Manjaro only shows one playback device, can't use both Optical Speakers and Headphones at the same time

Support Sound
,
1

Hi, I’m facing an issue where I have my headphones plugged into the back of my motherboard with a 3.5 mm jack and my speakers plugged in with an optical cable. Now, both work on Manjaro. That is, I need to switch in the audio the Profile for my playback device. For headphones, I have to use Analog Stereo Output, while for my speakers I have to use Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output. I can’t use both, nor can I easily switch between my speakers and headphones like I can in Windows, with two clicks. So, is there any way I can make Manjaro give me two playback devices so I can set up each one individually and so I could then switch between them from the system tray more easily?

Here’s the stuff I get when I use pacmd list-cards, in case that’s needed:

3 card(s) available.
    index: 0
        name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_0a_00.1>
        driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
        owner module: 6
        properties:
                alsa.card = "0"
                alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
                alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xfc080000 irq 85"
                alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
                device.bus_path = "pci-0000:0a:00.1"
                sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.1/0000:0a:00.1/sound/card0"
                device.bus = "pci"
                device.vendor.id = "10de"
                device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation"
                device.product.id = "228b"
                device.product.name = "GA104 High Definition Audio Controller"
                device.string = "0"
                device.description = "GA104 High Definition Audio Controller"
                module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
                device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
        profiles:
                output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 38668, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 33568, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 33568, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                output:hdmi-stereo-extra3: Digital Stereo (HDMI 4) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround-extra3: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround71-extra3: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
                off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
        active profile: <off>
        ports:
                hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
                                device.product.name = "DELL U2917W
 "
                hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
                hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
                hdmi-output-3: HDMI / DisplayPort 4 (priority 5600, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
    index: 1
        name: <alsa_card.usb-Antlion_Audio_Antlion_Wireless_Microphone-00>
        driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
        owner module: 7
        properties:
                alsa.card = "2"
                alsa.card_name = "Antlion Wireless Microphone"
                alsa.long_card_name = "Antlion Audio Antlion Wireless Microphone at usb-0000:0c:00.3-2, full speed"
                alsa.driver_name = "snd_usb_audio"
                device.bus_path = "pci-0000:0c:00.3-usb-0:2:1.0"
                sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:0c:00.3/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/sound/card2"
                udev.id = "usb-Antlion_Audio_Antlion_Wireless_Microphone-00"
                device.bus = "usb"
                device.vendor.id = "2f96"
                device.vendor.name = "Antlion Audio"
                device.product.id = "0100"
                device.product.name = "Antlion Wireless Microphone"
                device.serial = "Antlion_Audio_Antlion_Wireless_Microphone"
                device.form_factor = "microphone"
                device.string = "2"
                device.description = "Antlion Wireless Microphone"
                module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone-usb"
        profiles:
                input:mono-fallback: Mono Input (priority 1, available: unknown)
                off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
        active profile: <input:mono-fallback>
        sources:
                alsa_input.usb-Antlion_Audio_Antlion_Wireless_Microphone-00.mono-fallback/#0: Antlion Wireless Microphone Mono
        ports:
                analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
    index: 2
        name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_0c_00.4>
        driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
        owner module: 8
        properties:
                alsa.card = "1"
                alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
                alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xfcb00000 irq 87"
                alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
                device.bus_path = "pci-0000:0c:00.4"
                sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:0c:00.4/sound/card1"
                device.bus = "pci"
                device.vendor.id = "1022"
                device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
                device.product.id = "1487"
                device.product.name = "Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller"
                device.string = "1"
                device.description = "Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller"
                module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
                device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
        profiles:
                input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 65, available: no)
                output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 39268, available: unknown)
                output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6565, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-21: Analog Surround 2.1 Output (priority 34068, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-40: Analog Surround 4.0 Output (priority 33968, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-41: Analog Surround 4.1 Output (priority 34068, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-50: Analog Surround 5.0 Output (priority 33968, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-51: Analog Surround 5.1 Output (priority 34068, available: unknown)
                output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
                output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (priority 38268, available: unknown)
                output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5565, available: unknown)
                output:iec958-ac3-surround-51: Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
                output:iec958-ac3-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 365, available: no)
                off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
        active profile: <output:iec958-stereo>
        sinks:
                alsa_output.pci-0000_0c_00.4.iec958-stereo/#8: Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller Digital Stereo (IEC958)
        sources:
                alsa_output.pci-0000_0c_00.4.iec958-stereo.monitor/#10: Monitor of Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller Digital Stereo (IEC958)
        ports:
                analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:

                analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
                        properties:

                analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
                iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
2

welcome to Manjaro forum @tulumba

There are 2 ways to reconfigure audio devices in PulseAudio, but the first one may not be sufficient for your needs

Archwiki has information about how to reconfigure PulseAudio for Independent analog and digital outputs on the same card, to create an additional combined profile for audio to play to both analog and digital outputs at the same time

But the sink outputs are not fully independent. Simultaneous output to both analog and digital is possible but there is no way to use more than one profile at a time, so not possible to have one audio stream playing to optical out and a different stream playing to headphone jack

Independent outputs would require reconfiguring PulseAudio modules to disable the udev module (that automatically detects the cards with multiple profiles) and load any outputs as independent sinks
No cards, profiles or ports, just 2 output sinks: iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) and analog-output-headphones: Headphones
(and an input source for Antlion USB microphone: input:mono-fallback: Mono Input)

Please post response to this command to show ALSA device names and numbers

aplay -l; arecord -l

Even If PulseAudio is reconfigured to use sinks independently, panel GUI controls are not likely to work any better for directing audio streams to sinks
I suggest you install PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol or pavucontrol-qt for KDE)
for controlling audio devices ( or myxer-bin from AUR )