Terrible sound quality

dave811 · 01-26-2007, 06:00 AM

Hi,

I've just installed Slackware 11.0 and I'm having trouble with my audio. Sound plays but the quality is nowhere near the quality in Windows. When I play an MP3 parts of the song are muffled, especially high pitch parts. Other parts of the song sound fine.

I've tried fiddling with alsamixer and Kmix which doesn't seem to make a difference. I've run alsaconfig and made sure the right sound card is being used. I'm using Amarok to play the files. I've also tried changing the output plugin in Amarok to all the available options as well as changing the audio device in the KDE Control Module. Finally I've also tried disabling the sound system in the KDE Control Module. Nothing makes any difference to the sound quality.

My sound card is an onboard Realtek AC'97. Alsamixer reports the card as "Intel RCH5" and the chip as "Realtek ALC202 rev 0" which seems correct.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this I'd be most appreciative.

titopoquito · 01-26-2007, 06:35 AM

One thing I noticed myself is that in Windows I can put the volume slider to 100 % without a problem, but in Linux I have to put it down to avoid clipping. Maybe try to put the sound volume to 90 % or so and see if it sounds better.

PS: And welcome to linuxquestions.org!

dave811 · 01-26-2007, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titopoquito

One thing I noticed myself is that in Windows I can put the volume slider to 100 % without a problem, but in Linux I have to put it down to avoid clipping. Maybe try to put the sound volume to 90 % or so and see if it sounds better.

I've already got the sound at about 70% but have tried it at other levels. It doesn't seem to make a difference, other than changing the volume.. The volume is already a lot lower than in Windows, I have to turn my amplifier to near maximum which would deafen me in Windows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by titopoquito

PS: And welcome to linuxquestions.org!

Thanks!

187807 · 01-26-2007, 01:04 PM

I've noticed issues with garbled sound at high volumes as well. I'm using a Creative Live Value card in a PCI slot.

I've noticed that if the "PCM Volume" (a mixer element in Kmix) is set to maximum that the distortion occurs at much lower actual volumes (regardless of master volume setting in KDE).

I've also found that, for example, Mplayer, seems to adjust PCM Volume when using the * and / keys to manipulate volume during playback. Not sure about other apps (e.g., Xine & XMMS).

H_TeXMeX_H · 01-26-2007, 06:53 PM

I've never used Amarok or Kmix or much anything in KDE.

However, I would recommend you try using mplayer and go into the preferences and try different audio drivers and see which one works best.

dunric · 01-26-2007, 08:05 PM

I did solved extraneous noise in ALSA audio output by following configuration settings stored in .asoundrc file in home directory:

Code:

pcm.ca0106 {
 type hw
 card 0
}

ctl.ca0106 {
 type hw
 card 0
}

pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave.pcm "myoutput"
    }
 
pcm.myoutput {
    type dmix
    ipc_key 1024
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,0"
        period_time 0
        period_size 1024
        buffer_size 4096
        rate 44100
    }
}

pcm.dsp0 {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "myoutput"
}

and setting of mixer volume and pcm levels to 3/4 .

lunaparadox · 01-26-2007, 09:33 PM

I fixed my sound problems by going to control center sound system and enabling the run with highest possable priority. then moved the buffer slider to the left until it cleared up 23 milliseconds. I'm using SB Audigy pci card. also in kmix turn the slider at the bottom allthe way right then turn up master volume and see if that helps with loudness. My music actually sounds much clearer under linux than windows. wish there were better studio apps for linux can't live without cubase.

dave811 · 01-27-2007, 07:21 AM

Thanks for all your suggestions. I seem to have indirectly fixed the problem. I compiled a new kernel just to see how it's done and when I booted it up my sound was low but I could hear the whole range of the song. I adjusted the volume in the aRts Control Tool to about 80% and in aumix to 90% and it sounds about the same as Windows now. I built support for my sound card into the kernel so perhaps that's what solved it.

Alsamixer now returns:

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

which is a bit worrying but the sounds working and I still have control with other apps, should I be worried about this?