Audio to my headphones is way too quiet

Support Sound
, ,
1

Hello!

So, I recently installed Manjaro on my PC as a double boot, and the sound on my Bluetooth headphones is way too quiet. I have to set the device volume to 100%, the browser volume to 100%, and I had to install PulseEffects just to use it’s gain feature at max, just to get the audio volume I had on windows at 64%.

Of course, I tried using the “Raise Maximum Volume” button, but all that happens when I turn the volume of my browser or headphones over 100% is that it starts getting static/distorted.

I was able to turn my volume in windows all the way up to 100% (which is really loud) and not have any static/distortion at all.

I have a Comet Lake PCH cAVS (Intel Corporation) audio chip, and I tried downloading the latest Realtek drivers, but I was unable to do manual install and test it out. If anyone could tell me what this means, it would be great:

Step 2. Complied source code
a. cd alsa-driver-1.0.xx
b. ./configure --with-cards=hda-intel
c. make
d. make install

Besides that, my headphones are Bose QC35 II headphones

If anyone has any solutions to this, it would be great!

2

I believe you just need to adjust the volume within ALSA.

Just type alsamixer into the terminal, press f6 to switch to the appropriate sound device and turn up the volume with the arrow keys.

Not sure about the drivers as I am also fairly new to manjaro.

3

If you have a Comet Lake PCH cAVS (Intel Corporation) audio codec you probably already have the latest snd_hda_intel driver installed to support Realtek functions.
You may also have sof-firmware drivers installed to support functions similar to Intel SST driver on other OS.
But the ALSA drivers do not relate to a Bluetooth audio connection using btusb driver

If Pulseeffects is installed to increase audio levels that would require removal of PulseAudio to be replaced with Pipewire dependencies

I have changed the tags on this discussion so it will get attention from others who know about Pipewire and Bluetooth

Please post system information to show audio information and Bluetooth devices

inxi -Fazy
4

I opened alsamixer, and tested it a little. I had a driver called “(default)” which had one chip/card called alsamixer, and it had one sound bar that was the same as the volume settings you get from the gui on the toolbar. The volume would not go higher then it was before

There was also another driver called “HDA Intel PCH”, and I changed some of the sliders on there. Nothing happened to my audio.

The PulseAudio chip in Alsa:

┌─────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.2.4──────────────────────┐

│ Card: PulseAudio F1: Help │
│ Chip: PulseAudio F2: System information │
│ View: F3:[Playback] F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Master Esc: Exit │
│ ┌──┐ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ │▒▒│ │
│ ├──┤ │
│ │OO│ │
│ └──┘ │
│ 100<>100 │
│ < Master > │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Intel chip in Alsa:

┌─────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.2.4 ─────────────────┐
│ Card: HDA Intel PCH F1: Help │
│ Chip: Realtek ALC233 F2: System information │
│ View: F3:[Playback] F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Master [dB gain: -3.00] Esc: Exit │
│ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ │
│ │ ----│ │ ---- │ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ ---- │ │ ---- │ │
│ │▒▒│ - │ ----│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ -----│ │— - │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ -----│ │— - │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ ----- │ │---- │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ ----- │ │ ---- │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ ----- │ │---- │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ ----- │ │ ---- │ →
│ │▒▒│ - │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │▒▒│ │ -----│ │ ---- │ │
│ ├──┤ ├──┤ ├──┤ └──┘ ├──┤ └──┘ │
│ │OO│ │MM│ │OO│ │MM│ │MM│ │OO│ │
│ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ │
│ 88 73<>73 100<>100 100<>100 0<>0 0<>0 │
│ < Master >Headphone Speaker PCM Mic Mic Boos S/PDIF S/PDIF 1 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

(sorry about the bad formatting, in the second on I tried to use dashes to fix the formatting)

5

System information:

>    System:
      Kernel: 5.10.26-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
      parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 
      root=UUID=c0abb0b3-0c00-4047-b8a8-422f93c65918 rw apparmor=1 
      security=apparmor udev. log_priority=3 
      Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.3 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 
      dm: LightDM 1.30.0, SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
    Machine:
      Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: GF75 Thin 10SEK v: REV:1.0 
      serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
      Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-17F3 v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> 
      UEFI: American Megatrends v: E17F3IMS.50F date: 11/19/2020 
    Battery:
      ID-1: BAT1 charge: 50.0 Wh (100.0%) condition: 50.0/51.3 Wh (97.6%) 
      volts: 12.9 min: 11.4 model: MSI Corp. MS-17F3 type: Li-ion serial: N/A 
      status: Full 
    CPU:
      Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-10750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
      arch: Comet Lake family: 6 model-id: A5 (165) stepping: 2 microcode: E2 
      cache: L2: 12 MiB 
      flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
      bogomips: 62431 
      Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/5000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 
      4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 799 11: 800 12: 800 
      Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
      Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
      Type: mds status: Not affected 
      Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
      Type: spec_store_bypass 
      mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
      Type: spectre_v1 
      mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
      Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling 
      Type: srbds status: Not affected 
      Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
    Graphics:
      Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: i915 v: kernel 
      bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9bc4 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-2: NVIDIA TU106M [GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile] vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
      driver: nvidia v: 460.67 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 
      chip-ID: 10de:1f15 class-ID: 0300 
      Display: x11 server: X. Org 1.20.10 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: 
      loaded: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1 
      Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 69 s-size: 707x392mm (27.8x15.4") 
      s-diag: 808mm (31.8") 
      Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 70 size: 698x392mm (27.5x15.4") 
      diag: 801mm (31.5") 
      OpenGL: renderer: GeForce RTX 2060/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.67 
      direct render: Yes 
    Audio:
      Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
      driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci 
      bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:06c8 class-ID: 0403 
      Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
      driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f9 
      class-ID: 0403 
      Device-3: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB 
      driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-4.3:5 chip-ID: 046d:082d 
      class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
      Device-4: JMTek LLC. LCS USB Audio type: USB 
      driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-5:4 chip-ID: 0c76:2018 
      class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter> 
      Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.26-1-MANJARO running: yes 
      Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
      Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
      Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.24 running: yes 
    Network:
      Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel 
      port: 5000 bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:06f0 class-ID: 0280 
      IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter> 
      Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
      vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 
      chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
      IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
    Bluetooth:
      Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:7 
      chip-ID: 8087:0026 class-ID: e001 
      Report: This feature requires one of these tools: hciconfig/bt-adapter 
    Drives:
      Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 41.39 GiB (8.7%) 
      SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
      ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLQ512HALU-00000 
      size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
      lanes: 4 rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: FXV7000Q temp: 19.9 C 
      scheme: GPT 
    Partition:
      ID-1: / raw-size: 75 GiB size: 74.75 GiB (99.67%) used: 41.37 GiB (55.3%) 
      fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6 maj-min: 259:6 
      ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 296 MiB (98.67%) 
      used: 25.8 MiB (8.7%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
    Swap:
      Alert: No Swap data was found. 
    Sensors:
      System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 44 C 
      Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
    Info:
      Processes: 325 Uptime: 41m wakeups: 1 Memory: 15.46 GiB 
      used: 3.31 GiB (21.4%) Init: systemd v: 247 tool: systemctl Compilers: 
      gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: 1285 pacman: 1277 lib: 354 flatpak: 0 snap: 8 
      Shell: Bash v: 5.1.0 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.03
1 Like
6

Both sound servers PulseAudio and PipeWire are running and probably conflicting and causing audio issues

      Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
      Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.24 running: yes

KDE requires pipewire base package so uninstalling it is not possible for this DE

But the pipewire systemd socket and service can be disabled to to allow use of PulseAudio

systemctl --user mask --now pipewire.socket && 
systemctl --user stop pipewire.service

OR

Install the PipeWire metapackage to remove and replace PulseAudio with additional Pipewire packages

pamac install manjaro-pipewire

But running only one sound server may not give the full range of volume similar to another OS
The headphone output may not be configured within the audio codec to use the same amplifier settings as the other OS

If all that fails, you can still hook up your headphones through a cable so that you:

  • lower latency
  • Higher volume

As you ended up doing here:

2 Likes
7

Hello,

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! It worked amazingly, and there isn’t any more distortion when I crank the volume up! The volume still doesn’t go up to what Windows went to, but what it can do is plenty for me. Thank you sooooo much :grin:

Apon some testing, audio can go up to 150% and only have a little distortion, but 200% still causes some problems. Any fix to that?

Second edit, it seems that not even 150% volume on some songs is safe from distortion. It definitely got better, but it still cannot match what was 70% volume in Windows without distortion.

Note: 70% volume in windows isn’t too loud, most people would consider 85-90% windows volume the start of ‘too loud’

Here is the new output of inxi -Fazy:

System:
Kernel: 5.10.30-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64
root=UUID=574d97fa-48ba-45c0-b1ea-27443846de07 rw quiet apparmor=1
security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: GF75 Thin 10SEK v: REV:1.0
serial: Chassis: type: 10 serial:
Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-17F3 v: REV:1.0 serial:
UEFI: American Megatrends v: E17F3IMS.50F date: 11/19/2020
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 3.8 Wh (7.4%) condition: 51.6/51.3 Wh (100.5%)
volts: 11.5 min: 11.4 model: MSI Corp. MS-17F3 type: Li-ion serial: N/A
status: Charging
CPU:
Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-10750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Comet Lake family: 6 model-id: A5 (165) stepping: 2 microcode: E2
cache: L2: 12 MiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
bogomips: 62399
Speed: 3772 MHz min/max: 800/5000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3772 2: 3418
3: 3751 4: 3609 5: 3974 6: 2792 7: 3856 8: 2942 9: 2624 10: 3826 11: 3412
12: 3450
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1
mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: i915 v: kernel
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9bc4 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA TU106M [GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: N/A alternate: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1f15 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Acer HD Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-11:3
chip-ID: 5986:211c class-ID: 0e02
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver:
loaded: modesetting display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")
s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 144 dpi: 128 size: 381x214mm (15.0x8.4")
diag: 437mm (17.2")
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.2
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci
bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:06c8 class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.30-1-MANJARO running: yes
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.25 running: no
Network:
Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
port: 5000 bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:06f0 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlo1 state: up mac:
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp3s0 state: down mac:
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:4
chip-ID: 8087:0026 class-ID: e001
Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 79.13 GiB (16.6%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLQ512HALU-00000
size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 rotation: SSD serial: rev: FXV7000Q temp: 19.9 C
scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 150 GiB size: 146.59 GiB (97.72%) used: 79.11 GiB (54.0%)
fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6 maj-min: 259:6
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 296 MiB (98.67%)
used: 25.8 MiB (8.7%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
Alert: No swap data was found.

1 Like
8

So, I did some more testing and found out that it was only when my headphones were connected via Bluetooth, and they work fine (and honestly can get louder than on windows) with a cable. I’ll open a new topic with an updated title and description, and hopefully, the problem can get fixed.

9

Sorry to say, but I’ve marked this answer as the solution to your question as that’s the one that led you to the cabling solution (which I’ve just edited in at that location) and @nikgnomic’s answer will be more suitable for other users that have the same problem as you!

However, if you disagree with my choice, please feel free to take any other answer as the solution to your question or even remove the solution altogether: You are in control! (If you disagree with my choice, just send me a personal message and explain why I shouldn’t have done this or :heart: or :+1: if you agree)

:innocent:

1 Like
10

This topic was automatically closed 15 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.