Arch Linux

rathernot

Member

Registered: 2019-08-04

Posts: 6

Default audio sink is not getting music, but a sink with the same name

I am running Arch with Sway and Wayland + Pipewire on a Thinkpad X1 9th.

When I list all playback devices, I am getting 5 (analog, digital and hdmi outputs.

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], device 0: HDA Analog (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], device 1: HDA Digital (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], device 3: HDMI1 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], device 4: HDMI2 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], device 5: HDMI3 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

However, when I list my sinks, I am getting just 4:

pactl list short sinks
47	alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_5__sink	PipeWire	s24-32le 2ch 48000Hz	SUSPENDED
48	alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_4__sink	PipeWire	s24-32le 2ch 48000Hz	SUSPENDED
49	alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_3__sink	PipeWire	s24-32le 2ch 48000Hz	SUSPENDED
50	alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp__sink	PipeWire	s24-32le 2ch 48000Hz	SUSPENDED

Whenever I play audio (through the browser for example), I can see that all 4 sinks are shown in `pavucontrol` in the output tab. However, no sink is being used here. I have to go the playback tab in pavucontrol to unmute the sink and then the audio is being loud and clear.

What I see:
The sink in the playback tab has the exact same name as one of the output tab sinks, however they are being controlled differently. When I unmute the sink in the output tab, nothing changes. So I think this is the part where the analog and digital sink have the same name, and audio is being played through one of them. But I can't set this one as the "default", because it doesn't show up via pactl.

Any help?

Last edited by rathernot (2021-08-29 21:15:54)