Sound is muffled compared to Windows 10

If I use linux manjaro kde on my asus F571G laptop I get very bad audio quality which makes games unplayable. Is there any way of fixing this and what causes the problem?

Here is my info:

System:
  Kernel: 5.13.15-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.13-x86_64 
  root=UUID=4a4bce61-4116-491c-9e76-70be6ca9fb80 rw quiet apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 
  dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X571GT_F571GT 
  v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X571GT v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: X571GT.310 date: 06/18/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 30.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 30.9/42.3 Wh (73.1%) 
  volts: 12.8 min: 11.6 model: ASUS A32-K55 type: Li-ion serial: N/A 
  status: Full 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 7.62 GiB used: 4.07 GiB (53.3%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8300H bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: A (10) 
  microcode: EA cache: L2: 8 MiB bogomips: 36812 
  Speed: 3000 MHz min/max: 800/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3000 2: 3425 
  3: 3416 4: 3000 5: 3000 6: 2953 7: 2994 8: 3000 
  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 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 CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e9b class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: nouveau v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1f91 class-ID: 0302 
  Device-3: IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 13d3:56a8 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: 
  loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :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-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x194mm (13.5x7.6") 
  diag: 395mm (15.5") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.1 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 
  chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.15-1-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: 0.3.35 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel 
  port: 5000 bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a370 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  broadcast: <filter> 
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB 
  driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:5 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: see --recommends 
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci 
  v: 3.0 port: 5060 bus-ID: 00:17.0 chip-ID: 8086.282a rev: 10 class-ID: 0104 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 29.01 GiB (6.1%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNW512G8 
  size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
  lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 002C temp: 33.9 C scheme: GPT 
  Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 128.33 GiB size: 125.25 GiB (97.61%) 
  used: 28.99 GiB (23.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:5 
  label: N/A uuid: 4a4bce61-4116-491c-9e76-70be6ca9fb80 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%) 
  used: 25.2 MiB (26.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
  label: N/A uuid: 6224-6C69 
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: 348 GiB fs: ntfs label: N/A 
  uuid: B20ED73F0ED6FAF5 
  ID-3: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4 size: 508 MiB fs: ntfs label: N/A 
  uuid: A6368F50368F2083 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 16 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 1-4:2 info: Razer USA RZ01-0265 Gaming Mouse [Basilisk Essential] 
  type: Mouse,Keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 12 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 1532:0065 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: 1-6:3 info: Realtek RTS5129 Card Reader Controller 
  type: <vendor specific> driver: rtsx_usb,rtsx_usb_ms,rtsx_usb_sdmmc 
  interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 0bda:0129 
  class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter> 
  Device-3: 1-7:4 info: IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: Video 
  driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA 
  chip-ID: 13d3:56a8 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Device-4: 1-14:5 info: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) 
  type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001 
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 8 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 82.0 C mobo: 27.8 C gpu: nouveau temp: 60.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:
  Processes: 276 Uptime: 1h 57m wakeups: 3 Init: systemd v: 249 
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 Packages: 1347 pacman: 1334 lib: 369 
  flatpak: 6 snap: 7 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 default: Bash v: 5.1.8 
  running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.06 

And here is my /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 = s16le
; default-sample-rate = 44100
; alternate-sample-rate = 48000
; 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

Hi @Derpy, and welcome!

Please see How to provide good information.

Can you describe in more detail how the sound is bad?

Have you checked levels in pavucontrol (pulseaudio volume control)? Greater than 100% can result in distortion.

Just saw the reply thought id get a notification, basically my volume is not greater than 100% in pavucontrol and if I record with obs I and rewatch the video the sound is still bad, but if I watch the same recording on another device or the same device on the windows partition it is good. It sounds like a call when you have poor connection and it is low quality.

You are using the laptop speakers, right?
Asking because I had a similar problem with Bluetooth headphones.

Yes, I am using my default laptop speakers.

try to set (change value and remove leading ;) these options:
default-sample-format = float32le
avoid-resampling = true
and
resample-method = speex-float-5
and check you sound quality & CPU usage. If CPU usage is too high try to change speex-float to some lower value.

Data in ìnxi shows the audio device is using legacy driver snd_hda_intel instead of the latest Intel Sound Open Firmware driver snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl

I suggest you update kernel to v5.14 that should have better support for SOF drivers

Also, there are 2 incompatible sound servers running

  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.35 running: yes

Pipewire cannot support audio unless PulseAudio is removed and replaced but it might impede PulseAudio functions

Use this command to stop, disable and mask Pipewire services

systemctl --user disable --now pipewire.{socket,service} && systemctl --user mask pipewire.socket
systemctl --user disable --now pipewire-media-session.service

Or install the metapackage manjaro-pipewire to remove and replace PulseAudio

Is it a typo or did I not understand something? This meta package is supposed to install (not remove) Pipewire and all its requirement for proper support?

1 Like

Same sound with this solution