Linux Finally Has A Fix For Crackling Audio Input On Recent AMD Systems

Queued now for Linux 5.3 and also marked for back-porting to existing kernel stable series is a fix to address distorted and crackling analog audio input that has affected AMD systems for at least the past two years with certain Realtek audio codecs.

Going back to at least early 2017 has been bug reports like this one making mention of "crackled" or otherwise distorted audio capturing on AMD systems. But it's been largely a mystery up to now what's been causing these problems under Linux with other common workarounds for audio troubles not working out.

This bug has affected many AMD chipsets including the X370/X470 and others on motherboards paired with a Realtek audio codec. The issues have primarily been with analog audio capture but "occasional playback hiccups" have been experienced by some users.

Linux sound maintainer Takashi Iwai of SUSE has managed to land a workaround for Linux 5.3 (and to be back-ported to stable series) with some different tweaks based upon what's been figured out through various debugging sessions.

These workarounds appear good enough to satisfy affected AMD Linux users while a better solution is hoped for in the future.