I have a Cinebar One speaker system with build-in sound card connected to my computers USB port. It gets recognized without any issue when I press the "Front Right/Front Left" Speaker Test buttons in KDE's audio settings I can hear the friendly lady's voice telling me that it works. speaker-test from the terminal also works. Except from the edits I already did to various config files (described at the end), this is a clean and fresh install of Manjaro 18.0.2 (updates installed) with Kernel 4.19.28-1.
However every other application produces no sound and when another application runs at the same time (like vlc) the speaker test will go silent. I configured it exactly like on my laptop, where it works without issue.
Screenshot of KDE-Audio-Config - Advanced-Tab
Screenshot of KDE-Audio-Config - Applications-Tab
Screenshot of KDE-Audio-Config - Devices-Tab
First I checked if maybe the wrong source and sinks are used with pactl info:
Server String: unix:/run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 32
Server Protocol Version: 32
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 82
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: takiro
Host Name: takiro-desktop
Server Name: pulseaudio
Server Version: 12.2
Default Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo
Default Source: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo.monitor
Cookie: 5ca7:421f
Default Sink and Default Source are correct, the other settings too, as far as I can tell.
Then I thought that the applications maybe use the wrong sink regardless or maybe was muted or corked.
I checked this with pactl list sink-inputs while an application (VLC) was running
Sink Input #94
Driver: protocol-native.c
Owner Module: 13
Client: 79
Sink: 24
Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 44100Hz
Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Format: pcm, format.rate = "44100" format.sample_format = "\"float32le\"" format.channels = "2" format.channel_map = "\"front-left,front-right\""
Corked: no
Mute: no
Volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB
balance 0,00
Buffer Latency: 339659 usec
Sink Latency: 48859 usec
Resample method: copy
Properties:
media.role = "video"
media.name = "audio stream"
application.name = "VLC media player (LibVLC 3.0.6)"
native-protocol.peer = "UNIX socket client"
native-protocol.version = "32"
application.id = "org.VideoLAN.VLC"
application.version = "3.0.6"
application.icon_name = "vlc"
application.language = "en_US.UTF-8"
application.process.id = "4215"
application.process.user = "takiro"
application.process.host = "takiro-desktop"
application.process.binary = "vlc"
window.x11.display = ":0"
application.process.machine_id = "34b82a1eb1ad4ab48c8d7c2b845005f6"
application.process.session_id = "2"
module-stream-restore.id = "sink-input-by-media-role:video"
As you can see it neither muted nor is it corked. Double checking what sink: 24 actually is, I ran pactl list sinks
Sink #24
State: RUNNING
Name: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo
Description: Teufel Cinebar One Digital Stereo (IEC958)
Driver: module-alsa-card.c
Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Owner Module: 32
Mute: no
Volume: front-left: 65506 / 100% / -0,01 dB, front-right: 65506 / 100% / -0,01 dB
balance 0,00
Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB
Monitor Source: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo.monitor
Latency: 48456 usec, configured 40000 usec
Flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY SET_FORMATS
Properties:
alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
device.api = "alsa"
device.class = "sound"
alsa.class = "generic"
alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
alsa.name = "USB Audio"
alsa.id = "USB Audio"
alsa.subdevice = "0"
alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
alsa.device = "0"
alsa.card = "1"
alsa.card_name = "Teufel Cinebar One"
alsa.long_card_name = "Teufel Cinebar One at usb-0000:00:14.0-8, full speed"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_usb_audio"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:8:1.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-8/2-8:1.0/sound/card1"
udev.id = "usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00"
device.bus = "usb"
device.vendor.id = "2cc2"
device.vendor.name = "2cc2"
device.product.id = "0005"
device.product.name = "Teufel Cinebar One"
device.serial = "2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789"
device.string = "iec958:1"
device.buffering.buffer_size = "352800"
device.buffering.fragment_size = "176400"
device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
device.profile.name = "iec958-stereo"
device.profile.description = "Digital Stereo (IEC958)"
device.description = "Teufel Cinebar One Digital Stereo (IEC958)"
alsa.mixer_name = "USB Mixer"
alsa.components = "USB2cc2:0005"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-usb"
Ports:
iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority: 0)
Active Port: iec958-stereo-output
Formats:
pcm
Correct device and sink.
pactl list sources also didn't gave me a hint.
Source #24
State: IDLE
Name: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo.monitor
Description: Monitor of Teufel Cinebar One Digital Stereo (IEC958)
Driver: module-alsa-card.c
Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Owner Module: 32
Mute: no
Volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB
balance 0,00
Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0,00 dB
Monitor of Sink: alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo
Latency: 0 usec, configured 2000000 usec
Flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
Properties:
device.description = "Monitor of Teufel Cinebar One Digital Stereo (IEC958)"
device.class = "monitor"
alsa.card = "1"
alsa.card_name = "Teufel Cinebar One"
alsa.long_card_name = "Teufel Cinebar One at usb-0000:00:14.0-8, full speed"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_usb_audio"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:8:1.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-8/2-8:1.0/sound/card1"
udev.id = "usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00"
device.bus = "usb"
device.vendor.id = "2cc2"
device.vendor.name = "2cc2"
device.product.id = "0005"
device.product.name = "Teufel Cinebar One"
device.serial = "2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789"
device.string = "1"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-usb"
Formats:
pcm
alsamixer also does not show any unusual channels or something.
Alsa mixer screenshot
The weird thing is, I tested the sound card and speakers with my laoptop which also runs the latest Manjaro with KDE-Plasma and it works just fine. That's why I reinstalled my desktop (that was previously using Manjaro with XFCE) and hoped it would work now too, but guess what it doesn't.
I already checked some configs but as far as I can tell they are configured exactly the same. So, it's not muted and volume is at 100% but still no sound.
In the end installing a new system install did help with my "device is busy" issue, I still have no sound with my desktop computer.
I find a lot of posts on the internet with similar problems but usually it was a muted channel or a missing library, I tried the solutions but they didn't work for me. I also checked https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio/Troubleshooting for possible solutions.
Edit
What I tried in the meantime, without success:
- Checked the logs for errors and found
No object for name "alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo.monitor". Searching for solutions to this didn't yield any result's I didn't tried already. - Blacklisted the Kernel-Module
snd_hda_intelto prevent the Nvidia Audio from interfering. My USB sound card is now my only sound card recognized by the system but no change. - I added
set-card-profile alsa_card.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00 output:iec958-stereoandset-sink-port alsa_output.usb-2cc2_Teufel_Cinebar_One_ABCDEF0123456789-00.iec958-stereo iec958-stereo-outputto the end of/etc/pulse/default.pa. Issue remains. - I commented out
load-module module-detect,load-module module-role-corkandload-module module-switch-on-port-available - installed and tried
apulse <application>. Still no sound. ran
fuser -v /dev/snd/*to check for offending applicatins/dev/snd/controlC0: takiro 3727 F.... pulseaudio /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: takiro 3727 F...m pulseaudio- added my user to the
audiogroup. - removed everything in
~/.config/pulse/and restarted pulseaudio
Only change so far:
VLC, firefox and other applications produce sound but only as long as speaker-test is running from the terminal at the same time. Unfortunately I'm not sure when exactly that happened.
