[LAU] Linux mint for audio?

[David Kastrup]

Dominique Michel <dominique.c.michel at gmail.com> writes:

> Le Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:22:29 +0100,
> Alf Haakon Pietruszka Lund <alf at mellomrommet.no> a écrit :
>
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> I'm considering to test Linux mint for my 'sound machine' - a normal
>> laptop that's used for modest recording and editing of sounds and
>> music, as well as miscellaneous office work.
>
> For me, the main issue with laptops is the audio hardware, not the
> distribution. The analogue part of their combined mic/line audio inputs
> are optimized for a sound level of 0dB, which correspond to their line
> level.
>
> In order to get the best possible sound of it, you must set the input
> level at 0dB with alsamixer, run a vu-meter, connect it to the input
> and use an external mixer or device to set the recording level on the
> vu-meter. That way, you can get a decent sound quality even with the
> built-in audio card.

In my experience, "decent" is overoptimistic.  Sound _output_ tends to
be quite ok for a number of purposes, sound input is where you are
usually a lot better off using an external soundcard unless you are
talking about voicecall-compatible quality (and many laptops indeed have
combined microphone/headphone sockets for headsets).  Of course, the
kind of soundcard for $20 when new does not offer better quality either
but might have different input/output/level/mixer options ("surround
sound" and its ilk, for example).

What I sometimes find annoying is that laptop built-in devices tend to
have more comprehensive ALSA support particularly regarding the mixer
than external soundcards but it's probably due to more people being in
possession of them.

-- 
David Kastrup