Left ear audio very low volume

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1

Around 4 days ago I did some updates using the discover centre and found that the audio in my left ear for my TRUTHEAR x Crinacle ZERO:RED IEMs was incredibly quiet vs the normal volume in my right ear.

The IEMs are plugged into a 3.5mm socket at the front of my PC. I have tested it using a set of speakers and the audio is fine.
I have also tested the IEMs on numerous other devices and the audio is fine.
This makes me believe that the updates I did triggered this issue, but from what I understand the discover centre does not provide a history of what packages get updated.

Typing pipewire in the terminal outputs this:

[E][15:52:38.110499] mod.protocol-native | [module-protocol-:  803 lock_socket()] server 0x55b57df2fc40: unable to lock lockfile '/run/user/1000/pipewire-0.lock': Resource temporarily unavailable (maybe another daemon is running)
[E][15:52:38.110683] pw.conf      | [          conf.c:  602 load_module()] 0x55b57df0fb70: could not load mandatory module "libpipewire-module-protocol-native": Resource temporarily unavailable
[E][15:52:38.110785] default      | [      pipewire.c:  124 main()] failed to create context: Resource temporarily unavailable

Entering:

systemctl --user status pipewire.service pipewire-pulse.service wireplumber.service

Outputs:

● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service.d
             └─00-uresourced.conf
             /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-04-11 15:51:52 BST; 12min ago
 Invocation: 68dd0f94121b43db869737188890bc16
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 2572 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 76868)
     Memory: 7.5M (peak: 8.7M)
        CPU: 72ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─2572 /usr/bin/pipewire

Apr 11 15:51:52 fedora systemd[2001]: Started pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service.

● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-04-11 15:51:52 BST; 12min ago
 Invocation: 324f6cb05276456abc4bb4962886d12f
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire-pulse.socket
   Main PID: 2579 (pipewire-pulse)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 76868)
     Memory: 5.3M (peak: 5.6M)
        CPU: 37ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-pulse.service
             └─2579 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse

Apr 11 15:51:52 fedora systemd[2001]: Started pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio.

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-04-11 15:51:52 BST; 12min ago
 Invocation: 526bd94039a34967a228c34f8856bc18
   Main PID: 2577 (wireplumber)
      Tasks: 9 (limit: 76868)
     Memory: 7.6M (peak: 9.4M)
        CPU: 275ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/wireplumber.service
             └─2577 /usr/bin/wireplumber

Apr 11 15:51:52 fedora systemd[2001]: Started wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager.
Apr 11 15:51:53 fedora wireplumber[2577]: [0:00:20.749954706] [2577]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:330 libcamera v0.5.2
Apr 11 15:51:53 fedora wireplumber[2577]: [0:00:20.762286999] [2679]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:220 Adding camera '\_SB_.PCI0.GPP1.PTXH.RHUB.PO10-6:1.0-046d:08e3' for pipeline handler uvcvideo

I can provide my fpaste log if it’ll help, I didn’t include it because the post will get very long.
EDIT: On the second day of this issue being present, when I first booted up my PC the issue had fixed itself for ~1 hour before coming back. The issue has not fixed itself since then.

2

Some systems support either stereo headphones or a microphone headset with only one earpiece. I have Dell system that has that and sometimes when connecting headphones there is a popup from the system firmware asking which type of device I am using. Check the manual for your system.

3

I believe stereo headphones are supported. Stereo output is also selected in the audio settings. To add to my post, the audio had been fine since June of last year up until the updates.

4

Plug in your headphones open terminal and run alsamixer and check headphones it is left and right level same for volumeif is not adjust it.

5

The headphones have the same left and right volume level in alsamixer.

7

I wiped my fedora install and installed a different OS, this issue persists. I’ve also tried changing the balance but all that happens is the right audio gets quieter and the left stays at the same very low volume.

8

try amixer -D set Headphone 100%,50%

9

Turns out the audio cable for the front panel of the PC was ever so slightly out of place, pushing it back in fixed it.