Audio Headache [Solved]

[gerj]

I am TRYING to come to terms with Peppermint 9 after switching from Win 7.
I like the OS, look and feel HOWEVER ... my audio is AWFUL!  I get lotz of crackling and pops (Cs&Ps). 
The sound works, I can hear all audio its just the interfering Cs&Ps.  They are intermittent .
I have a generic computer with onboard graphics (AMD Radeon R7) and sound (HD Audio).
Have tried loading Realtek driver (instructions found online) but failed miserably.
Is there anyone out there willing to take a poor ol' man by the hand and walk him through the linux jungle to find the pastures of mellow music and GREAT sounds?
BTW, I'm an absolute novice when it comes to command line programing.

Thanks in advance
gerj
 

[alynur]

Hi gerj, welcome to Peppermint. First of all, we are going to need to know what we are dealing with. Give us your computer specs by copying and pasting this command in the terminal.

Code: [Select]

inxi -Fz oops, had a brain fart, fixed it
Then copy the terminal output and paste it back here encapsulated by the code function. the box with the # sign above the  character. Maybe we can figure something out.

[gerj]

Here it is ...

Code: [Select]

gerj@gerj ~ $ inxi -Fz
System:    Host: gerj Kernel: 4.15.0-45-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: N/A
           Distro: Peppermint Nine
Machine:   Device: desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A serial: N/A
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: F2A68HM-HD2 v: x.x serial: N/A
           UEFI: American Megatrends v: FB date: 04/22/2015
CPU:       Quad core AMD A8-7650K Radeon R7 10 Compute Cores 4C+6G (-MCP-)
           cache: 8192 KB
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1906 MHz 2: 1903 MHz 3: 1895 MHz
           4: 1895 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics]
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@60.00hz
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD KAVERI (DRM 2.50.0, 4.15.0-45-generic, LLVM 7.0.0)
           version: 4.5 Mesa 18.2.2
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Kaveri HDMI/DP Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-45-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
           IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (7.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1600BEVT size: 160.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 146G used: 12G (9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 1.8C mobo: N/A gpu: 3.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 200 Uptime: 2:20 Memory: 923.8/14977.6MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.56
gerj@gerj ~ $

[Specter]

Hello, there!

I usually fix mine by restarting pulseaudio in the terminal. The crackles and pops usually stop.

to stop the program

Code: [Select]

pulseaudio -k
and to start it again

Code: [Select]

pulseaudio --start
See if this fix it.

[gerj]

Hello, there!

I usually fix mine by restarting pulseaudio in the terminal. The crackles and pops usually stop.

to stop the program

Code: [Select]

pulseaudio -k
and to start it again

Code: [Select]

pulseaudio --start
See if this fix it.

Thanks for the tip ... it helps but not completely.  Hopefully I'll get a permanent fix but if not at least this will make Peppermint life more bearable.  Thanks

[Specter]

You are welcome. I'm waiting on a permanent fix too. I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. Restarting pulseaudio usually fixes the crackles everytime they occur.

[gerj]

Hmmmm, guess no help from the OS Team!  Shame, I quite like Peppermint.

[VinDSL]

I'm building an Intel/AMD rig with a Radeon R9 graphics card (Hawaii HDMI Audio). However, I'm using the Intel HD Audio Controller for sound.

Spoiler (click here to view / hide)

[close]

I just turned up the volume and tested the sound quality on a BlackPink video (664M views), but didn't notice any crackling.

https://youtu.be/IHNzOHi8sJs

Guess we need to find someone that has an all-AMD rig for some debugging...

[gerj]

Well, to be honest, as my computer has (integrated) onboard graphics and HD audio I tried updating the graphics driver to AMDGPU-PRO (from the AMD website) and it has helped considerably.  I still have some C&Ps but not near as much.  I won't be happy until I have crystal clear audio as I'm on my computer all the time and rely on it for music and videos.

Do you have a driver for the Intel HD audio controller?

gerj

PS - Like the video too.

[murraymint]

I won't be happy until I have crystal clear audio

If you're really serious about that, you might want to look into getting an asynchronous USB DAC and even powering it through a hub to isolate it from the PC's power supply.

[VinDSL]

If you're really serious about that, you might want to look into getting an asynchronous USB DAC and even powering it through a hub to isolate it from the PC's power supply.

Agreed! I was thinking along the same lines. 

If I was worried about sound quality, I'd even consider dropping 60 bucks and buying an Audigy RX sound card.

Picked at random:  https://goo.gl/64gTZt

These cards have been around forever, and mature Linux drivers are available.

[PCNetSpec]

The driver for intel hd audio is in the kernel .. you could try a more recent kernel, or maybe a low-latency kernel

[gerj]

To be honest, I never heard of the USB DAC card would hate to spend money only to amplify the crackling and pops.  But a different sound card is a possibility.  You recon this one is compatible with Peppermint?
As I said, I'm coming to terms with linux (migrating from windows), so am a novice when it comes to the terminal commands.  have managed a few tasks with help from you tube and various websites.  Don't know how to go about changing kernels ... tis all greek to me.

I JUST WANT CLEAR SOUND!!!   

And I thank you for all the advice.

[murraymint]

A DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) is like an output-only sound card. You can get ones that plug into a USB socket.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+dac&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ausb+dac

It's a step up from the cheapo £5 USB audio adaptors so you could test one of those first to see if it was any better before spending any serious dough. I'm thinking your integrated audio might be the cause of the problem.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+audio&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ausb+audio

[pin]

Changing the kernel is rather straight forward. I do it nearly every week 'cause I like to test if/when things break 
The issue here is rather, which kernel(s) to try?