Audio sounds weird after update

[Noroc]

I am not sure what I need to check, but ever since I did a update in the last week or month my audio is way off. I already messed with the line out settings in system settings but it cant be fixed.

People singing lyrics in music videos sounds muffled
Discord voice are muffled

Has anyone else ran into this issue?
What do I need to look into?

Currently I am wired via the line out port of my motherboard.

I just tried bluetooth with the same headset and it sounds correct.

Its only when its hardwired to the computer.

[Bink]

Perhaps share some of these (paste the output in as pre-formatted text, not screenshots please).

Audio hardware details:

inxi -Axx

Playback devices:

aplay -l

[Noroc]

@Bink

aplay -l

[Bink]

@Bink

paste the output in as pre-formatted text, not screenshots please

You might try following some of the troubleshooting steps here, there’s quite a number that address volume and poor sound quality:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture/Troubleshooting

[Noroc]

Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA102 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com.
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0b:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:1aef
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
  API: ALSA v: k6.10.2-arch1-1 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.1 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin
<PRE>
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [VG27A]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[Bink]

The simplest way:

[Bink]

I wonder if you and @pzc might be experiencing the same issue. Both have been post-update, and both have resulted in muffled and “distorted and quiet” sound.

Bluetooth Audio issues after update

My system and bluetooth headphones were solid since I installed maybe 1.5 years ago? I went an extended period of time without upgrades, a few months. This last update included a Plasma upgrade to 6.1. I’m not sure if that’s what did it but now my bluetooth audio is extremely quiet. And when pushing audio over volume it’s distorted and quiet. Where can I look? Is there a different audio driver I can pull in? Maybe alternate bluetooth driver? Speaker volume seems perfectly fine. :p…

[Bink]

Is anything improved if you run:

systemctl --user restart pipewire
systemctl --user restart pipewire-pulse

Also this might seem strange, but you can also try muting, then un-muting. This is an issue a number of users (including myself) are experiencing on certain devices.

[Noroc]

Thank you, I was over thinking the pre-formatting thing…

[Noroc]

Nope those commands did not work, here is some screenshots that maybe explain it better.

I don’t issue with Bluetooth audio like the earlier post, I have a issue with wired audio.

If the volume is set even from 0 - 150%, I barley hear anything from a youtube video.

If the volume is set uneven, I can hear the people speaking in a youtube video.

but its not really a solution, more of a work around as sounds are not even.

[Bink]

Just in case it’s something simple, have you checked your per-application volume, to make sure that’s not offsetting your general volume?

Now based on your screenshot, can I assume you’re using speakers? Are you able to test your sound with a pair of wired headphones? It’d be good to see if this may be line-out/surround related, by testing with headphone/stereo.

[Noroc]

Nope not speakers, I can probably dig one up from storage.

I use headphones that can do Bluetooth or wired.

My preferred method is to have them wired.

I tried messing with applications, I don’t think that did anything.

Worse case scenario I can wait a bit until a update fixes it. This isn’t the first time a update gave some weird audio issue to me.

[Bink]

@Noroc

Nope not speakers, I can probably dig one up from storage.

I use headphones that can do Bluetooth or wired.

My preferred method is to have them wired.

All good, no need to dig anything up just yet I think.

The output and profile you’ve selected would seem to be appropriate for speakers though, so I wonder that might need adjusting.

Ideally, they should be getting picked up as headphones, not line-out (for correct amplification), and I would also try testing with stereo output, not surround 2.1 (even if the headphones claim to be “surround”).

To achieve true “surround” on headphones, you’ll need a digital connection. An analogue stereo jack isn’t going to accomplish that.