[OptiPlex 9020, Realtek ALC280, Green Line Out, Rear] tinny sound

[Philip Johnson]

Sound equalization is normal when using jack in front of computer, but is "tinny" (i.e., low/nonexistent bass and midtones) when using rear output jack with simple two channel headphones.

Jack sense is working correctly because the internal speaker cuts out when a cable is plugged into the rear jack (or front jack, for that matter).

Note Dell's website says this computer has a Realtek ALC3220, as opposed to the ALC280 which is detected by linux. This is a clean install of 14.04, so I unfortunately I can't boot into Windows to observe its behavior.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-45.74-generic 3.13.11-ckt13
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-45-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Feb 24 12:31:49 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-01-30 (25 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_Jack: Green Line Out, Rear
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: High background noise, or volume is too low
Title: [OptiPlex 9020, Realtek ALC280, Green Line Out, Rear] Background noise or low volume
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/20/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: 06X1TJ
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA09:bd11/20/2014:svnDellInc.:pnOptiPlex9020:pvr01:rvnDellInc.:rn06X1TJ:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: OptiPlex 9020
dmi.product.version: 01
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

as your desktop have line out, headphone and internal speaker but only two playback volume control

you need yo use latest alsa driver and pulseaudio which use LO+Speaker Playback volume instead of PCM Playback volume

Node 0x02 [Audio Output] wcaps 0x41d: Stereo Amp-Out
  Control: name="PCM Playback Volume", index=0, device=0
    ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=Out, idx=0, ofs=0
  Device: name="ALC280 Analog", type="Audio", device=0
  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x57, nsteps=0x57, stepsize=0x02, mute=0
  Amp-Out vals: [0x24 0x24]
  Converter: stream=8, channel=0
  PCM:
    rates [0x560]: 44100 48000 96000 192000
    bits [0xe]: 16 20 24
    formats [0x1]: PCM
  Power states: D0 D1 D2 D3 EPSS
  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
Node 0x03 [Audio Output] wcaps 0x41d: Stereo Amp-Out
  Control: name="Headphone Playback Volume", index=0, device=0
    ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=Out, idx=0, ofs=0
  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x57, nsteps=0x57, stepsize=0x02, mute=0
  Amp-Out vals: [0x24 0x24]
  Converter: stream=8, channel=0
  PCM:
    rates [0x560]: 44100 48000 96000 192000
    bits [0xe]: 16 20 24
    formats [0x1]: PCM
  Power states: D0 D1 D2 D3 EPSS
  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0

[Philip Johnson (grrrats)]

Thanks for your reply. I tried the latest ALSA driver from the daily DKMS build and, while that indeed adds an additional volume (speaker), the equalization from the rear plug is still highly skewed as before.

Also, the latest ALSA (as well as the version in the utopic HWE kernel via linux-generic-lts-utopic, which I also tried) correctly identifies my Realtek ALC3220 -- although my reading of the kernel mailing lists makes me think that the naming is just an alias that doesn't change anything under the hood vs. ALC280.

[Philip Johnson (grrrats)]

Similar bug reports describing loss of low-frequency sounds on ALC3220:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2172061
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1133321
Launchpad bug 1404731

These reports/discussion do not identify any definitive solution (there is a theme of toggling the speaker mute/unmute setting, which I tried to no avail). Please let me know if any further information would be helpful.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

can you use hda-analyzer to increase the volume sliders at node 0x02 ?

maximum should be 0x57 but your values only at 0x24

Control: name="PCM Playback Volume", index=0, device=0
     ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=Out, idx=0, ofs=0
   Device: name="ALC280 Analog", type="Audio", device=0
   Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x57, nsteps=0x57, stepsize=0x02, mute=0
   Amp-Out vals: [0x24 0x24]

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 36 [41%] [-38.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [on]
  Front Right: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[John Cottier (j-cottier)]

Same here on a Dell T1700 that has the same chip Realtek ALC280, sound card HDA Intel PCH on 14.04 64 bit.
Tinny and distorted on main rear output jack, perfect on the front headphone jack.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

   1.611977] autoconfig: line_outs=1 (0x1b/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:line
[ 1.611979] speaker_outs=1 (0x14/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[ 1.611980] hp_outs=1 (0x15/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[ 1.611980] mono: mono_out=0x0
[ 1.611981] inputs:
[ 1.611982] Front Mic=0x1a
[ 1.611982] Rear Mic=0x18

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/commit/sound/pci/hda?id=03ad6a8c93b6df2d65c305b5b5f9474068b45bfb

you need this parch to change pcm playback volume to speaker+lo playback volume if speaker and line out share the volume control

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

use hdajacksensetest to verify node 0x15 is headphone and node 0x1b is line out when you plug and unplug the headphone and line out

[John Cottier (j-cottier)]

I have alsa-utils and alsa-tools, but neither has hdajacksensetest included in them. However I do have an output from HDA-analyzer :-

HDA Analyzer :-

Node 0x1b [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40058f: Stereo Amp-In Amp-Out
  Control: name="PCM Playback Switch", index=0, device=0
    ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=1, idx=0, ofs=0
  Control: iface="card", name="Line Out Jack", index=0, device=0
  Amp-In caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x03, stepsize=0x2f, mute=0
  Amp-In vals: [0x00 0x00]
  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
  Amp-Out vals: [0x00 0x00]
  Pincap 0x00003734: IN OUT Detect
    Vref caps: HIZ 50 GRD 80 100
  Pin Default 0x01014020: [Jack] Line Out at Ext Rear
    Conn = 1/8, Color = Green
    DefAssociation = 0x2, Sequence = 0x0
  Pin-ctls: 0x40: OUT VREF_HIZ
  Unsolicited: tag=0x02, enabled=1
  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
  Connection: 2
     0x0c* 0x0d

Node 0x15 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40058d: Stereo Amp-Out
  Control: name="Headphone Playback Switch", index=0, device=0
    ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=1, idx=0, ofs=0
  Control: iface="card", name="Front Headphone Jack", index=0, device=0
  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
  Amp-Out vals: [0x00 0x00]
  Pincap 0x0001001c: OUT HP EAPD Detect
  EAPD 0x2: EAPD
  Pin Default 0x0221401f: [Jack] HP Out at Ext Front
    Conn = 1/8, Color = Green
    DefAssociation = 0x1, Sequence = 0xf
  Pin-ctls: 0xc0: OUT HP
  Unsolicited: tag=0x01, enabled=1
  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
  Connection: 2
     0x0c 0x0d*

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-tools.git;a=tree;f=hdajacksensetest;hb=HEAD

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/tree/src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common

[Element PCM] is common to all paths

you need the above patch to change the name of volume control and switch to Speaker+LO

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This issue has sat incomplete for more than 60 days now. I'm going to close it as invalid. Please feel free re-open if this is still an issue for you. Thank you.