Arch Linux

Berny23

Member

From: Einsamkeit, Himmelsrand

Registered: 2024-10-16

Posts: 4

Website

Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Hey guys, wanted to share this app I built over the whole last week. I've seen countless requests for such a program on forums, reaching back lots of years.

TL;DR: It's like HeSuVi on Windows, but for Linux. Also, uncluttered, without PipeWire configs and intentionally very simple to use.

How it works normally (without this app):
1. Write filter chain config file, including path to your wav HRIR profile
2. Restart PipeWire
3a. Set the virtual 7.1 sink as system default and choose your real device in EasyEffects settings
3b. Or: Write 3 new config files (some clients use different PipeWire compatibility configs) that route all audio to the virtual sink and then your real device, making switching between headphones and speakers a chore
4. If you use EasyEffects: Exclude the apps that should use 7.1 audio
3. Restart PipeWire every time you change any config, causing disrupted audio and crashes for some tools like EasyEffects

How it works with this app:
1. Select your headphones as system default.
2. Open Virtual Surround Manager, select your favorite HRIR preset and click the switch
3. If you use EasyEffects: Exclude the apps that should use 7.1 audio

Features
- Enable or disable virtual surround sound seemlessly, without changing your default device
- Drop in your own HRIR WAV files as virtualization presets, same as HeSuVi on Windows
- Profile selection is automatically saved
- Compatible with EasyEffects (and probably similar apps)
- Written entirely using the PipeWire C API, no config files are required or used
- Modern user interface, built with KDE's Kirigami 6 framework
- Available languages: English, German
- Project is not just AI-generated, everything is written by hand or autocomplete

GitHub: https://github.com/Berny23/virtual-surround-manager

AUR: yay -S virtual-surround-manager

Flatpak support is planned, but currently not working correctly. IF YOU ARE A DEVELOPER, PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE FLATPAK. THANKS! (see folder dist/flatpak)

Last edited by Berny23 (2026-04-27 19:07:19)

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☛ Arch Linux + KDE Plasma + Kröhnkite (auto-tiling)
☛ RTX 4090 + Ryzen 7 9800X3D
☛ Game & Movie Screenshots: berny23.de

Snqk3

Member

Registered: 2026-08-15

Posts: 3

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Hello,
Thanks for the job, great work, but I have a problem with it, I can't make the icon in the system state bar at startup working, I don't know why. All is correctly checked :

Last edited by Snqk3 (2026-08-15 19:30:56)

Snqk3

Member

Registered: 2026-08-15

Posts: 3

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

I managed to make it works correctly by using the flatpak version, I had the problem with the one installed by the paru command (I'm on CachyOS)...

EDIT : It seems that with the version downloaded by paru, nothing launches at startup (icon in taskbar but program itself too) whereas all options are checked... So I stay on flatpak version.

Last edited by Snqk3 (2026-08-15 21:10:30)

topcat01

Member

Registered: 2019-09-17

Posts: 331

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Very interesting app! Thanks for sharing. I will try it out with a movie file with 5.1 audio.

Berny23

Member

From: Einsamkeit, Himmelsrand

Registered: 2024-10-16

Posts: 4

Website

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Thanks for using my app, guys!

@Snqk3 Maybe you are missing some runtime requirement for this.

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☛ Arch Linux + KDE Plasma + Kröhnkite (auto-tiling)
☛ RTX 4090 + Ryzen 7 9800X3D
☛ Game & Movie Screenshots: berny23.de

Snqk3

Member

Registered: 2026-08-15

Posts: 3

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Hello abd thank you,

What could be required for the program please ?

Thanks again

Thanks for using my app, guys!

@Snqk3 Maybe you are missing some runtime requirement for this.

pgreenlight

Member

Registered: Yesterday

Posts: 2

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Hey I tried You’re App
it's a cool idea that u built it
i have issue with it might be just the down point of it, or it might be an actual problem I installed it from aur(yay helper)
and i choose one of the default profiles "Atmos" the sound quality decreased for a noticeable amount, so my question is it's just a down point or it's a config issue ?

Berny23

Member

From: Einsamkeit, Himmelsrand

Registered: 2024-10-16

Posts: 4

Website

Re: Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Quality should not decrease. Make sure the audio source (game, movie) has real 7.1 or 5.1 output.

If the audio source is only stereo, my app cannot virtualize anything and it will sound worse. Only enable virtual surround sound for movies/games that support real surround sound.

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☛ Arch Linux + KDE Plasma + Kröhnkite (auto-tiling)
☛ RTX 4090 + Ryzen 7 9800X3D
☛ Game & Movie Screenshots: berny23.de