Arch Linux

tezcrox

Member

Registered: 2016-06-01

Posts: 4

Really low quality flat audio from laptop speakers only on Linux

Hey, guys. So I moved from W10 to Arch after playing with it for a while in a VM. The first thing I noticed was how bad the audio quality was compared to windows.  The audio has no bass, and when it's at 100%, the audio sounds like its coming from a tin can. It seems as if my sub-woofers (If I even have one) are turned off. I tried the pulseaudio equalizer and it helped slightly. Only thing is; is that the equalizer caused my audio to crackle when ever I get a notification or when I have 2 sources playing audio i.e firefox and vlc. The other issue I'm having is that the volume is way too low. My alsamixer has everything turned all the way up.  I have my volume passed 100% but this causes my laptop to distort the volume.  I had a similar issue on my other laptop but only with the Ubuntu based distros. When I installed any arch based distro the audio was amazing. Sadly, installing arch on this new laptop doesn't really do much when it comes to the audio.

As of right now, the only way for me to get decent sound quality is if I use my Bluetooth headphones. If I use wired ones, the audio quality literally makes my head hurt (on the same set of headphones).
Thanks for taking the time to help me

Heres the output of alsainfo: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=bfb7e … c68d41bf7e

superpacman

Member

Registered: 2016-02-11

Posts: 7

Re: Really low quality flat audio from laptop speakers only on Linux

When I was using just Alsa, the audio quality on my laptop was bad too, not that bad but still. Then I installed pulseaudio (and pulseaudio-alsa) and the audio was great. Don't try to use the equalizer, I experienced crappy quality. Did you try to listen to music through your headphones? The speakers on laptops are not that great and audio in Windows is enchanced by Dolby sometimes (in my case). Just wanted to say this, good luck!

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,736

Re: Really low quality flat audio from laptop speakers only on Linux

Where does that softvol/dmix asound conf (or .asoundrc) come from? you are bypassing pulseaudio and arbitrarily limiting your volume range on applications that don't natively use pulse. Remove that. In order to get some more bass you might want to edit your /etc/pulse/daemon.conf and set lfe-crossover-freq=0 while keeping enable-lfe-remixing=true . While you are there you can also crank the resampler to something more high quality like speex-float-5 (the higher the number the better quality, the more cpu is going to be used for resampling, up to 10) as opposed to speex-float-1 . You might also want to post some info on your general pulsesetup, maybe you have chosen a suboptimal configuration there, post:

pacmd list-cards
pacmd list-sinks
pacmd list-sink-inputs #While playing something

in code-tags

tezcrox

Member

Registered: 2016-06-01

Posts: 4

Re: Really low quality flat audio from laptop speakers only on Linux

Where does that softvol/dmix asound conf (or .asoundrc) come from? you are bypassing pulseaudio and arbitrarily limiting your volume range on applications that don't natively use pulse. Remove that. In order to get some more bass you might want to edit your /etc/pulse/daemon.conf and set lfe-crossover-freq=0 while keeping enable-lfe-remixing=true . While you are there you can also crank the resampler to something more high quality like speex-float-5 (the higher the number the better quality, the more cpu is going to be used for resampling, up to 10) as opposed to speex-float-1 . You might also want to post some info on your general pulsesetup, maybe you have chosen a suboptimal configuration there, post:

pacmd list-cards
pacmd list-sinks
pacmd list-sink-inputs #While playing something

in code-tags

I'm not too sure where that asound conf file came from. I never edited anything.
Adding those options to my pulse/deamon.conf improved my quality slightly. Here are the output of those commands:

Pacmd list-cards

1 card(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	owner module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x94328000 irq 128"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "a170"
		device.product.name = "Sunrise Point-H HD Audio"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "0"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	profiles:
		input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5460, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5200, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5260, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5200, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5260, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown)
		off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
	active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
	sinks:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#0: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	sources:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitor/#0: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
		alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	ports:
		analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (priority 8900, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"

pacmd list-sinks

1 sink(s) available.
  * index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: SUSPENDED
	suspend cause: IDLE 
	priority: 9959
	volume: front-left: 45876 /  70% / -9.29 dB,   front-right: 45876 /  70% / -9.29 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max request: 0 KiB
	max rewind: 0 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 26.00 .. 1837.50 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC3241 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC3241 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x94328000 irq 128"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "a170"
		device.product.name = "Sunrise Point-H HD Audio"
		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 = "Realtek ALC3241"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0290,103c80a9,00100003 HDA:80862809,80860101,00100000"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-speaker>

pacmd list-sink-inputs #While playing something

1 sink(s) available.
  * index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.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: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 20.75 ms
	max request: 4 KiB
	max rewind: 344 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 25.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 1837.50 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC3241 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC3241 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x94328000 irq 128"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "a170"
		device.product.name = "Sunrise Point-H HD Audio"
		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 = "Realtek ALC3241"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0290,103c80a9,00100003 HDA:80862809,80860101,00100000"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-speaker>