Sound settings: why so many "High Definition Audio Controller Pro" instances with "random" numbers?

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 10:07am

Hello, i’m writing this on behalf of “all sounds gone” issue after waking the system up from hibernation. I then randomly clicked around on these different instances to enable them and one of them brought the sounds back.

This appears to me like an incomprehensible mess, which i would like to understand even remotely (and the logic behind it). Only one single sound chip on this PC which is very simple. I had no idea what the sound apartment “looks like” under the hood until this.

pactl info gives:
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 886
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: tux
Host Name: Plasma
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.2.6)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.pro-output-8
Default Source: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.pro-input-0
Cookie: 5710:7e49

systemctl status --user pipewire gives:

pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-05-23 19:36:33 EEST; 17h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
Main PID: 3781 (pipewire)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 9370)
Memory: 12.6M (peak: 14.3M swap: 312.0K swap peak: 312.0K)
CPU: 47.669s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
└─3781 /usr/bin/pipewire

Just look at this peculiar settings summary:

Why are there

“High Definition Audio Controller Pro”

“High Definition Audio Controller Pro 7”

“High Definition Audio Controller Pro 8”

“High Definition Audio Controller Pro 9”

And also

“Built-in Audio Pro”

“Built-in Audio Pro 2”

and also that “Built-in Audio Pro” is actually TWO times.

What to make of this? What do these refer to? And why is one sound chip or card indicated like this? (More or less a “mess”?). Nevermind a new common user to understand in case the sounds go out… Has anyone else had this thought this area needs simplifying?

I was in the knowledge that Pipewire would simplify these audio things, but that seems enabled and it all this. BUT there appears also Pulseaudio. Are the BOTH in my system? And why? How does this all work?

I’m all overwhelmed and i’m a seasoned user myself

Thanks for any clarification. Maybe i should have put this into “Help” category.

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 10:07am

ben2talk · May 24, 2026, 10:49am

Information about your system would be more helpfull, but take care please to format and/or hide it.

💡 Legibility Tip pasting code

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 inxi -zv8

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 11:30am

I tried to do it but still can’t paste the info:

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 11:34am

But: as stated, the sound is working now. I wanted some clarification why the Sound area and its contents are so complex (so many “moving parts”). Those dedicated separate Auxiliary sliders are additionally quite an overwhelming (whatever they individually do?).

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 11:42am

The time limit to edit appears only minutes?

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 11:49am

About this simple integrated sound “card” / chip from the midst of all that other system information:

alsa.card_name = “HDA Intel PCH”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

alsa.long_card_name = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.longname = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.name = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.nick = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

alsa.card_name = “HDA Intel PCH”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

alsa.long_card_name = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.longname = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.name = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.nick = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”

alsa.card_name = “HDA Intel PCH”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

alsa.long_card_name = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.longname = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.name = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.nick = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”

alsa.card_name = “HDA Intel PCH”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

alsa.long_card_name = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.longname = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.name = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.nick = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

api.alsa.card.longname = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

api.alsa.card.name = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.nick = “HDA Intel PCH”

device.vendor.name = “Intel Corporation”

alsa.card_name = “HDA Intel PCH”

alsa.long_card_name = “HDA Intel PCH at 0xfb200000 irq 34”

alsa.driver_name = “snd_hda_intel”

skyfishgoo · May 24, 2026, 1:24pm

change the pulldown in the upper right from Pro Audio to Hi-Fi 2.0 channels and it will simplify a lot of what you are looking at.

unless you need the “pro” level access, and it sounds like you don’t, then you can just dumb it down to something more manageable.

there is also and Off setting for when you have multiple audio devices, which will remove them from view.

i currently have a dual shock audio device, and the Navi controller on my GPU that i have disabled by setting them to Off

this simplifies my volume control widget to just the sliders that i need and nothing else.

mrp · May 24, 2026, 2:12pm

Yes, it doesn’t look like you want Pro Audio Profile. See:

Especially:

For consumer cards with stereo or surround configurations, it does not make sense to use this Profile.

It is called “Pro” Audio because it is meant to be used by “pro” audio users (i.e. ones who use complex JACK pipelines and want the devices to be exposed in a similar fashion).

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 4:59pm

Ok, and YES i certainly (and quite sure most users) want to look a setting galore as simple as possible for audio. That said - overtly confusing “pro” view appears to be on by default since i have never touched anything..

skyfishgoo · May 24, 2026, 5:56pm

this would seem to run contrary to the the plasma “simple by default…” philosophy.

then again there are a lot of bells and whistles that get turned on by default for discoverability reasons… the inflatable cursor comes to mind, and now wobbly windows on by default (and somehow, can’t be turned off).

there is more than a little bit of “pick a lane” needed here.

i can understand wanting to showcase strong features, but there has to be some thought towards new users who may find the whole thing too much, or too gimmicky

pg-tips · May 24, 2026, 6:09pm

What distro are you using?

I don’t know all that much about this, but on my Fedora and KDE Linux systems I don’t see the same level of complexity you do. I get none of those “Auxiliary…” volumes, just one slider per device.

Other distros may do it differently, e.g. Endeavour apparently offers these “Pro Audio” profiles in Pipewire.

HopLinuxHopLightSide · May 24, 2026, 8:40pm

This is KDE neon

ben2talk · May 25, 2026, 3:39pm

I find two settings are useful…

Stereo - gives me quadrophonic sound through four speakers (the subwoofer filters from the front two channels). This is my choice for podcasts or talk shows…
Surround - this actually allows STEREO sound to only play through the front two speakers (and subwoofer) and only plays surround channels when they’re available.