SOF HiFi profile fails to detect headphone jack on ASUS ZenBook UX425EA (ALC294)

SOF HiFi profile fails to detect headphone jack on ASUS ZenBook UX425EA (ALC294)

[GitHub issues - opened]

alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf issue #686 was opened from akincano:

Component: Sound(ALSA) → PCI

Description:
Hardware:

Laptop: ASUS ZenBook UX425EA_UX425EA
Audio Controller: Intel Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller (PCI ID: 0x8086:0xa0c8)
Codec: Realtek ALC294 (Vendor ID: 0x10ec0294, Subsystem ID: 0x10431cee)
Kernel: 6.18.4-arch1-1
Distribution: Arch Linux
ALSA components: HDA:80862812,80860101,00100000 HDA:10ec0294,10431cee,00100004 cfg-dmics:2

Problem:
When using the SOF (Sound Open Firmware) driver, the HiFi profile fails to create audio sinks/sources for the headphone jack. WirePlumber logs show:
spa.alsa: No sink and source at HiFi: Headphones
The HiFi profile shows as available: no and the active profile defaults to off. Attempting to switch to HiFi results in only HDMI outputs being available, with no analog speaker or headphone outputs.
The headphone jack (pin 0x21) is misconfigured:
Node 0x21 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40058d: Stereo Amp-Out
  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
  Amp-Out vals:  [0x80 0x80]
  Pincap 0x0001001c: OUT HP EAPD Detect
  EAPD 0x2: EAPD
  Pin Default 0x411111f0: [N/A] Speaker at Ext Rear
    Conn = 1/8, Color = Black
    DefAssociation = 0xf, Sequence = 0x0
    Misc = NO_PRESENCE
  Pin-ctls: 0x00:
  Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
  Power states:  D0 D1 D2 D3 EPSS
  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
  Connection: 2
     0x02 0x03*
The key issues are:

Pin Default 0x411111f0 - configured as "N/A" instead of headphone jack
Misc = NO_PRESENCE - no jack detection enabled
Pin-ctls: 0x00 - pin not configured for output
Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0 - jack detection events disabled

This causes PipeWire/WirePlumber to only create HDMI outputs in the HiFi profile, with no analog audio devices.
Expected Behavior:
The HiFi profile should detect and expose:

Internal speakers
Headphone jack with jack detection
Automatic switching between speakers and headphones when plugging/unplugging
Digital microphone

Current Workaround:
Blacklisting SOF and forcing legacy HDA driver works perfectly:
```bash
# /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
blacklist snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
blacklist snd_sof_intel_hda_common
blacklist snd_sof
options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=1
```

With legacy HDA driver, the same pin 0x21 is properly configured:
```bash
Pin-ctls: 0xc0: OUT HP
Unsolicited: tag=01, enabled=1
Control: name="Headphone Playback Switch", index=0, device=0
```

The `output:analog-stereo` profile works perfectly with automatic jack detection and switching.

**Reproduction:**
1. Boot ASUS ZenBook UX425EA with default SOF driver (no blacklisting)
2. Check `pactl list cards` - shows:
   - HiFi profile: `available: no`
   - Active profile: `off`
   - Only HDMI ports listed under HiFi profile, no analog outputs
3. Check `journalctl --user -u wireplumber` - see error: `spa.alsa: No sink and source at HiFi: Headphones`
4. Attempting to use HiFi or even pro-audio profile results in no working analog audio

**SOF Firmware/Topology Information:**
```bash
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware file: intel/sof/sof-tgl.ri
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Topology file: intel/sof-tplg/sof-hda-generic-2ch.tplg
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware info: version 2:2:0-57864
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware: ABI 3:22:1 Kernel ABI 3:23:1
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: Topology: ABI 3:22:1 Kernel ABI 3:23:1
sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: DMICs detected in NHLT tables: 2
```

**Card Configuration (SOF):**
```
Name: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic
api.alsa.card.name = "sof-hda-dsp"
alsa.long_card_name = "ASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.-ZenBookUX425EA_UX425EA-1.0-UX425EA"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp"
alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC294"

Profiles:
    off: Off (sinks: 0, sources: 0, priority: 0, available: yes)
    HiFi: Play HiFi quality Music (sinks: 3, sources: 1, priority: 9900, available: no)
    pro-audio: Pro Audio (sinks: 5, sources: 3, priority: 1, available: yes)
Active Profile: off

HiFi profile ports (no analog outputs):
    [Out] HDMI3: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 Output
    [Out] HDMI2: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output  
    [Out] HDMI1: HDMI / DisplayPort 1 Output
    [In] Mic1: Digital Microphone
Request:
The ASUS ZenBook UX425EA needs either:

A UCM configuration that properly maps pin 0x21 as a headphone jack with presence detection, OR
A kernel quirk to set the correct pin configuration for this laptop model, OR
An updated SOF topology file that includes the analog outputs

The hardware clearly supports headphone jack detection (the legacy HDA driver proves this), but SOF is not utilizing it correctly.

Impact:
This affects all ASUS ZenBook UX425EA users running modern kernels with SOF as the default driver. Users either have no audio or must manually blacklist SOF to use the legacy HDA driver.

Issue URL     : https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/issues/686
Repository URL: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf