ZenBook UX461UN (and others), Realtek ALC294, Internal speaker - Sound distorts and then stops working

[NeatNit]

This is a re-opening of Bug #1784485 about a similar or identical issue. I hope I'm doing this right.

That bug was presumably fixed at some point but has reappeared.

What happens: assuming there have been several minutes of no audio at all and the audio device has entered power saving mode, playing any audio (regardless of the source program) will begin to play normally, then be distorted after about 0.5 second, then volume gradually decreases, and after about 5 seconds total - no sound at all anymore.

Comment 26 in Bug #1784485 has reproduction instructions.

I have recorded a 1 kHz sine wave being played (and the resulting distortions), where can I upload this file? If it would even help that is.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: linux-image-5.0.0-36-generic 5.0.0-36.39~18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.0.0-36.39~18.04.1-generic 5.0.21
Uname: Linux 5.0.0-36-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.9
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Nov 30 14:16:51 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-11-02 (27 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20190805)
SourcePackage: linux-signed-hwe
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[NeatNit (neatnit)]

Added the distorted playing of a sine wave. Sine wave was a 10-second file generated by https://www.audiocheck.net/audiofrequencysignalgenerator_sinetone.php

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Gabriel Cabana (cabg2101)]

Marked my post as duplicate. My UX461UA is also affected (probably the same sound card configuration).

[Gabriel Cabana (cabg2101)]

More info that probably applies here (#1857053):

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC294 Analog [ALC294 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xef228000 irq 142

$ hwinfo --sound
17: PCI 1f.3: 0403 Audio device
  [Created at pci.378]
  Unique ID: nS1_.7OVTYSC7G61
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:1f.3
  Hardware Class: sound
  Model: "Intel Audio device"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x9d71
  SubVendor: pci 0x1043 "ASUSTeK Computer Inc."
  SubDevice: pci 0x1c90
  Revision: 0x21
  Driver: "snd_hda_intel"
  Driver Modules: "snd_hda_intel"
  Memory Range: 0xef228000-0xef22bfff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xef200000-0xef20ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 142 (2628 events)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00009D71sv00001043sd00001C90bc04sc03i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: snd_hda_intel is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe snd_hda_intel"
  Driver Info #1:
    Driver Status: snd_soc_skl is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe snd_soc_skl"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown