Masterpier, you seem to be in two different threads on one issue. How can we sort this out?
And you wonder how I get confused so much... lol
sorry, saw another user with an XPS thought there might have been answers on the other thread. I do have a newer model XPS so we can remain here if you prefer. Desperate at this point to get this working. So to be clear if I connect a USB-C headphone I get sound it's onboard speakers that are not working.
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You may have already been asked this but can you print the output of:
lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Audio
reggie@zorin16-pro:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Audio
0000:01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:228e] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0a5d]
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
reggie@zorin16-pro:~$
Can you try:
echo "options snd-hda-intel model=generic" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
reggie@zorin16-pro:~$ echo "options snd-hda-intel model=generic" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
options snd-hda-intel model=generic
Have you rebooted and tested it?
Ok, let's try Auto instead.
This time, I want to go with GUI... partly because I am not sure myself how to remove that line from CLI. 
Generic did not work, let's try Auto instead.
sudo -i
nautilus
Navigate to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf opening it in a text editor and the line you added:
options snd-hda-intel model=generic replace generic with auto
So it will be options snd-hda-intel model=auto
Reboot... and test again...
By the time this is done, you will be a masterrebooter.
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Looks like quite a bit of people have issues with the XPS 9710 on Ubuntu 20.04/21.04. I'm not sure if you've tried the fixes in the thread though. Thre's a link in the thread with possible fix. Take a look and see if it can help.
Link within reddit thread:
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In part, masterpier has already used the higher kernel. Should be on 5.11.0-36 from Zorin and I believe he said something about trying 5.14 (I recommend against the 5.14 kernel).
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I went back to the Zorin provided signed 5.11.0-34, then upgraded to 5.11.0-36 yesterday. Wasn't sure if unsigned kernels, although officially from Ubuntu, are good in the long term.
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Agreed. They may work out well enough on Ubuntu, but all kernels going to Zorin OS must be tested, patched and vetted by ZorinGroup to ensure that everything works. With fingers crossed.
@Masterpier , one of the links yukKev posted contains this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1935850/comments/52
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Give me a few have a daughter, helping with homework.
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OK so made the changes and basically back to a dummy output.
Think I may just have to remain patient for a valid kernel which will have correct drivers for my XPS.
Including this?
issue with this kernel is that I can't use it with VMware Workstation. C header issue.
You are running in a virtual environment? 
Have you checked:
Right click the VM name (either from Library listings or Tab) > Select "Settings" > Select "Sound Card" >Under "Device Status" ensure that "Connected" as well as "Connect at power on" are checked