[SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

humming · 2019-06-26 07:45:16

Hi,

The headphones connected to the front jack of my Dell WD15 Dock is on max volume. I am unable to change it since it does not seem to have a master control.

Card 0, device 0 is the default device which corresponds to my headphones. That is, doing 'speaker-test -c 2' will play loud noise in my headphones.

I have looked at various other posts about problems with the Dock, but most of them have already been solved (i.e. /usr/share/alsa/ucm/Dell-WD15-Dock/HiFi.conf has the renaming of the PlaybackPCM problem already in place).

This is a pure alsa-install. No pulseaudio at all.

Here is the output of various programs, not sure which one will be relevant:

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Dock [WD15 Dock], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Dock [WD15 Dock], device 1: USB Audio [USB Audio #1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC3266 Analog [ALC3266 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ amixer scontrols
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Simple mixer control 'Loudness',0

$ ls /proc/asound/card0 
id  pcm0c  pcm0p  pcm1p  stream0  stream1  usbbus  usbid  usbmixer

$ udevadm info -qall /sys/class/sound/card0  
P: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/0000:02:00.0/0000:03:01.0/0000:05:00.0/0000:06:04.0/0000:08:00.0/0000:09:01.0/0000:0a:00.0/usb3/3-1/3-1.5/3-1.5:1.0/sound/card0
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/0000:02:00.0/0000:03:01.0/0000:05:00.0/0000:06:04.0/0000:08:00.0/0000:09:01.0/0000:0a:00.0/usb3/3-1/3-1.5/3-1.5:1.0/sound/card0
E: SUBSYSTEM=sound
E: USEC_INITIALIZED=14457771
E: ID_PATH=pci-0000:0a:00.0-usb-0:1.5:1.0
E: ID_PATH_TAG=pci-0000_0a_00_0-usb-0_1_5_1_0
E: ID_FOR_SEAT=sound-pci-0000_0a_00_0-usb-0_1_5_1_0
E: SOUND_INITIALIZED=1
E: ID_VENDOR_FROM_DATABASE=Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
E: ID_VENDOR=Generic
E: ID_VENDOR_ENC=Generic
E: ID_VENDOR_ID=0bda
E: ID_MODEL=USB_Audio
E: ID_MODEL_ENC=USB\x20Audio
E: ID_MODEL_ID=4014
E: ID_REVISION=0005
E: ID_SERIAL=Generic_USB_Audio_200901010001
E: ID_SERIAL_SHORT=200901010001
E: ID_TYPE=audio
E: ID_BUS=usb
E: ID_USB_INTERFACES=:010100:010200:
E: ID_USB_INTERFACE_NUM=00
E: ID_USB_DRIVER=snd-usb-audio
E: ID_ID=usb-Generic_USB_Audio_200901010001-00
E: SYSTEMD_WANTS=sound.target
E: TAGS=:systemd:seat:

Thankful for any tips on how to proceed.

Last edited by humming (2019-06-26 09:02:32)

V1del · 2019-06-26 07:52:58

Welcome to the boards, please post command outputs wrapped in [ code ] [ /code ] tags (without the spaces) what's the output of

amixer -c0
aplay -L

in general if your hardware does not expose an adjustable volume, you will either want to install pulseaudio or configure ALSA's softvol plugin, see here for an example: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 1#p1805511

humming · 2019-06-26 08:20:12

Thank you. I updated the initial post.

$ amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 127
  Front Left: Capture 68 [54%] [0.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 68 [54%] [0.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Loudness',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]

$ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=Dock
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=Dock
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Dock,DEV=0
    WD15 Dock, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
default:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC3266 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=2
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=3
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 3
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=4
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 4
    HDMI Audio Output

I will look into softvol if there is no other way, thanks again.

V1del · 2019-06-26 08:28:20

It's just a flip switch, but does volume get more bearable if you disable the Loudness control? i.e.

amixer -c0 set 'Loudness',0 off #I don't often use amixer so this syntax might be off

but yes this really looks like a case for some form of software volume.

humming · 2019-06-26 09:01:05

Thanks for pointing me in the softvolume direction. Was not aware of it.

In case anyone else find this thread in the future, here is the .asoundrc which worked for me.

pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "softvol"
}

pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave {
        pcm "sysdefault"
    }
    control {
        name "Master"
        card 0
    }
}

Arch Linux

#1 2019-06-26 07:45:16

[SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

#2 2019-06-26 07:52:58

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

#3 2019-06-26 08:20:12

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

#4 2019-06-26 08:28:20

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

#5 2019-06-26 09:01:05

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to change volume on headphones w/ Dell WD15 Dock

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