How do I know if I’m using Pulse Audio? Is it better than Alsa? Here is the output of the commands you posted:
$ pactl statCurrently in use: 167 blocks containing 452.5 KiB bytes total.
Allocated during whole lifetime: 13360444 blocks containing 1.6 GiB bytes total.
Sample cache size: 24.0 KiB
Server String: unix:/run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 29
Server Protocol Version: 29
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 130
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: renatov
Host Name: hellnote.nymphetamine
Server Name: pulseaudio
Server Version: 4.0-270-g9490a-rebootstrapped
Default Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.hdmi-stereo
Default Source: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
Cookie: fd08:e4a8
$ pactl list
(... the output is too big, this is the part that probably says about the priorities ...)
Card #0
Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0
Driver: module-alsa-card.c
Owner Module: 6
Properties:
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7910000 irq 48"
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 = "1e20"
device.product.name = "7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "0"
device.description = "Built-in Audio"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
Profiles:
input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 0, sources: 1, priority: 60, available: yes)
output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 6000, available: yes)
output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 6060, available: yes)
output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5400, available: yes)
output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 5460, available: yes)
off: Off (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: yes)
Active Profile: output:analog-stereo
Ports:
analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (priority: 8900, latency offset: 0 usec)
Properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
Part of profile(s): input:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo
analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority: 8700, latency offset: 0 usec, not available)
Properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
Part of profile(s): input:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo
analog-output: Analog Output (priority: 9900, latency offset: 0 usec)
Part of profile(s): output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority: 10000, latency offset: 0 usec, not available)
Properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
Part of profile(s): output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority: 9000, latency offset: 0 usec, available)
Properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
Part of profile(s): output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority: 5900, latency offset: 0 usec, available)
Properties:
device.icon_name = "video-display"
device.product.name = "W2353"
Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo, output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo
The package pavucontrol is already installed, here is a screenshot. Do I have to change something?