Sound output issues after update

[blockisec]

How to file a helpful issue

Qubes OS release

Qubes release 4.1.1 (R4.1)

Brief summary

After the latest update of dom0 audio is either not working at all, or the output is distorted.

Steps to reproduce

Just watch a video online or do a call using jitsi or teams.

Expected behavior

Have clean sound as before.

Actual behavior

If there is any output at all, it is distorted.

Additional Stuff I noticed

• A few reboots brings the sound back, if there was non before.
• I only did a few tests but I noticed that the issue is not there when pavucontrol is open (without doing any changes in there)

[na--]

This issue was also encountered by me and @esatravi, and it's present both in the recently published alsa-sof-firmware v2.1.1-1 official package (QubesOS/updates-status#3022) and when v2.2 is manually installed from its repo.

FWIW, the workaround is not to just to make sure pavucontrol is running, but to make sure it is running and its "Configuration" -> "Show volume meters" checkbox is checked (#7653 (comment)). It seems to be the default, but it's worth pointing out in case someone disabled it. Though I have no idea why that helps... 😅 🤷‍♂️

@blockomat2100, do you remember which packages were updated when this broke? I recently moved to a new Intel-based laptop and for me it was broken from the start, but I started with the latest current-testing packages from the start... 😞

[brendanhoar]

I think it broke in the transition to the 5.17 and later kernels.

[blockisec]

@blockomat2100, do you remember which packages were updated when this broke? I recently moved to a new Intel-based laptop and for me it was broken from the start, but I started with the latest current-testing packages from the start... disappointed

No, sorry I dont know which packages were updated. But I also have an Intel-based laptop (HP ZBook Firefly) which requires alsa-sof-firmware, too.

[na--]

@blockomat2100, do you also have problems with audio input, like me and @esatravi (#7653 (comment))? In the dom0 pavucontrol I don't see the built-in laptop microphone, I just see a sof-hda-dsp Multichannel input that doesn't seem to pick up any actual sound (based on its volume meter). Unsurprisingly, assigning the dom0 microphone to a qube results in no sound when recording. Assigning an external USB microphone works as expected though, that's why I hadn't noticed that the support for the built-in laptop microphone was broken so far 😞

[esatravi]

Following the initial issue I had opened (#7653) I confirm the microphone on my laptop doesn't work either.
I am able to maintain the sound output via speakers/headphones using @na-- workaround, but unfortunately the workaround doesn't enable the microphone.

[blockisec]

I don't have problems with audio input, but I remember that I had some Mic problems in the first days of my setup.
But I thought the fix was to install the sof-firmware and changing the device in the "Recording" tab from "Monitor XY" to "XY" device.

[na--]

changing the device in the "Recording" tab from "Monitor XY" to "XY" device.

Either that was already the case for me, or I'd changed it a while ago on, before I moved my install to the current laptop... In either case, this wasn't the issue 😞

However, I found a bit of good news when it comes to microphone support. While I still can't get the built-in microphone in the laptop to work, I found out that I can successfully use the microphone of a pair of gaming headphones! 🎉 The headphones have a 3.5mm analog jack, they are not USB-based, so attached to a qube like this: qvm-device mic attach <qube> dom0:mic. I didn't expect that to work, since the rest of the dom0 audio is so broken, but for some reason it does 🤷‍♂️ 🎉