No sound from monitor

English Hardware
#1

Radeon RX 570

Ryzen5 cpu 16 gig ram.

AOC monitor

The monitor does not produce any sound. When I checked the volume control on the monitor it is set to 34.

Question one: Should it work ? There is only a hdmi cable from my video card to the monitor.

The usual way I listen to music and such is with an headset, connected to my mother board, this works fine.

Question2 Is a hdmi cable enough or should I also route the sound from my mother board to the monitor?
Question 3: should I see my video card under volume control in the kde desktop, or should the video card just route the sound from the motherboard to the monitor ?

This is my first pc with hdmi, so I am not sure how this should work.
Last night I unplugged my head set, hoping this would turn on the sound on the monitor, but nope.

To be clear , this is not a new issue, I just have been putting it off trying getting this to work, since I build this pc, because I mostly use a headset anyway.

#2

Install pavucontrol and start it as user, goto the Configuration tab and configure your Hardware, start an application to hear sound, goto the output devices tab and see, which source is used.
Also goto the Playback tab and see, what source is used.

#3

I had pavu controll already installed and took a look.

First tab says :

Family 17h HD audio controller Analoog stereo. (that one works and is connected to my headset)

Under configuration I see that one too, but also I see my vid card. Elsewere hdmi Audi Radeon Rx 470/480/570/580/590
It’s set to Digital stereo HDMI 3

Third tab, tab shows both too , but the vid card (Rx570) shows as muted, and I am not allowed to change this.
It’s greyed out.
Port : HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (connected)

I think we have found the problem, although I am for now lost on how to fix this. :slight_smile:

#4

Try to unmute it?

#5

Install alsamixer and try to unmute it there?

#6

Yeah but how ? Can’t do it in pavu controll, it wont let me.

#7

Is that called gmerlin alsa mixer ?

Its the only thing yast finds, when I search for alsa mixer.

#8

install alsa-utils and as User:

alsamixer

PS:
If you get the error command not found, you can use cnf (command-not-found):

cnf alsamixer
                       
Das Programm 'alsamixer' ist verfügbar im Paket 'alsa-utils', das auf ihrem System installiert ist.

Der absolute Pfad für 'alsamixer' ist '/usr/bin/alsamixer'. Bitte überprüfen Sie, ob Ihre $PATH-Variable den genannten Pfad enthält.
#9

It helps I understand some German, but I do not understand the $path part.

My tumbleweed speaks english , but it says the same thing:

cnf alsamixer 
                            
Program 'alsamixer' is present in package 'alsa-utils', which is installed on your system. 

Absolute path to 'alsamixer' is '/usr/bin/alsamixer'. Please check your $PATH variable to see whether it contains the mentioned path.

Were do I check the $path variable ? I am pretty sure that is the problem.

I checked in yast, I had alsa utilities already installed.

#10

Try as user:

alsamixer
#11

Well , now that part works. ALSA mixer does work, but does not show my video card. ( not on the first page you see)

Might have to read the manual on alsa mixer. When I looked around under devices, I think I found my hdmi connected monitor.

Maybe just as a test, I should disconnect my headset and reboot, and then see what happens.

#12

You need hdmi as source

Press F6

#13

We have a winner, thank you.

Still a bit confused about some minor details, but I just had my monitor make sound. Lets not talk about the sound quality for now, but its working. ( still wondering if it was stereo or only one speaker lol )

After F6 and selecting HDMI, at first still no sound but then I started pavu control, and now was able to switch between, the two. :slight_smile:

Also saw my monitor has a headphone connection, and maybe a head set connection. Something I will try with my headset, ( Sennheiser GSP 300)

On my wish list are two studio monitors and an external dac, but I need to figure out what sound source to use for that. The vid card or the onboard sound.

Leaves me one question, does my vid card (Rx 570) make the sound or it is passing through the onboard sound from the motherboard?

#14

Mobo -> Video card -> HDMI -> monitor -> builtin low quality audio card -> builtin low quality speakers.

Use audio output from mobo, forget about monitor.
With DAC: IMHO you’ll get USB DAC, so connect mobo -> USB -> DAC -> analog output.

#15

Thank you, now I understand it fully.

And yes the DAC I have looked at, is connected through USB.

A dac like that will turn of and or bypass the dac on your motherboard.

The speakers and DAC I have looked at are an investment of a bit below 500 euro. (speakers 160 euro a piece)

This seems to be the bottom price when it comes to pro audio. There are cheaper speakers and dacs, but they will most likely not produce a better sound then your motherboard already does.
Source for this statement a dutch forum called Tweakers, and the Linux musicians forum.

If you get speakers over 500 euro, you also need to sound tread your room, otherwise your wasting money.

I am happy I can forget about the video card, this is for me already complicated enough without the video card in the mix. :slight_smile:

https://www.bax-shop.nl/studio-monitors/adam-t5v-actieve-studiomonitor-per-stuk

#16

Even Asus Xonar SE/AE/Strix Soar cards are better than onboard audio and good enough for ordinary usage.
With good DAC user needs good enough speakers/headphones, of course.

#17

Thank you, that is an option I was overlooking a soundcard.

( just like the good old days were a soundcard was standard)

#18

Good USB DAC or professional USB audio card are much better than simple internal audio card.
You made right choice for your money.