AlsaMixer Auto-Mute only enables one audio output at a time

Hardware Support
1

Zorin OS 18 Core. I have two audio outputs plugged into my PC, an external speaker and a headset. The speaker does not work unless auto-mute is disabled in alsamixer, but then only the speaker works and not the headset even if headset is the selected output. Re-enabling auto-mute lets the headset work but then the speakers don't work (even though PulseAudio shows the speaker putting out sound).

How can I switch between the two audio outputs without having to go into alsamixer each time I want to switch output device? Thank you for your time.

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image1899×913 51.5 KB

Image: Line Out (speakers) with auto-mute enabled shows it is receiving sound but nothing comes out of the speaker.

2

Hi and welcome.

See if this Unix Stack Exchange thread helps:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/602613/how-to-switch-between-headphones-and-speakers-without-disconnecting

3

Thank you for your reply.

I have a x870 Aorus Elite Wifi7 which only has one sound connector, so that's not the issue.

I found out with auto-mute disabled, when headphones are selected audio plays on line out at the same time. It appears the issue is line-out not muting when headphones are selected but not the other way around.

I went to go check the pavucontrol config files but I can't find /pulseaudio/ in /usr/share/. I reinstalled pavucontrol again and still couldn't find it.
This guy did a similar fix https://www.reddit.com/r/zorinos/comments/1rj39q1/when_i_switch_to_speakers_with_the_headphone_jack/

Haven't found anything else relevant. Thanks.

4

Hi, pulseaudio is bizarre as it has a folder named 'pulse' (/etc/pulse).

I think Zorin 18 introduced 'PipeWire' to the system and there is another bit that sometimes needs to be enabled/configured, 'WirePlumber':

I currently don't use Zorin, and prefer ALSA over everything else with the only pulse element being 'apulse' for sound when watching media in a browser.

5

I see from your alsamixer that "headphone" is set [MM] = muted. Is that intentional?
You should also have a play with different "loopback-mode" channel settings, to see if that helps or changes anything.