Arch Linux

DoctorSelar

Member

Registered: 2013-08-27

Posts: 47

QEMU - Terrible sound quality with Windows guests

Hello,

I've recently been trying to get QEMU working on my computer, but I've run into issues with the sound quality. On Windows XP x32, Windows 7 x32, and Windows 7 x64 guests, the sound quality is terrible. There is crackling and lag all over the place. My command line for the Windows 7 x64 machine (which is what I'm most interested in getting working) is:

export QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=alsa

qemu-system-x86_64 \
-cpu host \
-enable-kvm \
-smp cores=4 \
-m 4G \
-drive file=disk.qcow2 \
-soundhw ac97

I've had to use the AC97 sound card due to the fact that it is one of two cards recognized by Windows 7, and the other one, HDA, yields even worse quality than AC97 (I'm using the AC97 driver from the RealTek website, as Windows 7 x64 doesn't have one built in). I've noticed that sounds played soon after the VM starts (i.e. boot and login sounds) sound decent, whereas audio from the speaker test function and any videos that are played is terrible. As for audio drivers, I've tried ALSA, SDL, and PA, without any positive effects on sound quality. So far, I've tried Windows 7 x64 (new installs as well as old) on three computers, with slightly different results on each (variances in the amount of crackling but the choppiness remained constant, could be attributed to the different video files I had on hand to test it):

Arch Linux x86_64 (linux-lts 4.1.15-1)
Core 2 Quad
4G RAM

Arch Linux x86_64 (linux-ck 4.3.3-2)
i7-2630QM
16G RAM

Arch Linux x86_64 (linux-ck 4.3.3-2)
i7-3770K
16G RAM

Any help you can offer on this would be much appreciated.

---

Never assume. It makes an "ass" of "u" and "me".

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: QEMU - Terrible sound quality with Windows guests

Did you check out Red Hat bug report Windows7 guest sound quality is bad? Looks like a potential workaround/solution in the comments.

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

sl1pkn07

Member

From: Spanishtán

Registered: 2010-03-30

Posts: 371

Re: QEMU - Terrible sound quality with Windows guests

i use this

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=378044

MSI_util.zip in the guest and active all (and reboot the guest)

source: http://vfio.blogspot.com.es/2014/09/vfi … ndows.html

Last edited by sl1pkn07 (2016-01-07 01:02:47)