What is hiding the 8-channel nature of the HDMI outputs on my laptop?

Ask Fedora
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1

I am stumped trying to find out why multi-channel sound is not working on the HDMI outputs of my Ice Lake laptop. What could be doing this? Is it the driver (sof-hda-dsp)? Is it ALSA? Is it pipewire? Is it pulse audio? How can I tell? I am running Fedora 36 with pipewire and wireplumber.

Something is recognizing that there are 8 channels of sound for the HDMI outputs. From /proc/asound/card0/codec#2 (there are three copies of these with different nodes):

Node 0x03 [Audio Output] wcaps 0x6611: 8-Channels Digital
Device: name=“HDMI 1”, type=“HDMI”, device=4
Converter: stream=3, channel=0
Digital: Enabled KAE
Digital category: 0x0
IEC Coding Type: 0x0
PCM:
rates [0x7f0]: 32000 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000
bits [0x1a]: 16 24 32
formats [0x5]: PCM AC3
Power states: D0 D3 EPSS
Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
Node 0x04 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40778d: 8-Channels Digital Amp-Out CP
Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
Amp-Out vals: [0x00 0x00]
Pincap 0x0b000094: OUT Detect HBR HDMI DP
Pin Default 0x18560010: [Jack] Digital Out at Int HDMI
Conn = Digital, Color = Unknown
DefAssociation = 0x1, Sequence = 0x0
Pin-ctls: 0x00:
Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
Power states: D0 D3 EPSS
Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
Devices: 0
Connection: 0

But pulseaudio is only seeing two channels for these outputs. From pactl list sinks (there are again three of these with different numbers):

Sink #49
State: RUNNING
Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_4__sink
Description: Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output
Driver: PipeWire
Sample Specification: s24-32le 2ch 48000Hz
Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Owner Module: 4294967295
Mute: no
Volume: front-left: 62865 / 96% / -1.08 dB, front-right: 62865 / 96% / -1.08 dB
balance 0.00
Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
Monitor Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_4__sink.monitor
Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
Flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
Properties:
alsa.card = “0”
alsa.card_name = “sof-hda-dsp”
alsa.class = “generic”
alsa.device = “4”
alsa.driver_name = “snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp”
alsa.id = “HDMI2 (*)”
alsa.long_card_name = “LENOVO-81Q9-LenovoYogaC940_14IIL-LNVNB161216”
alsa.mixer_device = “_ucm0001.hw:sofhdadsp”
alsa.name = “”
alsa.resolution_bits = “16”
alsa.subclass = “generic-mix”
alsa.subdevice = “0”
alsa.subdevice_name = “subdevice #0”
api.alsa.card.longname = “LENOVO-81Q9-LenovoYogaC940_14IIL-LNVNB161216”
api.alsa.card.name = “sof-hda-dsp”
api.alsa.open.ucm = “true”
api.alsa.path = “hw:sofhdadsp,4”
api.alsa.pcm.card = “0”
api.alsa.pcm.stream = “playback”
audio.channels = “2”
audio.position = “FL,FR”
card.profile.device = “1”
device.api = “alsa”
device.class = “sound”
device.id = “42”
device.profile.description = “HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output”
device.profile.name = “HiFi: hw:sofhdadsp,4: sink”
device.routes = “1”
factory.name = “api.alsa.pcm.sink”
media.class = “Audio/Sink”
device.description = “Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller”
node.name = “alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.HiFi__hw_sofhdadsp_4__sink”
node.nick = “HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output”
node.pause-on-idle = “false”
object.path = “alsa:pcm:0:hw:sofhdadsp,4:playback”
priority.driver = “680”
priority.session = “680”
factory.id = “18”
clock.quantum-limit = “8192”
client.id = “33”
node.driver = “true”
factory.mode = “merge”
audio.adapt.follower = “”
library.name = “audioconvert/libspa-audioconvert”
object.id = “48”
object.serial = “49”
node.max-latency = “4096/48000”
api.acp.auto-port = “false”
api.acp.auto-profile = “false”
api.alsa.card = “0”
api.alsa.use-acp = “true”
device.bus = “pci”
device.bus_path = “pci-0000:00:1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic”
device.enum.api = “udev”
device.icon_name = “audio-card-analog-pci”
device.name = “alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic”
device.nick = “sof-hda-dsp”
device.plugged.usec = “6818548”
device.product.id = “0x34c8”
device.product.name = “Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller”
device.subsystem = “sound”
sysfs.path = “/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/skl_hda_dsp_generic/sound/card0”
device.vendor.id = “0x8086”
device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”
device.string = “0”
Ports:
[Out] HDMI2: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output (type: HDMI, priority: 600, availability group: HDMI/DP,pcm=4, available)
Active Port: [Out] HDMI2
Formats:
pcm

2

Did you install by scratch on F36 or was it an update from earlier versions? Did you always use the default settings from /usr/share? You might have some old config files ?

And please give us more infos like:
inxi -Fzx in terminal and post the output as </> Preformatted text here.

3

I think the last scratch install was around F32 with upgrades from there. I did do some customization when I was involved in getting the sof firmware to work for the digital mic and the extra speakers on the laptop, but I think that these have all been overwritten by subsequent upgrades to the sof system.

idefix> inxi -Fzx
System:
  Kernel: 5.18.10-200.fc36.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.37-27.fc36 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.16.0
    Distro: Fedora release 36 (Thirty Six)
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: LENOVO product: 81Q9 v: Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0R32862 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: AUCN57WW date: 08/18/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 49.9 Wh (91.9%) condition: 54.3/60.0 Wh (90.5%)
    volts: 8.6 min: 7.7 model: Simplo BASE-BAT status: charging
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_2 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 3
    charge: 50% (should be ignored) status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-1065G7 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Ice Lake rev: 5 cache: L1: 320 KiB L2: 2 MiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1036 high: 1101 min/max: 400/3900 cores: 1: 957 2: 923
    3: 1100 4: 1101 5: 984 6: 1100 7: 1023 8: 1100 bogomips: 23961
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen11 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: IMC Networks Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 3-1:2
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.14 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.2 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915
    resolution: 3840x2160~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Iris Plus Graphics (ICL GT2)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.3 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-icl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.18.10-200.fc36.x86_64 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.54 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-10:5
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 448.25 GiB (24.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB
    size: 1.82 TiB temp: 44.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.82 TiB used: 447.98 GiB (24.1%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 256.4 MiB (26.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 14 MiB (2.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-4: /home size: 1.82 TiB used: 447.98 GiB (24.1%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 352 Uptime: 6h 30m Memory: 15.09 GiB used: 5.56 GiB (36.8%)
  Init: systemd target: graphical (5) Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 Packages: N/A
  note: see --pkg Shell: tcsh v: 6.24.01 inxi: 3.3.19
4

I propose you then to check with an new created user to see if the default works.

Since when you have this problems ? Could be that the new kernel needs an upgrade of firmware? Did you check if there is something new available?

5

The problem appears to have been active for some time, in that sound to my 5.1 speakers was not great, but I only investigated closely yesterday and today. My system was fully updated both yesterday and this morning, using sudo dnf update. I’ll try with a new user.

6

No difference with a fresh user. The HDMI outputs are still listed as 2-channel by pactl list short sinks and speaker-test -D hw:0,4 -cN works only for N=2.

7

It looks as if SOF does not support multi-channel sound at all through integrated HDMI channels on Intel CPUs. I’m not sure whether this is a permanent situation.