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nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Buzzing during audio playback.

Hello, I have a consistent buzzing sound (imagine something very light vibrating against a speaker) during audio playback which is most pronounced when low/low-mid range sounds are playing at a comfortable listening volume.

The strange thing is if audio playing is low volume the buzz will seemingly disappear. Similarly, if the sound is above comfortable listening volume it also seems to disappear.

At first I thought the headphones may be damaged, so I played the same (flac) file simultaneously on the x200 as well as a Windows desktop and a Clip while swapping the headphone jack between them.

Then repeated the test with 2 extra sets of headphones.
Then tried with different songs that exacerbated the buzz.
The buzz is only present on the x200, other headphones/music made no difference.

Sorry If I forgot any useful information.
Thank you.

Thinkpad x200 w/ 4.10.6-1-ARCH + xfce
Players: mpv/vlc
Headphones: Audio-Technica M50, Beyerdynamic, Sony

Last edited by nxd (2017-03-29 21:11:00)

nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

I tried outputting to alsa in mpv/vlc which made no difference.
I have also attempted this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … are_device which also made no difference.

The audio works fine on Windows, Slackware and Void. I'm not sure what other information I can provide.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

Can you post

amixer -c$cardindex from aplay -l
pacmd list-sinks
pacmd list-sink-inputs

while playing something?

nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

Hi, sure.

[an@tp ~]$ amixer -c$cardindex from aplay -l
Invalid card number.
amixer: invalid option -- 'l'
Invalid switch or option needs an argument.

[an@tp ~]$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 35464 [54%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 35464 [54%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
  Front Left: Capture 29869 [46%] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 29869 [46%] [off]

[an@tp ~]$ pacmd list-sinks
1 sink(s) available.
  * index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9959
	volume: front-left: 35464 /  54% / -16.00 dB,   front-right: 35464 /  54% / -16.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 84.28 ms
	max request: 14 KiB
	max rewind: 344 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 85.01 ms; range is 0.50 .. 2000.00 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "CX20561 Analog"
		alsa.id = "CX20561 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xf2620000 irq 31"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "293e"
		device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352800"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176400"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Conexant CX20561 (Hermosa)"
		alsa.components = "HDA:14f15051,17aa20ff,00100000"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-headphones>

[an@tp ~]$ pacmd list-sink-inputs
1 sink input(s) available.
    index: 112
	driver: <protocol-native.c>
	flags: 
	state: RUNNING
	sink: 0 <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	muted: no
	current latency: 125.01 ms
	requested latency: 85.01 ms
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	resample method: (null)
	module: 8
	client: 106 <mpv Media Player>
	properties:
		media.icon_name = "mpv"
		media.name = "mpv - Vorel"
		application.name = "mpv Media Player"
		native-protocol.peer = "UNIX socket client"
		native-protocol.version = "32"
		application.process.id = "5523"
		application.process.user = "an"
		application.process.host = "tp"
		application.process.binary = "mpv"
		application.language = "C"
		window.x11.display = ":0.0"
		application.process.machine_id = "a19d888d8efa4c54867c1c157991e78a"
		application.process.session_id = "c1"
		application.icon_name = "mpv"
		module-stream-restore.id = "sink-input-by-application-name:mpv Media Player"

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

you should post the amixer output with the card you get sound from i.e.

amixer -c0

in this case-

nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

Sorry, I have zero experience in this area & misread your request

[an@tp ~]$ amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono: Playback 58 [78%] [-16.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 4
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 3
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-18.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 80
  Front Left: Capture 80 [100%] [6.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 80 [100%] [6.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Enabled'
Simple mixer control 'Dock Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 4
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 4
  Front Left: 2 [50%] [24.00dB]
  Front Right: 2 [50%] [24.00dB]

Last edited by nxd (2017-04-02 22:52:23)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

Does the situation improve if you decrease/mute  the Internal Mic Boost and/or Capture control? You can do that in alsamixer (call it with

alsamixer -Dhw:0

otherwise you will just see the pulse controls if you have pulseaudio-alsa set up, we don't want to touch those right now)

nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

Unfortunately no difference after dropping them both to 0. (via alsamixer -Dhw:0)

nxd

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 6

Re: Buzzing during audio playback.

I reinstalled Void, everything works great now.
Thanks for your time.