Summary
On a Dell XPS 13 DX13260 (Intel Wildcat Lake platform), the internal speaker amplifiers (Cirrus Logic CS35L56, SoundWire) initialize with base firmware but never receive the DSP calibration/tuning patch. The kernel falls back to a default/generic SoundWire machine driver because no machine-driver quirk matches this laptop's ACPI-reported configuration. Result: internal speaker audio is present but quiet and shallow — no bass shaping, no loudness curve, no excursion-protected max volume — consistent with the amps running on unpatched factory OTP defaults.
System Information
Model: Dell XPS 13 DX13260
Baseboard: 0865D8
Platform: Intel Wildcat Lake (Panther Lake family, "Core Series 3")
Audio PCI device: sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3
Sound card: sofsoundwire (SOF SoundWire)
SoundWire modalias: sdw:m01FAp4243v03c01
Speaker amps: 2x Cirrus Logic CS35L56 (spi-cs35l56-left, spi-cs35l56-right), Rev B2, OTP1
Amp firmware: fw:4.2.1 (patched=0) — base firmware loaded, calibration patch NOT applied
Also present: Cirrus Logic CS42L43 (combo codec, on SoundWire link)
OS: Kubuntu 26.04.1 LTS ("resolute")
Kernel: 7.0.0-31-generic
Expected Behavior
The kernel should match this laptop's ACPI-reported SoundWire configuration to a Dell-specific machine driver, which would request the correct cirrus/cs35l56-* .wmfw/.bin calibration files for this board and apply them to the CS35L56 amps, producing full-range, properly tuned speaker output (as on Windows).
Actual Behavior
The kernel logs a fallback and no calibration firmware is ever requested:
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: SoundWire enabled on CannonLake+ platform, using SOF driver
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: No SoundWire machine driver found for the ACPI-reported configuration:
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: Use SoundWire default machine driver with function topologies
cs35l56 spi-cs35l56-left: Cirrus Logic CS35L56 Rev B2 OTP1 fw:4.2.1 (patched=0)
cs35l56 spi-cs35l56-right: Cirrus Logic CS35L56 Rev B2 OTP1 fw:4.2.1 (patched=0)
sof_sdw sof_sdw: Setting CS42L43 Speaker volume limit to 128
sudo dmesg | grep -i -E "request_firmware|cirrus/|wmfw|.bin" returns no entries related to cirrus/ calibration files — confirming the driver never attempts to load one, rather than a load failure. /lib/firmware/cirrus/ on this system contains only one Rev B2 calibration set (cs35l56-b2-dsp1-misc-10280dd6-*), which does not correspond to this board's subsystem ID, further indicating no calibration package exists yet for this specific Dell SKU.
Playback device sofsoundwire, device 2: Speaker is present and functional at the ALSA level (aplay -l), but audio output is noticeably quiet and lacks low-end/bass compared to the same laptop under Windows.
Steps to Reproduce
Boot Kubuntu 26.04.1 (kernel 7.0.0-31-generic) on a Dell XPS 13 DX13260.
Play any audio through the internal speakers.
Observe reduced volume and shallow/flat tonal quality vs. Windows on the same hardware.
Check dmesg for the "No SoundWire machine driver found" message and fw:...(patched=0) on both CS35L56 amps.
Diagnostics Already Performed (ruled out)
Not a mixer/volume/profile issue — pavucontrol/PipeWire levels checked, no clipping or hidden low caps.
Not a missing SOF firmware issue — SOF DSP firmware itself loads fine; only the amp-specific calibration patch is affected.
Not a BIOS/firmware issue — fwupdmgr reports no updates available for any component.
Not a stale linux-firmware package — /lib/firmware/cirrus/ contains many CS35L56 calibration sets for other Dell/HP/Lenovo boards, just none matching this SKU/revision.
Confirmed this matches a known class of issue on Wildcat Lake: per a related upstream report (#5832, different codec vendor, same platform), an Intel SOF maintainer confirmed the codec/amp vendor must upstream a machine-driver match in sound/soc/sdw_utils/soc_sdw_utils.c before the correct topology/calibration path can be used — this is not fixable via firmware packages or userspace audio configuration.
Suspected Root Cause
Missing machine-driver quirk / ACPI match entry for this Dell XPS 13 DX13260 SoundWire configuration in the kernel's SOF/ASoC SoundWire machine driver table, and/or missing corresponding Dell-specific CS35L56 calibration (.wmfw/.bin) files in linux-firmware. Likely a case of hardware (Wildcat Lake, launched ~April 2026) shipping ahead of upstream driver/firmware support.
Requested Action
Add/upstream the SoundWire machine-driver match for this board's ACPI configuration (SoundWire modalias sdw:m01FAp4243v03c01, board ID 0865D8).
Publish/package the corresponding CS35L56 calibration files for this Dell SKU in linux-firmware.
Additional Notes
Happy to provide further diagnostics (full dmesg, acpidump, sof-ctl topology dump, etc.) on request — please let me know what would help triage this.
Summary
On a Dell XPS 13 DX13260 (Intel Wildcat Lake platform), the internal speaker amplifiers (Cirrus Logic CS35L56, SoundWire) initialize with base firmware but never receive the DSP calibration/tuning patch. The kernel falls back to a default/generic SoundWire machine driver because no machine-driver quirk matches this laptop's ACPI-reported configuration. Result: internal speaker audio is present but quiet and shallow — no bass shaping, no loudness curve, no excursion-protected max volume — consistent with the amps running on unpatched factory OTP defaults.
System Information
Model: Dell XPS 13 DX13260
Baseboard: 0865D8
Platform: Intel Wildcat Lake (Panther Lake family, "Core Series 3")
Audio PCI device: sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3
Sound card: sofsoundwire (SOF SoundWire)
SoundWire modalias: sdw:m01FAp4243v03c01
Speaker amps: 2x Cirrus Logic CS35L56 (spi-cs35l56-left, spi-cs35l56-right), Rev B2, OTP1
Amp firmware: fw:4.2.1 (patched=0) — base firmware loaded, calibration patch NOT applied
Also present: Cirrus Logic CS42L43 (combo codec, on SoundWire link)
OS: Kubuntu 26.04.1 LTS ("resolute")
Kernel: 7.0.0-31-generic
Expected Behavior
The kernel should match this laptop's ACPI-reported SoundWire configuration to a Dell-specific machine driver, which would request the correct cirrus/cs35l56-* .wmfw/.bin calibration files for this board and apply them to the CS35L56 amps, producing full-range, properly tuned speaker output (as on Windows).
Actual Behavior
The kernel logs a fallback and no calibration firmware is ever requested:
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: SoundWire enabled on CannonLake+ platform, using SOF driver
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: No SoundWire machine driver found for the ACPI-reported configuration:
sof-audio-pci-intel-ptl 0000:00:1f.3: Use SoundWire default machine driver with function topologies
cs35l56 spi-cs35l56-left: Cirrus Logic CS35L56 Rev B2 OTP1 fw:4.2.1 (patched=0)
cs35l56 spi-cs35l56-right: Cirrus Logic CS35L56 Rev B2 OTP1 fw:4.2.1 (patched=0)
sof_sdw sof_sdw: Setting CS42L43 Speaker volume limit to 128
sudo dmesg | grep -i -E "request_firmware|cirrus/|wmfw|.bin" returns no entries related to cirrus/ calibration files — confirming the driver never attempts to load one, rather than a load failure. /lib/firmware/cirrus/ on this system contains only one Rev B2 calibration set (cs35l56-b2-dsp1-misc-10280dd6-*), which does not correspond to this board's subsystem ID, further indicating no calibration package exists yet for this specific Dell SKU.
Playback device sofsoundwire, device 2: Speaker is present and functional at the ALSA level (aplay -l), but audio output is noticeably quiet and lacks low-end/bass compared to the same laptop under Windows.
Steps to Reproduce
Boot Kubuntu 26.04.1 (kernel 7.0.0-31-generic) on a Dell XPS 13 DX13260.
Play any audio through the internal speakers.
Observe reduced volume and shallow/flat tonal quality vs. Windows on the same hardware.
Check dmesg for the "No SoundWire machine driver found" message and fw:...(patched=0) on both CS35L56 amps.
Diagnostics Already Performed (ruled out)
Not a mixer/volume/profile issue — pavucontrol/PipeWire levels checked, no clipping or hidden low caps.
Not a missing SOF firmware issue — SOF DSP firmware itself loads fine; only the amp-specific calibration patch is affected.
Not a BIOS/firmware issue — fwupdmgr reports no updates available for any component.
Not a stale linux-firmware package — /lib/firmware/cirrus/ contains many CS35L56 calibration sets for other Dell/HP/Lenovo boards, just none matching this SKU/revision.
Confirmed this matches a known class of issue on Wildcat Lake: per a related upstream report (#5832, different codec vendor, same platform), an Intel SOF maintainer confirmed the codec/amp vendor must upstream a machine-driver match in sound/soc/sdw_utils/soc_sdw_utils.c before the correct topology/calibration path can be used — this is not fixable via firmware packages or userspace audio configuration.
Suspected Root Cause
Missing machine-driver quirk / ACPI match entry for this Dell XPS 13 DX13260 SoundWire configuration in the kernel's SOF/ASoC SoundWire machine driver table, and/or missing corresponding Dell-specific CS35L56 calibration (.wmfw/.bin) files in linux-firmware. Likely a case of hardware (Wildcat Lake, launched ~April 2026) shipping ahead of upstream driver/firmware support.
Requested Action
Add/upstream the SoundWire machine-driver match for this board's ACPI configuration (SoundWire modalias sdw:m01FAp4243v03c01, board ID 0865D8).
Publish/package the corresponding CS35L56 calibration files for this Dell SKU in linux-firmware.
Additional Notes
Happy to provide further diagnostics (full dmesg, acpidump, sof-ctl topology dump, etc.) on request — please let me know what would help triage this.