Arch Linux

deslo

Member

Registered: 2026-06-28

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] Alsa does not detect my aux cable thru my docking station

I have headphones connected to a Benfei docking station in the 3.5mm aux port that is itself connected with usb-c to my computer.

When I do aplay --list-devices, I get

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC274 Analog [ALC274 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0 *]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Which seems to be missing my headphones. Device 0 is my laptop speakers and the others are HDMI ports.

If alsa does not detect my headphones, I want to know if my computer detects them. I do lsusb --verbose --tree, and I get

/:  Bus 001.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/1p, 480M
    ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
/:  Bus 002.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 10000M
    ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
    |__ Port 001: Dev 002, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 5000M
        ID 0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub
        |__ Port 002: Dev 003, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 5000M
            ID 0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub
            |__ Port 001: Dev 004, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=r8152, 5000M
                ID 0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
            |__ Port 002: Dev 005, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 5000M
                ID 05e3:0764 Genesys Logic, Inc. 
/:  Bus 003.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/12p, 480M
    ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    |__ Port 004: Dev 002, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
        ID 0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub
        |__ Port 002: Dev 004, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
            ID 0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub
    |__ Port 008: Dev 003, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
        ID 045e:09c0 Microsoft Corp. Surface Type Cover
    |__ Port 010: Dev 005, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
        ID 8087:0026 Intel Corp. AX201 Bluetooth
    |__ Port 010: Dev 005, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
        ID 8087:0026 Intel Corp. AX201 Bluetooth
/:  Bus 004.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 10000M
    ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

I guess that one of these devices should be my headphone but I don't understand what the names means. Is there an indicator that one of them is my headphones? I know that a 3.5mm audio port is not usb, but my docker is connected with usb-c, and I don't know what should I do otherwise.

The docking station works for the usb and hdmi ports, and the audio port works when I connect it to my other computer (windows os). Unfortunately, my headphone port is broken so I cannot test it.

I found this page about Benfei drivers but they explain nothing and the names of the drivers are not relevant to my docking station.

Can someone help me know if lsusb detects my headphones? And if it doesn't, what should I do?

Thanks

Last edited by deslo (Yesterday 20:30:06)

aminepro

Member

Registered: 2025-01-31

Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] Alsa does not detect my aux cable thru my docking station

After reading you're message I thought you could do the following:

lsusb >> tmp

unplug your device then

lsusb >> tmp2

then

 diff tmp tmp2 

   if the files are different then your headphones are connected and the output should tell you information about it.

deslo

Member

Registered: 2026-06-28

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Alsa does not detect my aux cable thru my docking station

Thank you for the response.

There's no diff when I plug/unplug my headphones. I'm not sure what I should do in this case. I tried with other headphones but no success.

Should it even be detected by lsusb? It's an audio port.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,261

Re: [SOLVED] Alsa does not detect my aux cable thru my docking station

If anything will most likely be one of the HDMI devices, depending on how the transport of image/audio data and the like is implemented. On a random guess based on the aplay output

speaker-test -Dhw:0,3 -c2

, if that isn't it can you disconnect from the dock, do a

sudo dmesg -W

in a terminal, connect the dock and post the output?

FWIW you are under any case basically guaranteed to not see the "headphones" as whatever happens that needs to happen for those will happen internally on the dock. You'd either see a completely new USB audio card - or more likely - they just use the HDMI protocol

Last edited by V1del (Yesterday 14:56:13)

deslo

Member

Registered: 2026-06-28

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Alsa does not detect my aux cable thru my docking station

speaker-test -Dhw:0,3 -c2

That solves it. Thank you for the explanation.