
       remove_tmp_dir (misc);
       _exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
    } // if
+#endif
 
 // first sink is the ALSA default device
    strcpy (sound_devices[0].device, "default");
