I have a problem with the audio, when something starts playing, it sounds distorted (as if it were underwater) and after a couple of seconds the audio fades out and doesn’t play again
I’m using an ASUS UX581GV laptop with openSUSE Tumbleweed
uname -a Linux arantinga 6.7.7-1-default #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Mar 1 13:51:21 UTC 2024 (1ff84c5) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
journalctl -b | grep firmware
mar 08 11:43:54 localhost kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4)
mar 08 11:43:58 localhost kernel: iwlwifi 0000:3d:00.0: loaded firmware version 77.ad46c98b.0 cc-a0-77.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
mar 08 11:43:59 localhost kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: Found device firmware: intel/ibt-20-1-3.sfi
mar 08 11:43:59 localhost NetworkManager[1872]: <info> [1709894639.8828] manager[0x55c658490e90]: monitoring kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware'.
mar 08 11:44:00 localhost.localdomain kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: Minimum firmware build 1 week 10 2014
mar 08 11:44:00 localhost.localdomain kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: Found device firmware: intel/ibt-20-1-3.sfi
mar 08 11:44:01 localhost.localdomain kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: Waiting for firmware download to complete
mar 08 11:44:02 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Startup finished in 5.719s (firmware) + 11.270s (loader) + 899ms (kernel) + 3.891s (initrd) + 6.169s (userspace) = 27.950s.
TW 20240306 included updates to pipewire etc. that appears to have changed some setup.
Open a terminal, issue “alsamixer” and check that all relevant volume levels are OK (100%?), just to exclude the obvious.
To me 40% looks pretty low (barely audible in a silent room with a pretty loud ASUS of mine), I wonder if “underwater” describes a low volume or, for instance, a sound lacking treble tones, or both, or …?
Did you see the problem after an update? Or that laptop always performed poorly with Tumbleweed? And did you try other operating systems or other Linux distributions?
As a side note, that UX581GV like many ASUS hi-end laptops features “Audio optimized by xxx” (HK in that case) and that might mean that special software tuning was included with the original setup and a standard Linux config might sound “dull” or “poor” unless you provide an equivalent equalization.
That the sound “fades away” after a few seconds looks like a different problem though.
You may try to issue:
aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/test.wav
in a terminal and play with the master volume and/or the sound control panel in your desktop looking for a decent sound (like an organ and drum playing…).
Is more like a sound lacking treble tones, volume is OK, but it fades out for 2 seconds until you hear nothing.
I suppose the problem has always been there, it is difficult to know, it is intermittent, there are times when it works and others it doesn’t, even restarting several times. I normally use wireless USB headphones that always work well.
I have not tried with another Linux distribution, but on Windows it works fine.
I’ll try this aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/test.wavlater, I’m away from home.
Looks OK to me, maybe @malcolmlewis will be more specific.
You are using KDE/Plasma, there are other reports of sound glitches in the forums recently.
Check in System Settings, Audio > Devices >Ports
or
System Settings, Audio > Advanced
and check if another port or profile works better; you may also test speakers there.
You are using Firefox and Pipewire, maybe the speech dispatcher is keeping pipewire to its lowest sample rate and resolution; not sure this is actually related to your problem, but if you don’t need assistive technology I would disable that.
Type “about:config” in the Firefox address bar, accept the “risk”, then search for media.webspeech.synth.enabled and set it to “false”, then restart firefox.
Let’s see if “sound fading away” is solved after those changes, then we will address the “underwater” feeling, keeping in mind that a “tuned” ASUS laptop will never sound as good with Linux as with the original (expertly tuned) Win* config.
