USB audio devices don't provide any output

Benno07

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, and to UT, but so far, I quite like it. I hope UT will continue to improve.

Anyway, I have a Pixel 3a with UT 20.04 on it, and I tried connecting a Samsung USB-C headset to it - did not work. Same thing with a different USB audio adapter (IcyBox IB-AC527, connected through a USB-C to USB-A adapter).

The devices are recognised by the OS (listed in lsusb), but no audio is played through them. They work fine on my main smartphone (Samsung S24) as well as my Linux x64 laptop (running Xubuntu 24.04). Audio continues to be played through the phone speaker, as if the USB audio adapters weren't even there.

lsusb output (for the Samsung USB-C headset):

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04e8:a051 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd USBC Headset
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Is there anything I can do to route audio to the headset? Or is this feature simply not supported yet?
Thanks!
Ben

kugiigi

You can try to run this on the terminal before plugging it in
pactl load-module module-udev-detect
There might be some unknown effect when you do this though. It works but not tested well. As far as I know there's an issue with calls when you do this, something like the audio will still go through the earpiece or device's speakers.

Benno07

@kugiigi said in USB audio devices don't provide any output:

pactl load-module module-udev-detect

Ok, I tried that, and got the following error message:

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ sudo pactl load-module module-udev-detect
[sudo] password for phablet: 
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

kugiigi

@Benno07 Sorry, I forgot that it doesn't work on the terminal app for some reason. You can try it remotely via SSH or SSH to the device itself from the terminal app. If you're not family with SSH then it will be a bit complicated
Which device do you have?

Benno07

@kugiigi I have a Google Pixel 3a.

Ok, I'll try to set up SSH, and then report back.

In any case, switching audio sinks doesn't appear to be a fully supported feature at this time, correct? Can I place it on a "feature-wishlish", if there is such a thing? I'm probably not the only one

haagch

Not the only one. I was also surprised plugging in my usb-c headphones did nothing.

Generally it should be noted that this is about headphones with an usb dac. There are also adapters and headphones that pass through analog audio over the usb-c connectors, and those apparently work.

These are the open issues that have been reported so far:

https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/packaging/usb-moded/-/issues/6

https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/ubuntu-touch/-/issues/1912

https://gitlab.com/ubports/porting/reference-device-ports/halium13/volla-phone-quintus/volla-algiz/-/issues/3