No sound output through the docking station

aplay -l shows onboard audio card has 1 analog output and 3 HDMI outputs
The first HDMI output is shown as connected to EV2456 monitor

Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [EV2456]

But pactl list-sinks shows Aktives Profil for onboard audio card is set to use analog-stereo output rather than hdmi-stereo output

Karte #2
	Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3

		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"

	Profile:
		input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo-Eingabe (Ziele: 0, Quellen: 1, Priorität: 32833, verfügbar: ja)
		output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo-Ausgabe (Ziele: 1, Quellen: 0, Priorität: 39268, verfügbar: ja)
		output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (Ziele: 1, Quellen: 1, Priorität: 39333, verfügbar: ja)
		output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI)-Ausgabe (Ziele: 1, Quellen: 0, Priorität: 38668, verfügbar: ja)
		output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI)-Ausgabe + Analog Stereo-Eingabe (Ziele: 1, Quellen: 1, Priorität: 38733, verfügbar: ja)

	Aktives Profil: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

To change the card profile to use hdmi-stereo output and analog-stereo input:

Open PulseAudio Volume Control > Configuration tab ( pavucontrol --tab=5 )
Change the card Profile from Analog Stereo Duplex to Digital Stereo (HDMI)-Ausgabe + Analog Stereo-Eingabe
Click the padlock icon :lock: to lock the Profile

As soon as I plug in my USB-C docking station from thinkpad and want to output sounds via the monitor speakers, everything remains mute

If the docking station audio device is not used, change the Profile from Analog Stereo-Ausgabe to Aus and lock the profile in pavucontrol

If the docking station audio device is used in addition to HDMI output, set the HDMI output as default sink:

pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.hdmi-stereo

Then audio will not switch automatically from HDMI when USB dock is connected,
But audio can still be switched to use USB dock by user

1 Like