[solved] Sound card and driver

[Member banned]

Hi

I notice that the sound rattles through the speakers at high volume. Not so with headphones. I wonder if it’s the driver or if the speakers are just not better.

Here is my inxi -Fxzr:

$ inxi -Fxzr
System:
  Host: antix1 Kernel: 4.9.235-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: IceWM 1.8.3 
  Distro: antiX-19.3_x64-full Manolis Glezos 15 October 2020 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite L305 v: PSLB8U-0SVAR1 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: TOSHIBA model: Portable PC serial: <filter> BIOS: INSYDE v: 1.80 
  date: 03/20/2009 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 18.8 Wh condition: 19.2/22.2 Wh (86%) 
  model: PA3533U-1BRS status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Single Core model: Intel 585 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom 
  rev: D L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 4322 
  Speed: 2161 MHz min/max: N/A Core speed (MHz): 1: 2161 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics 
  vendor: Toshiba America Info Systems driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel resolution: 1280x800~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express v: 2.1 Mesa 18.3.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Toshiba America Info Systems 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.9.235-antix.1-amd64-smp 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Toshiba America Info Systems RTL810xE driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI 
  port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8187B Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: rtl8187 
  bus ID: 2-6:2 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 149.05 GiB used: 8.83 GiB (5.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD1600BEVS-26VAT0 
  size: 149.05 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 77.25 GiB used: 8.83 GiB (11.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list 
  1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/antix/buster buster main nonfree nosystemd
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ buster main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buster-backports.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
  1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
  1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free
  2: deb http://security.debian.org/ buster/updates main contrib non-free
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/onion.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera-stable.list 
  1: deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 162 Uptime: 6m Memory: 927.4 MiB used: 506.3 MiB (54.6%) 
  Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 
  inxi: 3.0.36 

Do you think there is a better driver? Or do I have to live with it? It’s not that bad on deep volume.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by christophe. Reason: marked solved at original poster's request

[Anonymous]

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I wonder if it’s the driver or if the speakers are just not better.

have you investigated the available adjustments?

[Member banned]

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@skidoo

The first yes, the second no. Equalizer is all in default, no problems. Mixer I tryed a bit. The problem is just with the speakers, if I put it on high volume. So I think it is just like this and the speakers get to much with high volume. Or do you know a nother driver for this sound card?

[Member Wallon]

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Dear JSM,

The sound should not be pushed above 90% to 95% on the “Master” volume icon. This is a known phenomenon.
As I have a Logitech stereo system with bass booster, I adjust the level with an external knob on the speakers.
I also tested my LG 5.1 home theater (1200 watts) with Antix. It’s the same thing.

Best regards,
Wallon

[Member banned]

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@Wallon

Thank you, Wallon.

I was wondering if the volume controls in the mixer are logarithmic scale? If I regulate the master, the effect is very small up to about 60. The effect increases sharply above 60. Volume controls should be linear, this is easier for the user.

[Anonymous]

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do you know a nother driver for this sound card?

Across the past decade, I don’t recall ever having a need to seek an alternative soundcard driver. Last time I can recall was waaaaay back, chasing a driver for a soundblasterizer AudigyGoldPlusplusMasterElite (or some similar silly name) card.

Volume controls should be linear

It’s not a perfect world, and no one reading this forum is in the position to alter the code within the upstream-authored alsa utilities programs. They have a project website, and a mailing list, and they are ACTIVELY SEEKING ASSISTANCE toward maintaining the project. I’ve recently posted a link, will repeat here a direct link to their wiki mainpage https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Main_Page

[Member banned]

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I see. I’m just talking about the representation of the slider in the mixer. If it is logarithmic it means that 0-1 have the same distance as 1-10, 10-100, etc. But this is difficult for the user. The user wants 20 to mean he hears 20% of the total volume … as it is “felt” (heard). Otherwise the regulation in the lower area of the controller is very fine, in the upper area it is very coarse, which means that a small increase in the upper area changes the volume very strongly. This means that the user cannot make fine adjustments in the upper area because he cannot move the mouse as little as would be necessary.

In my case, I have pre-amp at 45. This means that the speakers on Master Maximun don’t rattle. But if I turn the master down to 40, then nothing can be heard anymore. So I’m losing 40% of the scale.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by banned.

[Moderator christophe]

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In my case, I have pre-amp at 45. This means that …

I concur. It’s odd on some computers. Some more than others, in my own experience.
Many times, it’s the speakers that can be “fixed” — using headphones, earbuds, or good external speakers can make a great difference.

(Sometimes just a lot of tweaking the pre-amp, the master, and the speaker volume control — for example, on this computer I’m using now.)

Just saying that you’re not alone, brother.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member banned]

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@christophe

I’ll take a closer look at this ALSA. There is sure to be a tool with which you can change the settings, or instructions on the files in which you can edit it. There has to be some way of influencing the regulators. The maximum volume of the master probably comes from pre-amp. If you turn down the master, it does so in 64 steps. But it is not clear what kind of steps these are. Is it dB or is it %?

[Member banned]

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I’m getting closer to the matter 🙂

https://github.com/Spotifyd/spotifyd/issues/100

https://github.com/Spotifyd/spotifyd/issues/101

So there is an alsa_linear and it does what we need 🙂 But where do we need it? In any config file?

/usr/share/alsa ?
/etc/asound.conf ?

I can’t find any instructions on how to get started. Is there an alsa specialist here?

[Member banned]

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What we need is a linear mapping of the logarithmic dB volume curve on the volume control bar. In the attachment a graphic which should clarify it. So it needs an “interface” between the physical volume of the sound card and the graphic volume control bar. It can be solved with a simple table. And it doesn’t matter if it’s not exact. Approach is sufficient.

Attachments:

1. 

   screenshot-1.png
   

[Anonymous]

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https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture

High quality resampling

When software mixing is enabled, ALSA is forced to resample everything to the same frequency (48 kHz by default when supported). By default, it will try to use the speexrate converter to do so, and fallback to low-quality linear interpolation if it is not available[6]. Thus, if you are getting poor sound quality due to bad resampling, the problem can be solved by simply installing the alsa-plugins package.

For even higher quality resampling, you can change the default rate converter to speexrate_medium or speexrate_best. Both perform well enough that in practice it does not matter which one you choose, so using the best converter is usually not worth the extra CPU cycles it requires.

To change the default converter place the following contents in your ~/.asoundrc or /etc/asound.conf:

/etc/asound.conf

defaults.pcm.rate_converter “speexrate_medium”

[Member banned]

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@skidoo

Ok, I added the line in asound.conf, at the end. Does the sound sound better now? Maybe 😉

I wanted to install alsa plugins, but syaptic doesn’t have it. So I downloaded it and then integrated it into synaptic. I don’t know if it really worked. But I found a “libasound2-plugins” and I have it installed and I think it’s the same. Or not?

Then I found this. There is a “linear” plugin here. But I can’t make sense of the description.

https://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm_plugins.html

Maybe I should just live with the fact that my master volume control has little effect in the lower range and a lot in the upper range?

If you want a volume control that can be adjusted from 0-100% (linear), then you first have to define the maximum volume. This is done in the pre-amp. This value in dB then serves as 100% of the master. If the user sets the master to 34, this means that the user wants to hear 34% of the maximum volume. Of course, this is not just 34% of the dB value! The correct dB value must be calculated, relative to the maximum volume (pre-amp). To do this, you have to consider these things:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness

Loudness calculation
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautheitsberechnung

As I have already written, an approximate value would also suffice. But my knowledge of programming is almost NULL and my patience with plugins and config files will soon run out 🙂

But I think it shouldn’t be a problem for an intelligent programmer to program such an interface between the graphical volume control and the physical volume of the loudspeakers. The volume control in % of the maximum volume (linear), the loudspeaker logarithmic. Maximum volume with pre-amp setting.

Have a nice Sunday 🙂

[Member ModdIt]

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But I think it shouldn’t be a problem for an intelligent programmer to program such an interface between the graphical volume control and the physical volume of the loudspeakers. The volume control in % of the maximum volume (linear), the loudspeaker logarithmic. Maximum volume with pre-amp setting.

If you are talking of a programmer with a known amplifier, a single pair of stero speakers, an ideal room, an ideal source and amp, to a certain extent possible.
Except none of those exist.

Speakers, open baffle, closed box bassrefleyx transmission line horn and many combinations of that list, crossover, driver housing, baffle horn design and damping or whatever combination you have are depending on room, resonances, room, furnishing, dimensions, speaker distance from reflective surfaces and about a million other factors.

anything but an it should be easy. And I did not even talk about the state of the listeners ears which in the modern world is usualy abyssmal.

Alsa on antiX does a very good job, good enough for a pro studio or so called high end exotics which were my hobby along with building some more than decent speakes for a long time.

[Anonymous]

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“I wanted to install alsa plugins, but syaptic doesn’t have it.
[..]
libasound2-plugins” and I have it installed and I think it’s the same. Or not?

based on a comparison of the installed files provided by libasound2-plugins
https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/libasound2-plugins/filelist
and the docs present within the alsa-plugins source package
https://sources.debian.org/src/alsa-plugins/1.1.8-1/doc/
they seem to be identical

While searching, I also noticed that the linked “bug reports” and “debian changelog” pages
https://packages.debian.org/sid/libasound2-plugins
for libasound2-plugins are actually labeled “alsa-plugins” (vs libasound2-plugins)

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