From further experimentation:
Using the sox play program
play -d /dev/dsp1 file.wav
gives correct output on all channels.
ecasound -i file.wav -o /dev/dsp1
doesn't work.
With ALSA:
aplay -D plughw:1,0
doesn't work either.
My hypothesis is that sox is setting something which other tools are not, and
which is necessary to yield output.