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kou-kun42

Member

Registered: 2023-09-23

Posts: 11

[SOLVED] SteelSeries Arctis 7 only 1 channel audio output working

I'm using the SteelSeries Arctis 7 headphones which have 2 audio output channels available, game and chat.  Game should be the regular stereo output and chat is mono with the intention that it can be used while in voice calls so that you can manually adjust the levels of each separately.  I'm using pulseaudio (although I tried pipewire-pulse with the same result) and for some reason I can only get output from 1 of the two channels at a time, not both.  My alsa profile is set to the following:

[General]
auto-profiles = no

[Mapping mono-chat]
description-key = gaming-headset-chat
device-strings = hw:%f,0,0
channel-map = mono
paths-output = usb-gaming-headset-output-mono
paths-input = usb-gaming-headset-input

[Mapping stereo-chat]
description-key = gaming-headset-chat
device-strings = hw:%f,0,0
channel-map = left,right
paths-output = usb-gaming-headset-output-stereo
paths-input = usb-gaming-headset-input
intended-roles = phone

[Mapping stereo-game]
description-key = gaming-headset-game
device-strings = hw:%f,1,0
channel-map = left,right
paths-output = usb-gaming-headset-output-stereo
direction = output

[Profile output:mono-chat+output:stereo-game+input:mono-chat]
output-mappings = stereo-game mono-chat
input-mappings = mono-chat
priority = 5100

I've tried messing around with the different stereo/mono options to no avail.  The curious thing I've found is that whichever output is listed first for "output-mappings" is the only output that will work.  The second output listed will not work, meaning if I swap the two as shown, only the mono-chat output will work while the stereo-game will no longer work.  This tells me that the device-strings mappings are correct, so the issue must be somewhere else.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by kou-kun42 (2023-09-27 15:24:20)

kou-kun42

Member

Registered: 2023-09-23

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] SteelSeries Arctis 7 only 1 channel audio output working

Just to add, it actually doesn't matter what order the "output-mappings" are in.  Only 1 output can be active at a time.  So if I have audio playing through the Game output, then the Chat output won't work until I stop the Game output.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,237

Re: [SOLVED] SteelSeries Arctis 7 only 1 channel audio output working

The way the mappings work here with a default unadjusted alsa-card-profiles is that I get a distinct game and chat stereo channel within pipewire and you can move your applications between them on an Astro A50 but that distinction should largely not matter since they all use the same underlying logic.

That absolutely works here.

What's your output for

aplay -lL
pactl list cards
pactl list sinks
pactl list sink-inputs

in [ code ] not [ quote ] tags (adjust your OP relevantly) maybe also check whether this isn't just a headset button/setting that prevents the distinction in firmware.

kou-kun42

Member

Registered: 2023-09-23

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] SteelSeries Arctis 7 only 1 channel audio output working

Hi, thanks for your reply.  After some more testing, I found that both Game and Chat work perfectly fine when the receiver is connected directly to a USB port.  I was using it while connected through a usb c hub, which normally works fine on my steam deck and laptop, but for some reason it doesn't work quite right on my desktop.  This issue can be marked as resolved.  Thanks!