Bad sound with xfce/manjaro

Hi,

I have a dual boot Manjaro/Windows 10. In Windows, My sound is good but it’s not the case with Manjaro and I don’t understand why. I read other topics on the forum without find a solution for me.

This is my actual /etc/pulse/daemon.conf:

# This file is part of PulseAudio.
#
# PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
# along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

## Configuration file for the PulseAudio daemon. See pulse-daemon.conf(5) for
## more information. Default values are commented out.  Use either ; or # for
## commenting.

; daemonize = no
; fail = yes
; allow-module-loading = yes
; allow-exit = yes
; use-pid-file = yes
; system-instance = no
; local-server-type = user
; enable-shm = yes
; enable-memfd = yes
; shm-size-bytes = 0 # setting this 0 will use the system-default, usually 64 MiB
; lock-memory = no
; cpu-limit = no

; high-priority = yes
; nice-level = -11

; realtime-scheduling = yes
; realtime-priority = 5

; exit-idle-time = 20
; scache-idle-time = 20

; dl-search-path = (depends on architecture)

; load-default-script-file = yes
; default-script-file = /etc/pulse/default.pa

; log-target = auto
; log-level = notice
; log-meta = no
; log-time = no
; log-backtrace = 0

; resample-method = speex-float-1
; avoid-resampling = false
; enable-remixing = yes
; remixing-use-all-sink-channels = yes
; remixing-produce-lfe = no
; remixing-consume-lfe = no
; lfe-crossover-freq = 0

; flat-volumes = no

; rescue-streams = yes

; rlimit-fsize = -1
; rlimit-data = -1
; rlimit-stack = -1
; rlimit-core = -1
; rlimit-as = -1
; rlimit-rss = -1
; rlimit-nproc = -1
; rlimit-nofile = 256
; rlimit-memlock = -1
; rlimit-locks = -1
; rlimit-sigpending = -1
; rlimit-msgqueue = -1
; rlimit-nice = 31
; rlimit-rtprio = 9
; rlimit-rttime = 200000

default-sample-format = s24le
default-sample-rate = 19200
alternate-sample-rate = 96000
default-sample-channels = 2
default-channel-map = front-left,front-right


; default-fragments = 4
; default-fragment-size-msec = 25

; enable-deferred-volume = yes
; deferred-volume-safety-margin-usec = 8000
; deferred-volume-extra-delay-usec = 0

and the result of the command “sudo alsa-info.sh --upload”:

http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=c62b814e548a6323243991f00ef842ae70c716c1

I guess there is a problem with my conf file but I’m not sure

Hello, I don’t know much about sound, but…

Try 192000 → this is either kbps or Hz . You are missing a zero 0.

Just saying…

2 Likes

Thanks for that, I guess it’s better but the sound still saturates

and not enough bass maybe … It’s pretty hard to describe x)

I don’t know if it can help, but I found a youtube video with different frequencies:

the sound saturates between ~~480 and ~~630 Hz

:+1: Welcome to Manjaro! :+1:

  1. Please read this:
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    and press the three dots below your post and press the :pencil2: to give us more information so we can see what’s really going on.
    Now we know the symptom of the disease, but we need some more probing to know where the origin lies… :grin:
  2. An inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width would be the minimum required information for us to be able to help you. (Personally Identifiable Information like serial numbers and MAC addresses will be filtered out by the above command)
    Also, please copy-paste that output in-between 3 backticks ``` at the beginning and end of the code/text.

:+1:

P.S. If you want to notify me that you did provide this information, please :heart: this message and I’ll come back and have another look.

1 Like

If PulseAudio is configured to resample audio up to 192kHz or 96kHz the resample-method should also be adjusted
I suggest you add either

resample-method = speex-float-4

or this

resample-method = soxr-hq

to PulseAudio configuration daemon.conf
(sox resampler allegedly has better audio quality than speex but can add about 20mS latency to audio stream)

Manjaro does not have any of the tweaks and audio enhancements that may have been added to the Realtek driver in Windows

IMO audio quality is uncomfortably flat for general audio use and needs (at least) an equalizer to adjust the frequency response – pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa

1 Like

I tried your ideas and I have the same result. For the equalizer, I have no change when I modify the parameters.

Maybe can I post you a video/audio rec to show you what it happens ?

System:
  Kernel: 5.13.12-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.13-x86_64 
  root=UUID=a018d76c-d703-413d-8016-17bd27255828 rw quiet apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.29 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: ROG Strix G533QS_G533QS v: 1.0 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: G533QS v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: G533QS.320 date: 06/27/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 45.2 Wh (55.0%) condition: 82.2/90.0 Wh (91.3%) 
  volts: 14.6 min: 15.9 model: AS3GWAF3KC GA50358 type: Li-ion 
  serial: <filter> status: Discharging 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 30.79 GiB used: 2.51 GiB (8.2%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 
  type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 family: 19 (25) model-id: 50 (80) stepping: 0 
  microcode: A50000B cache: L2: 4 MiB bogomips: 105444 
  Speed: 1197 MHz min/max: 1200/3300 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1197 2: 2701 3: 1397 4: 2008 5: 1197 6: 1197 7: 1197 8: 1197 9: 1227 
  10: 1273 11: 1390 12: 1847 13: 1197 14: 1558 15: 3653 16: 3634 
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1 
  bmi2 bpext cat_l3 cdp_l3 clflush clflushopt clwb clzero cmov cmp_legacy 
  constant_tsc cpb cpuid cqm cqm_llc cqm_mbm_local cqm_mbm_total cqm_occup_llc 
  cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists erms extapic extd_apicid f16c 
  flushbyasid fma fpu fsgsbase fsrm fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibpb ibrs ibs 
  invpcid irperf lahf_lm lbrv lm mba mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor 
  movbe msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx ospke osvw 
  overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core 
  perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pku pni popcnt pse pse36 rdpid rdpru 
  rdrand rdseed rdt_a rdtscp rep_good sep sha_ni skinit smap smca smep ssbd 
  sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 stibp succor svm svm_lock syscall tce 
  topoext tsc tsc_scale umip v_spec_ctrl v_vmsave_vmload vaes vgif vmcb_clean 
  vme vmmcall vpclmulqdq wbnoinvd wdt xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr xsaveopt 
  xsaves 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  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: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
  STIBP: always-on, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104M [GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile / Max-Q 8GB/16GB] 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 470.63.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm 
  bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:249c class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: AMD Cezanne vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: 
  loaded: amdgpu,ati,nvidia unloaded: modesetting,nouveau 
  alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa display-ID: :0.0 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 res: 1920x1080 hz: 300 dpi: 142 size: 344x194mm (13.5x7.6") 
  diag: 395mm (15.5") 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.41.0 5.13.12-1-MANJARO LLVM 12.0.1) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.1 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 05:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637 class-ID: 0403 
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: N/A alternate: snd_pci_acp3x, snd_rn_pci_acp3x bus-ID: 05:00.5 
  chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480 
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.12-1-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no 
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.33 running: no 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 
  bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  broadcast: <filter> 
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-4:3 
  chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running 
  rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends 
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found. 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 195.83 GiB (20.5%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: SK Hynix model: HFM001TD3JX013N 
  size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
  lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 41000C20 temp: 41.9 C scheme: GPT 
  Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 236.14 GiB size: 231.37 GiB (97.98%) 
  used: 195.8 GiB (84.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
  label: N/A uuid: a018d76c-d703-413d-8016-17bd27255828 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%) 
  used: 25.2 MiB (9.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6 maj-min: 259:6 label: N/A 
  uuid: 00E6-E906 
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found. 
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 size: 16 MiB fs: <superuser required> 
  label: N/A uuid: N/A 
  ID-2: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 size: 697.33 GiB fs: ntfs label: OS 
  uuid: 12301F96301F8041 
  ID-3: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4 size: 650 MiB fs: ntfs label: RECOVERY 
  uuid: B4A4F540A4F50620 
  ID-4: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5 size: 19.5 GiB fs: ntfs label: RESTORE 
  uuid: 727C97877C97452F 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 1-3:2 info: ASUSTek N-KEY Device type: Keyboard 
  driver: asus,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA 
  chip-ID: 0b05:1866 class-ID: 0301 
  Device-2: 1-4:3 info: ASUSTek N-KEY Device type: Keyboard 
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 0b05:18c6 class-ID: 0301 
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 3-2:2 info: Logitech M105 Optical Mouse type: Mouse 
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 1.5 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 046d:c077 class-ID: 0301 
  Device-2: 3-4:3 info: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: Bluetooth driver: btusb 
  interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0029 
  class-ID: e001 
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 67.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 56.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2300 
Info:
  Processes: 363 Uptime: 2m wakeups: 4 Init: systemd v: 248 tool: systemctl 
  Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 alt: 10 Packages: pacman: 1219 lib: 342 flatpak: 0 
  Shell: Bash v: 5.1.8 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.06

You’re on a Stable Development kernel. First port of call should be to try an LTS kernel, so please read this:

(At a minimum the section Linux has multiple kernels and then install both 5.10 and 5.4 and see if the problem goes away automagically.

Not directly related to your problem, but please read this

:crossed_fingers:

I tried 5.10 (same behavior) and 5.4, I can’t boot with 5.4 (black screen with an white underscore at the top left). So I’m back on 5.13.

I tried to create a swapfile but I have the same behavior with sound

Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 7.82 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  file: /swapfile
1 Like

I forgot to say the sound is normal with my headphones, the problem is here only with speakers. So maybe there is a specific driver for my speakers ?

Hello,

Q: Have you tried lowering the values ??

If not, try something like 128000 and 64000 or 48000, see if something changes.
These are my values:

; default-sample-rate = 44100
; alternate-sample-rate = 48000

Also you can try commenting the lines by putting ; if front and see if that helps.

1 Like

This laptop has similar size main speakers to a Lenovo system discussed recently
Poor Audio from internal speaker - #6 by nikgnomic

Document ROG Strix SCAR 15 G533QS - Customer self repair guide has internal pictures to show the downward facing speakers are similar size to the Lenovo

The audio benchmark for this system has much better results than the Lenovo system
Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 G533QS Laptop Review: AMD Zen 3 and 165 Hz 1440p Sweet Spot - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

This system is using twice as much power and has additional upward facing tweeters. But a lot of the extra audio performance may be from driver enhancements, Smart Amp Technology and Dolby Atmos processing.
If a Windows user could turn off all the extra software and driver enhancements that would give a comparable audio quality to a default Linux installation with no processing

Considering the small size of the laptop speakers you need more than just an equalizer
I suggest you replace pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa with Viper4Linux

maybe there is a specific driver for my speakers ?

There are no alternative drivers for this device

Headphones and speakers use a shared output device on the ALC285 audio codec
using the ‘snd_hda_intel’ driver

HW probe of ASUSTek ROG Strix G533QS_G53QS #98271924ba: aplay

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC285 Analog [ALC285 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

With only one analog audio device for playback there is no option to separate audio outputs for headphones and speakers

The main factor causing a difference in audio quality is the audio transducer converting electronic analog audio to audible sound

1 Like

I installed kde manjaro because I had a other issue with xfce. I’ll try your suggestion tomorrow, sorry for the time I took to answer, I was busy this week end. Thanks for the suggestion :slight_smile: