Arch Linux

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Hello. Been lurking here for a while. Never thought I'd actually need to ask for help, but here we are.

I recently purchased a zephyrus G16 with a 5090. Model number is GU605CX-G16.U9X5090. I had another G16 before it, and the audio worked out of box, so I expected this one to, as well. Big mistake. Audio is very low and tinny sounding. The headphones work just fine. System is fully updated, and I tried updating BIOs too. When I go into alsamixer there is a Bass Speaker option that I'm assuming handles my missing sound strength with the way audio works on the zaphyrus but it's stuck dead at zero, with no option for expansion, like so:

https://imgur.com/a/x3H0gDK

Everything I have read has pointed to this problem being fixed. Very few people, if any, seem to be having this issue, and as far as I've read this was addressed a while ago with a kernel update. I even tried some of the wilder solutions that I was searching up, including running some scripts.

I don't really have any error logs or anything like that because I've just been trying random stuff that hasn't been working, but I can dump my alsa info. I'm currently running a pipewire setup, since I'm on hyprland. If there's more info needed I'll be happy to provide. Been pulling my hair out.

https://filepaste.app/p/ukfhpaf9

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

The bass speaker is a toggle switch - and active
Does toggling it cause any audible effect at all?

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

The bass speaker is a toggle switch - and active
Does toggling it cause any audible effect at all?

It shows muted and even changes to MM, but the bar is still stuck. And it makes zero difference to the sound.

Edit: Wait, I take that back, it mutes the tinny audio too.

Last edited by Kyonko802 (2026-10-25 13:23:17)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

So the bass item (there's never gonna be a slider) toggles the only audio?

The problem exists w/o pipewire/pulseaudio?

Do you have the sof firmware installed?

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

So the bass item (there's never gonna be a slider) toggles the only audio?

The problem exists w/o pipewire/pulseaudio?

Do you have the sof firmware installed?

Yes, grabbed sof firmware when I installed everything else. As to whether or not the problem exists without pipewire, not sure. I guess I could upend my system and check pulse as well when I get back to my laptop.

Edit: Pulse just straight up doesn't work at all.

Edit: So I decided to do some further digging. I tried installing linux mint to see if the problem persists on other distros, and it does. The subwoofer option in mint is even greyed out.

Everything points to this being an issue with the drivers, but weren't the drivers for this audio system addressed a while back? I even checked for the drivers, and they're all there. It's almost like my system is just ignoring the other speakers.

Until I figure out what is happening I will stick to my arch setup and just use headphones.

Last edited by Kyonko802 (2026-10-25 21:46:41)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

The idea wast to not use either pipewire XOR pulse, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 4#p2293284

weren't the drivers for this audio system addressed a while back?

What specifically are you referring to?
There're no "drivers" per se here - you've a kernel module and  an updated version of https://archlinux.org/packages/core-tes … re-cirrus/ in extra-testing.
Don't enable the testing repos, download the package from a mirror and "pacman -U" it.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

The idea wast to not use either pipewire XOR pulse, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 4#p2293284

weren't the drivers for this audio system addressed a while back?

What specifically are you referring to?
There're no "drivers" per se here - you've a kernel module and  an updated version of https://archlinux.org/packages/core-tes … re-cirrus/ in extra-testing.
Don't enable the testing repos, download the package from a mirror and "pacman -U" it.

Thats the thing. I didn't enable the testing repos. I only enabled the multilib. Those downloads were probably from one of the many extra things I tried to fix the problem. They would no longer be on my system in that case. I'm at work right now so I can't post it, but I found several threads telling me to grep the drivers required for the speakers, and I can confirm that I did not get any errors from it. A completely fresh install with no extra repos or downloads still utterly fails to fire the speakers properly.

Edit: as far as testing it with just alsa by itself. Let me get back to you on that. I'll attempt it from a different drive

Last edited by Kyonko802 (Yesterday 22:38:58)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

You are not supposed to enable the testing repos (or if you do make sure to read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Offici … positories )
The idea was to just grab and install the updated cirrus firmware (the chip family is notorious for this) to see whether you HW has been addressed there

https://archlinux.org/packages/core-tes … /download/

sudo pacman -U linux-firmware-cirrus-20261019-1-any.pkg.tar.zst

Fwiw you probably don't even need the SOF (but keep it for now)

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

You are not supposed to enable the testing repos (or if you do make sure to read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Offici … positories )
The idea was to just grab and install the updated cirrus firmware (the chip family is notorious for this) to see whether you HW has been addressed there

https://archlinux.org/packages/core-tes … /download/

sudo pacman -U linux-firmware-cirrus-20261019-1-any.pkg.tar.zst

Fwiw you probably don't even need the SOF (but keep it for now)

I already told you I never enabled any other repo than the multilibs. I have no idea where it came from.

Edit: Yeah, even with this update you just gave me it's still doing it.

Last edited by Kyonko802 (Today 15:47:20)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Are you running this through and automated translator?
What's your native language?

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Are you running this through and automated translator?
What's your native language?

No, what makes you think that? I didn't touch the testing repo. Maybe it was a script.

Edit: oh, you were just telling me not to. Sorry. I got confused. I thought you assumed I did.

Last edited by Kyonko802 (Today 15:50:21)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Right, the suggestion is to install the cirrus firmware from testing w/o actually using the testing repo (because the rat-tail coming w/ that does rather not apply to some HW firmware package - you can update that in isolation)

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Right, the suggestion is to install the cirrus firmware from testing w/o actually using the testing repo (because the rat-tail coming w/ that does rather not apply to some HW firmware package - you can update that in isolation)

Yeah, stupid me. Unfortunately not even the test branch of the cirrus firmware is working. Back to the rabbithole we go.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,556

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Communication is hard

Have you checked the system journal for relevant messages?
Finally getting to look at your alsa info, this model does not seem to have a cirrus chip after all?

Codec: Realtek ALC285
Address: 0
AFG Function Id: 0x1 (unsol 1)
Vendor Id: 0x10ec0285
Subsystem Id: 0x10431034
Revision Id: 0x100002
No Modem Function Group found
Default PCM:
    rates [0x560]: 44100 48000 96000 192000
    bits [0xe]: 16 20 24
    formats [0x1]: PCM

What about

snd_hda_intel: model=alc285-asus-homepage

It's not in https://docs.kernel.org/sound/hd-audio/models.html - did you override that value?

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kyonko802

Member

Registered: 2026-10-25

Posts: 8

Re: Low and Tinny Sounding Audio on Zephyrus G16

Nope. Everything is about as vanilla install as it can be. As far as I was aware the alc285 card is used alongside the cirrus framework, and thats the one that this brand of laptop uses. Doesn't sof firmware have firmware for the 285?