Noise saturation in laptop microphone

Support Sound
1

I installed Manjaro on my laptop (Asus K53SD), and it has been a fantastic operating system in all but one thing: the microphone.

When I plug in my headset, I can hear everything clearly, the problem lies in the microphone: when I record it sounds oversaturated and I can hardly distinguish my voice. This problem is both with headphones and with the laptop’s own microphone, and I think it is not a problem of damaged hardware, since I have dual boot with windows 10, and there you can hear perfectly the internal microphone and the one of the headset. To illustrate it better, I recorded a test with OBS by raising and lowering the volume, I warn you that there are very loud noises:

youtube.com/watch?v=oN5hh5yLuzs

this is my inxi -fazy output:

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.12-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=06b94d6b-7930-4fca-8967-dbc6dcf3a0a2 rw quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.23.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: K53SD v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: K53SD v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: K53SD.205 date: 03/06/2012
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 0 Wh (0.0%) condition: 29.6/48.4 Wh (61.2%) volts: 11.4
    min: 11.1 model: ASUSTek type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: N/A
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M185
    serial: <filter> charge: 5% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: Discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-2670QM bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Sandy Bridge
    family: 6 model-id: 0x2A (42) stepping: 7 microcode: 0x2F
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB
    L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 982 high: 1203 min/max: 800/3100 scaling:
    driver: intel_cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 953 2: 857 3: 1080
    4: 1167 5: 871 6: 1203 7: 840 8: 892 bogomips: 35128
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  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 status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0116
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF119M [GeForce 610M] driver: N/A
    alternate: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1058
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: IMC Networks UVC VGA Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-1.2:3 chip-ID: 13d3:5710 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.21.1.2 compositor: kwin_x11 driver:
    loaded: intel display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0")
    s-diag: 414mm (16.3")
  Monitor-1: LVDS1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 102 size: 340x190mm (13.4x7.5")
    diag: 389mm (15.3")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
    v: 3.3 Mesa 21.3.2 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
    chip-ID: 8086:1c20 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.12-1-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: 0.3.42 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 100 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:08ae class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: atl1c v: kernel port: 9000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 1969:1083
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 698.64 GiB used: 638.03 GiB (91.3%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD7500BPVT-80HXZT3 size: 698.64 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 1A01 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 30 GiB size: 29.36 GiB (97.87%) used: 26.94 GiB (91.8%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 maj-min: 8:5
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 200.2 MiB size: 197 MiB (98.44%)
    used: 274 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 69.8 GiB size: 68.16 GiB (97.64%)
    used: 53.32 GiB (78.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1600
Info:
  Processes: 278 Uptime: 1h 32m wakeups: 7 Memory: 7.54 GiB
  used: 4.53 GiB (60.0%) Init: systemd v: 250 tool: systemctl Compilers:
  gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 13.0.0 Packages: pacman: 1535 lib: 415 flatpak: 0
  Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 default: Bash v: 5.1.12 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.11

This is my pactl list cards output:

Placa #0
        Nombre: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0
        Controlador: module-alsa-card.c
        Módulo propietario: 6
        Propiedades:
                alsa.card = "0"
                alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
                alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf000000 irq 41"
                alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
                device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
                sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
                device.bus = "pci"
                device.vendor.id = "8086"
                device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
                device.product.id = "1c20"
                device.product.name = "6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller"
                device.form_factor = "internal"
                device.string = "0"
                device.description = "Audio Interno"
                module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
                device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
        Perfiles:
                input:analog-stereo: Entrada Estéreo analógico (sinks: 0, sources: 1, priority: 32833, available: sí)
                output:analog-stereo: Salida Estéreo analógico (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 39268, available: sí)
                output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Estéreo analógico dúplex (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 39333, available: sí)
                output:hdmi-stereo: Salida Digital Stereo (HDMI) (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5900, available: no)
                output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Salida Digital Stereo (HDMI) + Entrada Estéreo analógico (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 5965, available: sí)
                output:hdmi-surround: Salida Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Salida Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) + Entrada Estéreo analógico (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 865, available: sí)
                output:hdmi-surround71: Salida Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no)
                output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo: Salida Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) + Entrada Estéreo analógico (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 865, available: sí)
                off: Apagado (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: sí)
        Perfil Activo: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
        Puertos:
                analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (type: Mic, priority: 8900, latency offset: 0 usec, disponibilidad desconocida)
                        Propiedades:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                        Parte de perfil/es: input:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo
                analog-input-mic: Microphone (type: Mic, priority: 8700, latency offset: 0 usec, not available)
                        Propiedades:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                        Parte de perfil/es: input:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo
                analog-output-speaker: Speakers (type: Altavoz, priority: 10000, latency offset: 0 usec, not available)
                        Propiedades:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
                        Parte de perfil/es: output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
                analog-output-headphones: Headphones (type: Auriculares, priority: 9900, latency offset: 0 usec, disponible)
                        Propiedades:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
                        Parte de perfil/es: output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
                hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (type: HDMI, priority: 5900, latency offset: 0 usec, not available)
                        Propiedades:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
                        Parte de perfil/es: output:hdmi-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround, output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-surround71, output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo

I already try the noise cancelation in the troubleshooting guide of arch and my problem persist.

2

Test recording shows microphone capture level is too high and heavily clipped most of the time
Except for periods 10-11s and 15-16s when capture level is showing at about 40-45%

I suggest you reduce ALSA audio capture levels for audio capture

alsamixer --card=0 --view=capture

set Mic Boost and Internal Mic Boost to 0

and turn down Capture and Internal Mic to about 50%

save ALSA settings:

sudo alsactl store

and test microphone recording level again

Do not try to match microphone level to other audio streams using the level meters in PulseAudio

PulseAudio remixes a mono microphone to stereo and the optimal audio capture level for the stereo level meters appears to be approximately -6.0 dB lower (about half as loud as the original mono)
Pan law - Wikipedia

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