Sound problem with AMD 7840HS, Radeon 780M - headphone works, speaker has very very low volume

I have a new installation of Leap 15.6 on a mini PC with AMD 7840HS and Radeon 780M.

While the headphone works fine, an external speaker connected via USB (with a DAC) only play with a very low volume. At 100% I can barely here a think and I need to extend the range to 150% to hear a bit more. There is no problem when using Windows, the hardware is fine.
In a former discussion with Deano_ferrari I received some lines to run, and in order to save time I quote the results here:

**inxi -Aa:**

Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: c5:00.1
    chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor driver: snd_pci_ps
    v: kernel alternate: snd_pci_acp3x, snd_rn_pci_acp3x, snd_pci_acp5x,
    snd_pci_acp6x, snd_acp_pci, snd_rpl_pci_acp6x, snd_sof_amd_renoir,
    snd_sof_amd_rembrandt, snd_sof_amd_vangogh pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: c5:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: c5:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-4: Thesycon System & Consulting GmbH SMSL USB AUDIO
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-2.1.3:8 chip-ID: 152a:85dd class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.4.0-150600.23.14-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: off with: wireplumber status: active
    tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 17.0 status: active with: pulseaudio-alsa
    type: plugin tools: pacat,pactl
**dmesg | egrep -i "snd|firmware":**
[    0.253674] ACPI: [Firmware Bug]: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored
[    3.501226] [drm] Loading DMUB firmware via PSP: version=0x08003F00
[    3.501532] [drm] Found VCN firmware Version ENC: 1.22 DEC: 8 VEP: 0 Revision: 3
[    3.501536] amdgpu 0000:c5:00.0: amdgpu: Will use PSP to load VCN firmware
[    6.635498] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: loaded firmware version 83.e8f84e98.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-83.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[    7.124874] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[    7.148412] snd_pci_ps 0000:c5:00.5: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    7.149977] snd_hda_intel 0000:c5:00.1: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    7.150015] snd_hda_intel 0000:c5:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[    7.150141] snd_hda_intel 0000:c5:00.6: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    7.160248] snd_hda_intel 0000:c5:00.1: bound 0000:c5:00.0 (ops amdgpu_dm_audio_component_bind_ops [amdgpu])
[    7.166407] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0: autoconfig for ALC269VC: line_outs=1 (0x15/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:hp
[    7.166411] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    7.166413] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:    hp_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    7.166414] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    7.166415] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:    inputs:
[    7.166416] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:      Mic=0x18
[    7.166418] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC2D0:      Internal Mic=0x12
[    7.195918] Bluetooth: hci0: Firmware timestamp 2023.17 buildtype 1 build 63939
[    7.236889] Bluetooth: hci0: Found device firmware: intel/ibt-0041-0041.sfi
[    7.236897] Bluetooth: hci0: Firmware Version: 120-18.24
[    7.876982] Bluetooth: hci0: Minimum firmware build 1 week 10 2014
[    7.916781] Bluetooth: hci0: Found device firmware: intel/ibt-0041-0041.sfi
[    7.916797] Bluetooth: hci0: Firmware Version: 120-18.24
[    9.101955] Bluetooth: hci0: Waiting for firmware download to complete
[    9.102920] Bluetooth: hci0: Firmware loaded in 1158334 usecs
[    9.148946] Bluetooth: hci0: Firmware timestamp 2024.18 buildtype 1 build 81528
**cat /etc/modprobe.d/*:**

Local configuration for modprobe(8)
===================================

The distribution-provided modprobe configuration files have moved to /lib/modprobe.d.
To modify the configuration, copy files from /lib/modprobe.d to this directory
(/etc/modprobe.d) and edit them here.

See also /lib/modprobe.d/README, /usr/share/doc/packages/suse-module-tools/README.md, and the
man page modprobe.d(5).
# This file specifies additional parameters to kernel modules added by Tuned.
# Its content is set by the Tuned modules plugin.
#
# Please do not edit this file. Content of this file can be overwritten by
# switch of Tuned profile.
#
# If you need to add kernel module parameter which should be handled by Tuned,
# create Tuned profile containing the following:
#
# [modules]
# MODULE_NAME = MODULE_PARAMETERS
#
# Then switch to your newly created profile by:
#
# tuned-adm profile YOUR_NEW_PROFILE
#
# and reboot or reload the module
#
# Tuned tries to automatically reload the module if specified the following
# way:
#
# [modules]
# MODULE_NAME = +r,MODULE_PARAMETERS
#

I have a feeling that AMD is somewhat more complicated than the Intel stuff, I hope someone can help with that.

Many thanks!

Apologies - I did not read your previous thread, so if I suggest things you already tried (in previous thread) then please pardon my suggestions.

My understanding, that even thou audio has changed significantly the past number of years with pulseaudio and pipewire, that it is still possible to tune the audio on both an application and a device basis.

If you can run the pulse audio application “pavucontrol” it may give you an insight into the audio levels - are they set to 100% in pavucontrol for the multimedia application you are playing ?

Out of curiosity, what is the output of the following (as a regular user) in a konsole/xterm:

amixer
1 Like

Hi Lee,

Thank you for your email.

I am traveling these days, I will be back home in a few days and will send you the details.

All the best,

Adam.

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