Score:0

Broken Sound On Headphones

kz flag

I've got a 2012 MacBook (10.1). The sound coming out of the speakers is alright. The sound coming out of the headphones is "broken". It's just like as if only a part of the signal is coming through. When I listen to songs, the voice is quite silent. Maybe, the "mid" signal is missing and only the "side" signal is coming through, but it sounds a bit mono-ish. Though some sound is there, I have checked many "no sound" questions already to make sure it is not a general driver thing.

At first I was irritated to find two soundcards in my computer and I wondered if they might be conflicting. But the second one is for the HDMI port, so I guess this is not the issue here.

I can imagine that it is just a hardware problem. The headphones jack seems to be alright - there is no change in sound if I push the cable slightly in different directions. Still, it could be a broken circuit or just conducting dust in the jack. (The problem persists for different headphones whereas the headphones are working fine on other devices.)

I want to make sure if I can fix it or not.

  • Are there ways to configure the channels (left and right) of a soundcard? (Remember, that "mid" and "side" are only sum and difference of left and right.)
  • Any other ideas what to check or configure?

Here are some console outputs:

$ pacmd list-cards
2 card(s) available.

index: 0
name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
owner module: 7
properties:
    alsa.card = "1"
    alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
    alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xc1080000 irq 17"
    alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
    device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
    sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
    device.bus = "pci"
    device.vendor.id = "10de"
    device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation"
    device.product.id = "0e1b"
    device.product.name = "GK107 HDMI Audio Controller"
    device.string = "1"
    device.description = "GK107 HDMI Audio Controller"
    module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
    device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    ...
index: 1
name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
owner module: 8
properties:
    alsa.card = "0"
    alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
    alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xc1c10000 irq 54"
    alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
    device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
    sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
    device.bus = "pci"
    device.vendor.id = "8086"
    device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
    device.product.id = "1e20"
    device.product.name = "7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller"
    device.form_factor = "internal"
    device.string = "0"
    device.description = "Eingebautes Tongerät"
    module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
    device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    profiles:
    HiFi: Play HiFi quality Music (priority 40768, available: unknown)
    off: Aus (priority 0, available: unknown)
active profile: <HiFi>
sinks:
    alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.HiFi__hw_PCH__sink/#0: Eingebautes Tongerät Speaker + Headphones
sources:
    alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.HiFi__hw_PCH__sink.monitor/#0: Monitor of Eingebautes Tongerät Speaker + Headphones
    alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.HiFi__hw_PCH__source/#1: Eingebautes Tongerät Headphones Stereo Microphone
ports:
    [Out] Speaker: Speaker (priority 100, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
        properties:
            
    [Out] Headphones: Headphones (priority 200, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
        properties:
            
    [In] Mic2: Headphones Stereo Microphone (priority 200, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
        properties:

$ aplay -l
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (PLAYBACK) ****
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 0: CS4206 Analog [CS4206 Analog]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 1: CS4206 Digital [CS4206 Digital]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
Karte 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], Gerät 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
...

$ sudo lshw -short | grep multimedia
/0/100/1/0.1                    multimedia     GK107 HDMI Audio Controller
/0/100/1a/1/1/1                 multimedia     FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
/0/100/1b                       multimedia     7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller

$ sudo lshw -html
id: 
multimedia
Beschreibung:   Audio device
Produkt:    GK107 HDMI Audio Controller
Hersteller: NVIDIA Corporation
Physische ID:   
0.1
Bus-Informationen:  
pci@0000:01:00.1
Version:    a1
Breite: 32 bits
Takt:   33MHz
Fähigkeiten:    pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
Konfiguration:  
driver  =   snd_hda_intel
latency =   0
Ressourcen: 
irq :   17
memory  :   c1080000-c1083fff

id: 
multimedia
Beschreibung:   Audio device
Produkt:    7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
Hersteller: Intel Corporation
Physische ID:   
1b
Bus-Informationen:  
pci@0000:00:1b.0
Version:    04
Breite: 64 bits
Takt:   33MHz
Fähigkeiten:    pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
Konfiguration:  
driver  =   snd_hda_intel
latency =   0
Ressourcen: 
irq :   54
memory  :   c1c10000-c1c13fff

$ dmesg | grep snd
[    4.292305] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.301855] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.301951] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Disabling MSI
[    4.301958] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[    4.465778] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    4.465862] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: bound 0000:01:00.0 (ops nv50_audio_component_bind_ops [nouveau])
[    4.484481] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for CS4206: line_outs=2 (0xb/0xa/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:speaker
[    4.484485] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    4.484487] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=1 (0x9/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    4.484488] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    4.484489] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    dig-out=0x10/0x0
[    4.484490] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[    4.484492] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:      Mic=0xe

EDIT 11.11.2022 20:51 CET

I ran the alsa-info script (wget http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh -O alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh) for additional information. Results are here.

uz flag
Jos
It sounds as if the left and right signals are 180 degrees out of phase. That causes the sounds in the middle of the stereo field, where vocals usually live, to be cancelled. This can only be a hardware problem, as I know of no OS level process or option to reverse the phase.
philburns avatar
kz flag
@Jos That could indeed be the issue. For the moment, I can't check it out, but will do some measurements soon, if the problem persists. Thanks!
philburns avatar
kz flag
@Jos I can confirm that phase is part of the problem here. Flipping the phase of one channel in PulseEffects results in a spectrally intact sound. I reset alsa and pulseaudio to default settings to exclude any misconfiguration caused by myself. Still, it remains fully mono. Do you have any further idea?
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

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Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.