[SOLVED] Arch Linux, ThinkPad T590: Microphone crackling with pipewire

AKM512 · 08-20-2023, 01:38 PM

My laptop's microphone takes a harsh and crackling sound when I attempt to use it to record myself. Playing audio from YouTube/PeerTube/Signal/Telegram calls/etc. all work fine (e.g. there is nothing wrong with my speakers), but recording produces a crackling sound.

I am using Pipewire for audio; I attempted to switch to PulseAudio briefly to solve the issue, but that didn't help (and the sound output from my laptop was significantly worse in quality.) Under

Code:

/etc/pipewire

, there are no .conf files, only .conf.d files.

Code:

/etc/modprobe.d ls

also produces no output, and likewise with

Code:

/etc/pulse ls

only

Code:

client.conf

(and leftover default.pa~ from when I shifted to pulseaudio) are present.

Note: The same poor microphone quality and good speaker quality dichotomy also exists in my Fedora 38 virtual machine with QEMU/KVM.

AKM512 · 08-20-2023, 02:02 PM

Output of

Code:

pactl info

:

Code:

Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 340
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: user
Host Name: archlinux
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 0.3.77)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.5.analog-stereo
Default Source: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.5.analog-stereo
Cookie: a308:3edd

Output of inxi -Faz (audio section only):

Code:

Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9dc8
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.4.11-arch1-1 status: kernel-api tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.77 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl

Code:

[user@archlinux ~]$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xcd73c000 irq 166

Output of amixer:

Code:

[user@archlinux ~]$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 64538 [98%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 64538 [98%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
  Front Left: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]

AKM512 · 08-20-2023, 03:24 PM

I realized the solution was actually very simple: In alsamixer, set the internal microphone to dB gain: 0.00 .

For any future reference:

Run
Code:
```
alsamixer
```
F6
Navigate to correct sound card (in my case, HDA Intel PCH)
Go to Internal Mic
Set Master [db gain] to 0.00

Marking as solved now.