I rebooted, ran pactl list cards, ran alsa force reload, then re-ran the pactl command. Results was as you predicted. The pactl outputs before and after appear below. Here's the before output: Card #0 Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1 Driver: module-alsa-card.c Owner Module: 5 Properties: alsa.card = "1" alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia" alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xfe080000 irq 17" alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel" device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1" sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1" device.bus = "pci" device.vendor.id = "10de" device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation" device.product.id = "0fbc" device.string = "1" device.description = "HDA NVidia" module-udev-detect.discovered = "1" device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci" Profiles: output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5900, available: no) output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no) output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no) output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5700, available: yes) output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5700, available: no) output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 600, available: no) output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 600, available: no) off: Off (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: yes) Active Profile: off Ports: hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority: 5900, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo, output:hdmi-surround, output:hdmi-surround71 hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority: 5800, latency offset: 0 usec, available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" device.product.name = "DELL U2715H " Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo-extra1 hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority: 5700, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo-extra2, output:hdmi-surround-extra2, output:hdmi-surround71-extra2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the after output: Card #0 Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1 Driver: module-alsa-card.c Owner Module: 5 Properties: alsa.card = "1" alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia" alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xfe080000 irq 17" alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel" device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1" sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1" device.bus = "pci" device.vendor.id = "10de" device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation" device.product.id = "0fbc" device.string = "1" device.description = "HDA NVidia" module-udev-detect.discovered = "1" device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci" Profiles: output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5900, available: no) output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no) output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 800, available: no) output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5700, available: yes) output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5700, available: no) output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 600, available: no) output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 600, available: no) off: Off (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: yes) Active Profile: off Ports: hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority: 5900, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo, output:hdmi-surround, output:hdmi-surround71 hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority: 5800, latency offset: 0 usec, available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" device.product.name = "DELL U2715H " Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo-extra1 hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority: 5700, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" Part of profile(s): output:hdmi-stereo-extra2, output:hdmi-surround-extra2, output:hdmi-surround71-extra2 Card #1 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 0xfe320000 irq 35" 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 = "1c20" device.product.name = "6 Series/C200 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: 65, available: yes) output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 6500, available: yes) output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 6565, available: yes) output:analog-surround-21: Analog Surround 2.1 Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 1300, available: no) output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 1365, available: yes) output:analog-surround-40: Analog Surround 4.0 Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 1200, available: no) output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 1265, available: yes) output:analog-surround-41: Analog Surround 4.1 Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 1300, available: no) output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 1365, available: yes) output:analog-surround-50: Analog Surround 5.0 Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 1200, available: no) output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 1265, available: yes) output:analog-surround-51: Analog Surround 5.1 Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 1300, available: no) output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 1365, available: yes) output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (sinks: 1, sources: 0, priority: 5500, available: yes) output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input (sinks: 1, sources: 1, priority: 5565, available: yes) off: Off (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: yes) Active Profile: output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo Ports: analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority: 8500, 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:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo, output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority: 8200, 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:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo, output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo analog-input-linein: Line In (priority: 8100, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Part of profile(s): input:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo, output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority: 9900, latency offset: 0 usec, not available) Part of profile(s): output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-21, output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-40, output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-41, output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-50, output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo, output:analog-surround-51, output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority: 9000, latency offset: 0 usec) Properties: device.icon_name = "audio-headphones" Part of profile(s): output:analog-stereo, output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority: 0, latency offset: 0 usec) Part of profile(s): output:iec958-stereo, output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo