Realtek ALC1220-VB USB Audio

[mattlach]

Hey all,

Apparently this "USB Audio" chipset is being used by Gigabyte on most of their recent motherboards.

I just upgraded to a Threaderipper 3960x, using Gigabytes TRX40 Aorus Master (silly "gaming" product names to the max!) and I am having no luck with this chip under Linux at all.

I'm on Linux Mint 19.3, Kernel 5.3.0-24. The device shows up as a "Generic USB Audio" in the sound dialog. I select the Optical Out (as I am using an External DAC) but there is no sound output no matter what I do.

It works in Windows, so I know it is not a hardware problem.

I'd appreciate any suggestions. I have been using Linux for 20+ years and am fairly knowledgeable, but the sound system is one area I am mostly clueless about how it works.

[Noname]

ROG-Strix-TRX40-E-Gaming with 3960x owner here.
I got exactly same issue. No audio from S/PDIF Out. Using Line Out do work fine.
On my side it's even worse as in Windows I do get crackling / popping / audio not working after some time. Maybe it's due outdated windows version (1803).

I posted on Asus forum question, obviously no one from Asus check those so no answer but I got reply from support that my question was forwarded to technical stuff.

I did wrote Your use case on Asus forum as DOA for My motherboard but apparently it's not only my mobo so that would mean that there is something more fundamentally wrong with this entire platform or it's just not mature enough.

As for the Linux, I tested:

- debian testing
- kubuntu / ubuntu 19.10
- mint 19.3

Result is exactly same no audio and missing codec in dmsg:

[    8.760872] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Disabling MSI
[    8.760878] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[    8.764080] snd_hda_intel 0000:23:00.4: no codecs found!
[   11.879124] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Apparently TR platform doesn't support HD Audio so they convert USB port into audio that's why all those "USB Audio devices". And it's done via ALC4050H (I don't know about Asus, suspecting based on KitGuru review, as they don't specify what "SupremeFX S1220 CODEC" actually is)

https://youtu.be/UdoN2f7mbJE?t=664

This is nicely explained in Aorus diagram for panel (something that Asus doesn't do at all):
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileLi...ter_1001_e.pdf page 8.

1 x Realtek® ALC4050H codec+1 x Realtek® ALC1220-VB codec (Rear audio)
1 x Realtek® ALC4050H codec+1 x ESS SABRE9218 DAC chips (Front audio)

Bottom line I did found out online mentions regarding audio on Asus Strix motherboard dating back 2017 but it was not specified if issue was with optical out or codec itself (it was added in kernel 4.11).

Probably asking on alsa forum would yield some more answers.

mattlach Question regarding SSD performance: do You see degradation of performance in RAID mode on Your motherboard (assuming that You use RAID). Just asking because now I'm wondering about returning my Strix and going with MSI mobo (plus for me is that it doesn't have fans for VRMs). Issue is that my RAID drives perform same as on x299 but single ones drop in performance. I'm using 4 x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 4TB, 2 in RAID 0, 2 stand alone.

[mattlach]

ROG-Strix-TRX40-E-Gaming with 3960x owner here.
I got exactly same issue. No audio from S/PDIF Out. Using Line Out do work fine.
On my side it's even worse as in Windows I do get crackling / popping / audio not working after some time. Maybe it's due outdated windows version (1803).

I posted on Asus forum question, obviously no one from Asus check those so no answer but I got reply from support that my question was forwarded to technical stuff.

I did wrote Your use case on Asus forum as DOA for My motherboard but apparently it's not only my mobo so that would mean that there is something more fundamentally wrong with this entire platform or it's just not mature enough.

As for the Linux, I tested:

- debian testing
- kubuntu / ubuntu 19.10
- mint 19.3

Result is exactly same no audio and missing codec in dmsg:

[ 8.760872] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Disabling MSI
[ 8.760878] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[ 8.764080] snd_hda_intel 0000:23:00.4: no codecs found!
[ 11.879124] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Apparently TR platform doesn't support HD Audio so they convert USB port into audio that's why all those "USB Audio devices". And it's done via ALC4050H (I don't know about Asus, suspecting based on KitGuru review, as they don't specify what "SupremeFX S1220 CODEC" actually is)

https://youtu.be/UdoN2f7mbJE?t=664

This is nicely explained in Aorus diagram for panel (something that Asus doesn't do at all):
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileLi...ter_1001_e.pdf page 8.

1 x Realtek® ALC4050H codec+1 x Realtek® ALC1220-VB codec (Rear audio)
1 x Realtek® ALC4050H codec+1 x ESS SABRE9218 DAC chips (Front audio)

Bottom line I did found out online mentions regarding audio on Asus Strix motherboard dating back 2017 but it was not specified if issue was with optical out or codec itself (it was added in kernel 4.11).

Probably asking on alsa forum would yield some more answers.

A kind member on the Linux Mint forums who seems pretty good with ALSA has been helping me troubleshoot.

You can see my thread here if interested.

We don't have a solution yet, but we continue to work on the issue.

mattlach Question regarding SSD performance: do You see degradation of performance in RAID mode on Your motherboard (assuming that You use RAID). Just asking because now I'm wondering about returning my Strix and going with MSI mobo (plus for me is that it doesn't have fans for VRMs). Issue is that my RAID drives perform same as on x299 but single ones drop in performance. I'm using 4 x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 4TB, 2 in RAID 0, 2 stand alone.

Unfortunately I can't speak to the RAID features on these things, but in general my understanding is that RAID0 is pretty disappointing with NVMe drives. They are already so paralleled that striping them has little benefit, and whenever you combine multiple drives you wind up increasing latency. I pretty much gave up on all RAID0 in the early 2000's.

Only thing I use RAID for now is on my NAS, and there I stick with ZFS.

[mattlach]

[ 8.760872] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Disabling MSI
[ 8.760878] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[ 8.764080] snd_hda_intel 0000:23:00.4: no codecs found!
[ 11.879124] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Looking at this a little more closely, I wonder if this output is relevant. snd_hda_intel doesn't seem like the right module for our audio devices.

The one I am trying to troubleshoot on the other forum is snd_usb_audio

[vitkor]

Hi! I'm Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Extreme owner.
Ubuntu 18.04 with kernel 5.3.18.
I have exactly the same problem - there is no sound on the optical output.
dmesg | grep snd
[Сб дек 28 14:49:23 2019] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Disabling MSI
[Сб дек 28 14:49:23 2019] snd_hda_intel 0000:21:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[Сб дек 28 14:49:23 2019] snd_hda_intel 0000:23:00.4: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[Сб дек 28 14:49:23 2019] snd_hda_intel 0000:23:00.4: no codecs found!

I have exactly the same problem - there is no sound on the optical output.
I searched the entire Internet for drivers or a workaround. But so far there is nothing. If I find a solution, I will write in this thread. Thanks.

[Noname]

SSD:
Did testing with latest Windows 10 1909 same story although a little bit better.

Audio Windows:
Windows 10 1909 - exactly as in 1803 (cracklings when changing songs, audio hangs and then humming sound from speakers, delay on playback). Plus there is this bonus "new feature: search on type" /sarcasm off (I hate this in new Nautilus and of course M$ had to port this to Windows ...).
So yeah staying away from 1909.

Audio Linux:

I'm afraid that there is no solution for this to work. I didn't found anything and I'm afraid that this is instance of no HW support.

Here is alsa-info from various distros that I tested:

Debian testing: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=5f9186...13193c3cb2aa14
Kubuntu 19.10: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=ae06d2...dd018613b49132
Mint 19.3: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=c25807...434f2877179eec
Ubuntu 19.10: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=f61444...80d6816b3a71e7

Audio pci devices on ROG

root@debian:/home/user/Desktop# lspci | grep Audio
21:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GP102 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
23:00.4 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller

From what I understand that Realtek® ALC4050H codec should be completely transparent to OS and is just USB2 <-> I2S bridge as TR platform (Ryzen also ???) don't support Intel HD Audio. But I can be wrong on this one.

Bottom line I will return that ROG board and get myself MSI WiFi one then will report back.
Personally I think that entire TR platform has those issues.

PS. snd_hda_intel dunno about that. On Windows there is this "Realtek USB Audio" sound-card so maybe that's indeed done via USB.

Just side note here I'm coming from Ausu Prime Deluxe x299 platform and that Debian (and Windows) was installed there - S/PDIF Out worked fine and codec on that mobo is: Realtek® S1220A. So only addition here (at least on Aorus dunno about Strix as they don't provide this info) is that 4050H in between.

[mattlach]

Yeah,

I have had no issues in Windows. Did you let Windows automatically install the driver, or did you download the latest from the website? Mine has been working perfectly in Windows with latest downloaded drivers. I never tested without them though.

As far as Linux goes I have reinstalled my old Creative X-Fi Titanium HD in my 1x slot for now. Guess this is just one of those "early adopter penalty" situations, going to have to wait for updated kernels/modules/ALSA.

I hope that Threadripper doesn't stay a small enough install base that it never gets addressed.

Maybe we should collect some information and file a proper bug report?

[Noname]

Audio Windows:
I can't recall at what step I did installed audio, but it was not picked up when installing Windows, then I did update and installed driver using provided drivers from Asus website.
To be honest this is for work workstation and I already wasted so much time on this so I given up and purchased ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME. I'm suspecting that issue is with my mobo not series itself. Wanted to go with MSI but availability is scarce and there is long waiting period for shipment. Either way will check that Zenith (with is overkill for my needs, well maybe later for "cheap" render rig with quad GPU) and report. To be honest I'm fine with LineOut but it's like splinter when You know that something in Your "new" shiny rig doesn't work. Unfortunately I only have one speakers with build in DAC but that was working with x299 so I doubt that's the issue.

There is also issue with SSD performance with is slower on sTRx40 for me so I will check that also.
New board uses same audio codec so now I'm putting my money on faulty mobo unit on my end.

Audio Linux:
Check out ALSA wiki, they have info about usb and hda_intel modules their parameters and how to use them: https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Matrix:Main (if not already). By brief look at it Your assumption could be right that usb module is the one that should be checked out.
Filling bug report definetly but I already seen SupremeFX bug report (it was unspecified if issue was with LineOut or optical) reported back in 2017 IIRC so ... I wouldn't hold my breathe for quick fix, but maybe work around could be shared / found.

[Noname]

Update after purchase of ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME

Windows audio - same as before. This time I installed fresh copy of Windows 1903 and it auto updated to 1909. After some time audio driver was picked up from M$ and installed.

Linux audio - same issue, optics don't work, line out works (although my installed Debian version now don't output authing even on LineOut, need to investigate that, Live works fine).

Performance on sTRx40 platform for SATA both in AHCI and RAID mode is slower then on x299 platform for smaller files (cache / memory latency causing this ???)

Due to some purchase issue I will need to return Zenith so now I wonder if going with MSI is viable option. Although I do like Zenith DIMM.2 slot.

[vitkor]

I checked in ubuntu 18 with new 5.5 kernel. Nothing changed. Support did not appear.