[Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Shawn Starr]

Hello ALSA devs,

I spoke to patrakov on Freenode from the #Alsa IRC channel and they mentioned that 
the noise background I am experiencing is not normal. I tried two different headsets, 
both headsets have two separate jacks, the same result.

I will test any patches/quirks for kernel as needed.

Here is the alsa-info:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=29d3c45e2d66c58be03a10bd0186067a9d735a11

Here is a 10 second recording:

http://turl.ca/zrhbcs

Here is the amixer information:

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker+LO',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 65 [75%] [-16.50dB]
  Front Right: Playback 65 [75%] [-16.50dB]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Capture [on]
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
  Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Line Out',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 63 [100%] [30.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 63 [100%] [30.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Speaker Only' 'Line Out+Speaker'
  Item0: 'Line Out+Speaker'
Simple mixer control 'Dock Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Capture [off]
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Dock Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right

Re: [Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Alexander E. Patrakov]

05.02.2015 02:13, Shawn Starr wrote:
> Hello ALSA devs,
>
> I spoke to patrakov on Freenode from the #Alsa IRC channel and they mentioned that
> the noise background I am experiencing is not normal. I tried two different headsets,
> both headsets have two separate jacks, the same result.
>
> I will test any patches/quirks for kernel as needed.
>
> Here is the alsa-info:
>
> http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=29d3c45e2d66c58be03a10bd0186067a9d735a11

I am not an expert on Intel HDA cards, but... some microphones are picky 
about the reference voltage supplied by the soundcard. You can change 
this temporarily, for debugging purposes, with hda-analyzer. See general 
instructions at

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/HDA_Analyzer

Note: it needs the "snd-hwdep" module loaded, and needs to be run as root.

In your case, you need to select Node[0x18] PIN in the left pane, and, 
at the bottom of the right pane, select 50 or 100 instead of 80 in the 
VREF box. See https://imgur.com/F84raSN for a screenshot based on your 
alsa-info.

If this doesn't help, just click around randomly. Maybe you'll find the 
magic checkbox that makes the noise go away and the voice stay :) - if 
that happens, please email the resulting diff file that hda-analyzer 
creates.

-- 
Alexander E. Patrakov

Re: [Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Shawn Starr]

On Friday, February 06, 2015 04:48:09 PM Alexander E. Patrakov wrote:
> 05.02.2015 02:13, Shawn Starr wrote:
> > Hello ALSA devs,
> > 
> > I spoke to patrakov on Freenode from the #Alsa IRC channel and they
> > mentioned that the noise background I am experiencing is not normal. I
> > tried two different headsets, both headsets have two separate jacks, the
> > same result.
> > 
> > I will test any patches/quirks for kernel as needed.
> > 
> > Here is the alsa-info:
> > 
> > http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=29d3c45e2d66c58be03a10bd0186067a9d735a11
> 
> I am not an expert on Intel HDA cards, but... some microphones are picky
> about the reference voltage supplied by the soundcard. You can change
> this temporarily, for debugging purposes, with hda-analyzer. See general
> instructions at
> 
> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/HDA_Analyzer
> 
> Note: it needs the "snd-hwdep" module loaded, and needs to be run as root.
> 
> In your case, you need to select Node[0x18] PIN in the left pane, and,
> at the bottom of the right pane, select 50 or 100 instead of 80 in the
> VREF box. See https://imgur.com/F84raSN for a screenshot based on your
> alsa-info.
> 
> If this doesn't help, just click around randomly. Maybe you'll find the
> magic checkbox that makes the noise go away and the voice stay :) - if
> that happens, please email the resulting diff file that hda-analyzer
> creates.

Hello Alexander,

Indeed, adjusting VREF to 50 cuts the background noise noticeably, it's still 
there but it is lesser.

Resulting 10 second audio with difference: http://turl.ca/accwc 
Old audio: http://turl.ca/zrhbcs

Both using same Logitech headset for test.

Thanks,
Shawn


-- CUT --

Diff for codec 1/0 (0x10ec0292):
--- 
+++ 
@@ -189,27 +189,27 @@
   Unsolicited: tag=0x02, enabled=1
   Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
   Connection: 2
      0x0c* 0x0d
 Node 0x17 [Vendor Defined Widget] wcaps 0xf00000: Mono
 Node 0x18 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40058f: Stereo Amp-In Amp-Out
   Control: name="Front Mic Boost Volume", index=0, device=0
     ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=1, idx=0, ofs=0
-  Control: name="Front Mic Jack", index=0, device=0
+  Control: iface="card", name="Front Mic Jack", index=0, device=0
   Amp-In caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x03, stepsize=0x27, mute=0
   Amp-In vals: [0x01 0x01]
   Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
   Amp-Out vals: [0x80 0x80]
   Pincap 0x00003734: IN OUT Detect
     Vref caps: HIZ 50 GRD 80 100
   Pin Default 0x02a19031: [Jack] Mic at Ext Front
     Conn = 1/8, Color = Pink
     DefAssociation = 0x3, Sequence = 0x1
-  Pin-ctls: 0x24: IN VREF_80
+  Pin-ctls: 0x21: IN VREF_50
   Unsolicited: tag=0x03, enabled=1
   Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
   Connection: 2
      0x0c* 0x0d
 Node 0x19 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40048b: Stereo Amp-In
   Control: name="Dock Mic Boost Volume", index=0, device=0
     ControlAmp: chs=3, dir=1, idx=0, ofs=0
   Control: name="Dock Mic Jack", index=0, device=

Re: [Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Alexander E. Patrakov]

06.02.2015 20:22, Shawn Starr wrote:
>>> http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=29d3c45e2d66c58be03a10bd0186067a9d735a11

> Hello Alexander,
>
> Indeed, adjusting VREF to 50 cuts the background noise noticeably, it's still
> there but it is lesser.

The voice also becomes more quiet, but the SNR indeed improves. Although 
I'd still consider the situation as too noisy.

So, the original request stands.

-- 
Alexander E. Patrakov

Re: [Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Harry van Haaren]

On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 11:48 AM, Alexander E. Patrakov
<patrakov@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/HDA_Analyzer
Ah, i wasn't aware of this tool and I have a HDA in my laptop...

> If this doesn't help, just click around randomly. Maybe you'll find the
> magic checkbox that makes the noise go away and the voice stay :)
No luck yet, played with the internal mic, which is very noise and SNR
is much too high to be usable. Setting vref to 50 gives the best SNR,
still not usable though.

Changing the "digital" capture level in alsamixer changes the level of
the internal mic signal - is this expected? I looked for the "digital"
capture level control in HDAAnalyzer, but couldn't find it - vendor
defined?

Cheers, -Harry

-- 

http://www.openavproductions.com

Re: [Intel HDA][ALC3226] Too much white noise from microphone

[Alexander E. Patrakov]

07.02.2015 16:12, Harry van Haaren пишет:
> On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 11:48 AM, Alexander E. Patrakov
> <patrakov@gmail.com> wrote:
>> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/HDA_Analyzer
> Ah, i wasn't aware of this tool and I have a HDA in my laptop...
>
>> If this doesn't help, just click around randomly. Maybe you'll find the
>> magic checkbox that makes the noise go away and the voice stay :)
> No luck yet, played with the internal mic, which is very noise and SNR
> is much too high to be usable. Setting vref to 50 gives the best SNR,
> still not usable though.
>
> Changing the "digital" capture level in alsamixer changes the level of
> the internal mic signal - is this expected? I looked for the "digital"
> capture level control in HDAAnalyzer, but couldn't find it - vendor
> defined?

"digital" capture level is similar to the fake digital zoom found in 
some cheap cameras and phones. It is a software-only feature, and does 
not exist in any of the widgets. Please don't use it, i.e. set it to 0 dB.

-- 
Alexander E. Patrakov
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