Sony INZONE H9/H7 (054c:0e53): Game output goes silent as soon as the Chat PCM (playback or mic) is opened

Sony INZONE H9/H7 (054c:0e53): Game output goes silent as soon as the Chat PCM (playback or mic) is opened

[GitHub issues - opened]

alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf issue #908 was opened from pompei-kz:

### System

| | |
|---|---|
| Headset | Sony INZONE H9 (WH-G900N), connected via its 2.4 GHz USB transceiver (not Bluetooth; no Bluetooth link active) |
| Transceiver | USB `054c:0e53` "Sony INZONE H9 / INZONE H7", bcdDevice **9.10**, USB 2.0 full speed (12M) |
| USB path | AMD 600 Series chipset xHCI `[1022:43f7]` → USB 2.0 hub (port 5) → transceiver (port 5.3) |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 9950X |
| Distro | Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS |
| Kernel | `7.0.0-38-generic #38~24.04.4-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC` (x86_64), in-tree `snd-usb-audio` |
| ALSA | `libasound2t64 1.2.11-1ubuntu0.3`, `alsa-utils 1.2.9-1ubuntu5`, **`alsa-ucm-conf 1.2.10-1ubuntu5.15`** |
| Sound server | **PipeWire 1.0.5** (`pipewire`, `pipewire-pulse`, `pipewire-alsa`, `libspa-0.2-modules` 1.0.5-1ubuntu3.3); PulseAudio not running |
| Session manager | **WirePlumber 0.4.17** (0.4.17-1ubuntu4.1) |
| Desktop | KDE Plasma 5.27.12, KDE Frameworks 5.115.0, X11 session, `plasma-pa 5.27.11` |
| Other sound cards | HDA ATI HDMI (Radeon RX 470/480/570/580), 2× AMD HD-Audio Generic |

UCM profile in use: `USB-Audio/Sony/Inzone-H9-H7.conf` → verb `HiFi`, devices:

- `Headset` ("Chat"): playback + capture on `hw:CARD,0`
- `Headphones` ("Game"): playback on `hw:CARD,1`

<details>
<summary>USB audio layout (<code>/proc/asound/H7/stream*</code>)</summary>

The transceiver has two separate UAC1 audio functions:

- **Chat**: AC interface 0, capture interface 1 (EP 0x81 IN, sync, mono S16_LE 48 kHz, 98 B), playback interface 2 (EP 0x02 OUT, sync, stereo S16_LE 48 kHz, 196 B)
- **Game**: AC interface 4, playback interface 5 (EP 0x05 OUT, sync, stereo S16_LE 48 kHz, 196 B)
- Plus HID (interface 3, consumer control and vendor pages) and CDC-ACM (interface 6, `ttyACM0`)

```
Sony INZONE H9 / INZONE H7 at usb-0000:0e:00.0-5.3, full speed : USB Audio
Playback:
  Interface 2
    Altset 1
    Format: S16_LE
    Channels: 2
    Endpoint: 0x02 (2 OUT) (SYNC)
    Rates: 48000
Capture:
  Interface 1
    Altset 1
    Format: S16_LE
    Channels: 1
    Endpoint: 0x81 (1 IN) (SYNC)
    Rates: 48000

Sony INZONE H9 / INZONE H7 at usb-0000:0e:00.0-5.3, full speed : USB Audio #1
Playback:
  Interface 5
    Altset 1
    Format: S16_LE
    Channels: 2
    Endpoint: 0x05 (5 OUT) (SYNC)
    Rates: 48000
```

Mixer: only `Headset Capture Switch` / `Headset Capture Volume` (0..83, -83..0 dB). There are no playback controls on either function.
</details>

### Problem

The transceiver can't output audio from both USB audio functions (Game and Chat) at the same time:

| Order | Result |
|---|---|
| Game playing, then Chat **capture** (mic) opened | everything goes silent until the mic is closed |
| Game playing, then Chat **playback** opened | everything goes silent, Game *and* Chat |
| Chat playing first, then Game opened | Chat is audible, Game is silent |
| Chat playback + Chat capture together, no Game | works fine |
| Game alone | works fine |

In practice, with the default setup (Game is the default sink), the sound goes silent as soon as anything opens the microphone: the KDE tray mic applet's level meter, Google Meet, Discord, and so on. It comes back about 5 s after the mic is closed, when the node suspends.

### What was ruled out

- **PipeWire scheduling.** While the mic is open, `/proc/asound/<card>/pcm1p/sub0/status` keeps `RUNNING`, and `hw_ptr`/`appl_ptr` keep advancing at 48000 frames/s. Data is being delivered, but nothing is audible.
- **PipeWire entirely.** Playing a tone straight to `hw:CARD,0` with `aplay` while Game is playing gives the same result: silence.
- **snd-usb-audio quirks.** I tried `quirk_flags=0x054c:0x0e53:0x212a01` (GET_SAMPLE_RATE | CTL_MSG_DELAY_1M | IFACE_DELAY | DISABLE_AUTOSUSPEND | SET_IFACE_FIRST | FIXED_RATE). No change.
- **Headset GAME/CHAT balance buttons.** No effect.
- **Kernel errors.** There are no xruns and no USB errors in dmesg.

It looks like a transceiver firmware limitation (or behaviour that needs some unknown host-side trigger, maybe via the vendor HID or CDC-ACM interface that INZONE Hub uses on Windows).

### Workaround

Disable the Game sink and route everything through Chat. Chat has the same format (48 kHz, S16_LE, stereo), so there's no quality loss. WirePlumber 0.4:

```lua
-- ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d/51-inzone-disable-game.lua
table.insert(alsa_monitor.rules, {
  matches = {
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.usb-Sony_INZONE_H9___INZONE_H7-00.HiFi__hw_H7_1__sink" } },
  },
  apply_properties = { ["node.disabled"] = true },
})
```

WirePlumber 0.5+:

```
# ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/51-inzone.conf
monitor.alsa.rules = [
  {
    matches = [ { node.name = "alsa_output.usb-Sony_INZONE_H9___INZONE_H7-00.HiFi__hw_H7_1__sink" } ]
    actions = { update-props = { node.disabled = true } }
  }
]
```

After this, the mic, the tray applet and Google Meet all work, and audio no longer drops out.

### Suggestion

Should the profile reflect this limitation? For example:

- mark `Headset` and `Headphones` as `ConflictingDevice`s of each other, or
- make `Headset` (Chat) the default/preferred output (higher `PlaybackPriority`) so a mic-using setup works out of the box, or
- split them into two verbs (e.g. "Game" without mic and "Chat" with mic).

I'm happy to test patches. It would also help to know whether anyone else with an INZONE H9/H7 transceiver (different firmware versions) sees the same behaviour.

Issue URL     : https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/issues/908
Repository URL: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf