Microphone array input too quiet, alsamixer mic boost not changing anything?

Hi all, been trying to figure out why my internal laptop microphone sensitivity is so low. I found a Mic Boost option in the capture settings of alsamixer but this didn’t seem to change anything.

I did end up finding what I consider a partial solution on the Arch Wiki. I say partial because the sensitivity now shows 366% on the KDE Plasma UI. I’m okay with janky in the backend but is there anyway to essentially normalize to a higher input sensitivity range? Because if I want to change this 366% to something like, 330% I would need to do this via command line again since dragging the slider any amount in any direction immediately brings it down to 150% (which is too quiet).

I’m also open to any alternative solutions, something along the lines of changing what the system considers the “base” volume since as I understand, this “base volume” is what PulseAudio considers the default volume before any adjustments.

Here’s my inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 5.14.10-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.14-x86_64
  root=UUID=5cd0efe7-0bc3-40fe-9334-0cb2d5228078 rw quiet apparmor=1
  security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
  Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: LENOVO product: 81C4 v: Lenovo YOGA C930-13IKB
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 31 v: Lenovo YOGA C930-13IKB
  serial: <filter>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0J40709 WIN serial: <filter>
  UEFI: LENOVO v: 8GCN37WW date: 11/23/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 44.5 Wh (99.1%) condition: 44.9/60.0 Wh (74.9%)
  volts: 8.6 min: 7.7 model: Simplo BASE-BAT type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
  status: Unknown
Memory:
  RAM: total: 15.38 GiB used: 3.79 GiB (24.6%)
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
  arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: A (10)
  microcode: EA cache: L2: 8 MiB bogomips: 32012
  Speed: 2388 MHz min/max: 400/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2388 2: 1170
  3: 1939 4: 1810 5: 1481 6: 1850 7: 1613 8: 1945
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon art
  avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid
  cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est
  f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window
  hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm
  mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat
  pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts
  rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep sgx smap smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1
  sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust
  tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt
  xsaves xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf
  mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  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 generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional,
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
  bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5917 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: AMD Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590]
  vendor: XFX Pine driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 3a:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:67df
  class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Acer Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1:2
  chip-ID: 5986:2115 class-ID: 0e02
  Device-4: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  bus-ID: 1-6.1.2:7 chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver:
  loaded: amdgpu,intel unloaded: modesetting display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1013x285mm (39.9x11.2")
  s-diag: 1052mm (41.4")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-0 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2")
  diag: 686mm (27")
  Monitor-2: eDP1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 157 size: 310x170mm (12.2x6.7")
  diag: 354mm (13.9")
  OpenGL: renderer: Radeon RX 580 Series (POLARIS10 DRM 3.42.0
  5.14.10-1-MANJARO LLVM 12.0.1)
  v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.3 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_soc_skl
  v: kernel alternate: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71
  class-ID: 0401
  Device-2: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
  vendor: XFX Pine driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 3a:00.1
  chip-ID: 1002:aaf0 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  bus-ID: 1-6.1.2:7 chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.14.10-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-3: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
  Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.38 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 6b:00.0
  chip-ID: 8086:2526 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp107s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter type: USB driver: r8152
  bus-ID: 4-1.2:4 chip-ID: 0bda:8153 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
  IF: enp55s0u1u2 state: down mac: <filter>
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 Bluetooth Adapter type: USB driver: btusb
  v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-8:5 chip-ID: 8087:0025 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 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: 462.05 GiB used: 129.44 GiB (28.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB256HAHQ-000L2
  size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
  lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0L1QEXD7 temp: 43.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 type: USB vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240
  size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A
  serial: <filter> rev: SBFK scheme: MBR
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 127.98 GiB size: 125.72 GiB (98.24%)
  used: 28.78 GiB (22.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5
  label: N/A uuid: 5cd0efe7-0bc3-40fe-9334-0cb2d5228078
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%)
  used: 29.1 MiB (11.4%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  label: SYSTEM_DRV uuid: BAA4-116D
  ID-3: /run/media/ydeng/Windows-SSD raw-size: 109.25 GiB
  size: 109.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 100.64 GiB (92.1%) fs: ntfs
  dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 label: Windows-SSD uuid: 98A2A485A2A46988
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/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4 size: 1000 MiB fs: ntfs label: WINRE_DRV
  uuid: CA74A4EB74A4DC07
  ID-3: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 223.57 GiB fs: vfat label: ADDITIONAL
  uuid: E0BC-2389
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 12 rev: 2.0
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:2 info: Acer Integrated Camera type: Video driver: uvcvideo
  interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 5986:2115
  class-ID: 0e02
  Device-2: 1-5:3 info: Synaptics type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A
  interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 06cb:0081
  class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Hub-2: 1-6:4 info: VIA Labs VL813 Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
  chip-ID: 2109:2813 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 1-6.1:6 info: Realtek RTS5411 Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
  chip-ID: 0bda:5411 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-6.1.2:7 info: Logitech Webcam C270 type: Video,Audio
  driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
  power: 500mA chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Hub-4: 1-6.1.3:8 info: Terminus Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 1a40:0101 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-6.1.3.1:10 info: Microdia USB DEVICE type: Keyboard,Mouse
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 0c45:8520 class-ID: 0301
  Device-2: 1-6.1.4:9 info: SINOWEALTH Game Mouse type: Mouse,Keyboard
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
  power: 480mA chip-ID: 258a:1007 class-ID: 0301
  Device-3: 1-8:5 info: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 Bluetooth Adapter
  type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0025 class-ID: e001
  Hub-5: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 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
  Hub-8: 4-1:2 info: VIA Labs VL813 Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 2109:0813 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-9: 4-1.1:3 info: Realtek Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 0bda:0411 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 4-1.2:4 info: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
  type: Network driver: r8152 interfaces: 1 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
  power: 256mA chip-ID: 0bda:8153 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 4-1.3:5 info: VIA Labs VL817 SATA Adaptor type: Mass Storage
  driver: uas interfaces: 1 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s power: 8mA
  chip-ID: 2109:0715 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.5 C mobo: 29.8 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 72.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 824
Info:
  Processes: 315 Uptime: 1h 37m wakeups: 9 Init: systemd v: 249
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 12.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1330
  lib: 346 flatpak: 0 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 default: Bash v: 5.1.8
  running-in: yakuake inxi: 3.3.08

Okay, so I’ve found this issue that seems to be describing my issue (although I’m not 100% sure if it’s applicable).

Since it was closed and fixed, I assumed perhaps it was that my audio related firmware was out of date, I went looking for that and found this solution. Specifically, I applied the sudo pacman -S sof-firmware alsa-ucm-conf which unfortunately didn’t do anything. I also tried some of the config options described on the Arch wiki, but (unless I messed up somewhere), nothing changed (I’m on the c930, whereas that Arch Wiki section was for the c940, the BIOS fix they were talking about only applies to c940).

I additionally tried to install the sof 1.9.2 update described by the readme on the sof-bin GitHub project to no avail (I tried this before the command above).

If anyone knows where to go from here, it’d much appreciated.

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