If you’re running Fedora 42 (or earlier) and enabling the “Performance” power profile causes distorted, crackling, or glitchy audio, you’re not alone. This issue often affects systems with Intel Skylake or similar chipsets using the snd_hda_intel audio driver.
Here’s how I completely resolved the issue and got clean audio even with maximum CPU performance.
The my Root Cause
This is caused by interrupt latency issues when deep CPU C-states are enabled in combination with the performance governor. In that mode, the CPU may skip certain sleep states, and real-time audio services like PipeWire may suffer timing issues.
Also, some Fedora installations may load SOF (Sound Open Firmware) modules alongside snd_hda_intel, causing subtle driver conflicts—even if only snd_hda_intel appears active.
The Fix
Blacklist SOF audio modules
Create a blacklist file to prevent SOF-related drivers from loading:
sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-blacklist.conf <<EOF
blacklist snd_soc_avs
blacklist snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
blacklist snd_sof_intel_hda_common
blacklist snd_sof_intel_hda
blacklist snd_sof_pci
EOF
Then regenerate the initramfs to apply the changes:
sudo dracut -f
Disable deep C-states via GRUB
Edit your GRUB configuration:
Add this to the end of the quoted string:
intel_idle.max_cstate=1
After reboot: switch to performance mode
You can now safely switch the CPU governor:
Result
- No more distorted audio
- CPU running in
performancemode - Maximum responsiveness and system performance
- No SOF driver conflicts
Tested on:
- Lenovo system with Intel Sunrise Point-LP (8086:9d71)
- Fedora 42 with
snd_hda_intel - PipeWire as the default audio system
