The audio is cutting out every few seconds, but only in specific videos that I watch on YouTube. It seems to affect spoken word only, not music. As if, when the speaker pauses, the sound card thinks there’s no audio and mutes the audio and then when the speaker resumes speaking there is a delay to start the audio again resulting in the audio cutting out. This is just a guess.
To rule out that the problem was not related to Firefox or YouTube, I downloaded the video and played it locally and the problem still happened. So, it appears that the problem is with the sound card and the audio driver or something.
The sound card is “Tiger Lake-H HD Audio Controller” integrated into my laptop. Default install of EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma 6.1. I think the problem started somewhere after KDE Plasma 6 was released as I don’t recall having this problem before.
I just upgraded to KDE Plasma 6.1 and was hoping it would fix it, but unfortunately it did not. I considered doing a reinstall, but that’s a lot of work. So, I decided to ask here first.
Are you able to confirm the issue presents both from the laptop speakers, and when you plug in headphones?
If you have a screen connected to your laptop with a headphone jack, I’d be curious how that behaves too, as the HDMI out may use a different audio controller.
It only occurs when using the laptop speakers. Not when using wired or wireless headphones. I don’t have an external monitor connected with a headphone jack. But the wireless Bluetooth headphones uses a USB dongle.
You might try installing and booting with the LTS kernel (and it’s headers, assuming you’re using the nvidia-dkms drivers), in case the issue is one that was introduced more recently.
A few different kernels, all have the same issue, but no issues on Windows… That rules out hardware, and possibly distro and driver issues. That would leave BIOS/firmware, though drivers aren’t completely ruled out.
Please check if there is an update for your BIOS available. I’m guessing MSI has a specific Windows app for this?
I have sometimes the audio crackling when the processor is under heavy use. Someone said somewhere, it could be because of the frequency scaling. But it only happens for a few seconds.
I think I figured out what the problem is. Apparently, the sound card has some sort of “Smart Amplifier” (like Intel Smart Sound Technology) that doesn’t work properly in Linux. It struggles playing audio with gaps of silence in it resulting in the audio cutting out. This only affects the speaker, which explains why the wired headphones work.
One workaround, although not optimal, is to play background music/sound when listening to audio with gaps of silence in it. This prevents the amplifier from turning off, as there is constant audio. I tested it and it works.
This is why I didn’t completely rule out drivers. Sometimes, more sophisticated/specialised/unique hardware require drivers not yet available on or not fully compatible with Linux.
