Sorry to bump this, but this thread shows up as the first result when I google for this problem and I have something to add:
The problem:
Sometimes, your device will show up, but it won’t have the correct profile selected:
[core-ssh ~]$ ha audio info
audio:
application: []
card:
- driver: module-alsa-card.c
index: 0
name: alsa_card.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00
profiles:
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Input
name: input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Output
name: output:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Duplex
name: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
- active: true <------------------------------------------- !! THIS IS THE WRONG PROFILE !!
description: Analog Stereo Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-stereo+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-21
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-21+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output
name: output:analog-surround-40
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-40+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-41
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-41+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output
name: output:analog-surround-50
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-50+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-51
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-51+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-71
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-71+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-71+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
name: output:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo
- active: true
description: Digital Stereo Duplex (IEC958)
name: output:iec958-stereo+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false <------------------------------------------- !! I WANT THAT ONE !!
description: "Off"
name: "off"
- driver: module-alsa-card.c
index: 1
name: alsa_card.platform-bcm2835_audio
profiles:
- active: true
description: Stereo Output
name: output:stereo-fallback
- active: false
description: Mono Output
name: output:mono-fallback
- active: false
description: Multichannel Output
name: output:multichannel-output
- active: false
description: "Off"
name: "off"
input:
- applications: []
card: 0
default: true
description: USB Sound Device Digital Stereo (IEC958)
index: 1
mute: false
name: alsa_input.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00.iec958-stereo
volume: 1
output:
- applications: []
card: 0
default: false
description: USB Sound Device Digital Stereo (IEC958)
index: 0
mute: false
name: alsa_output.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00.iec958-stereo
volume: 1
- applications: []
card: 1
default: true
description: Built-in Audio Stereo
index: 1
mute: false
name: alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback
volume: 0.857696533203125
host: 172.30.32.4
update_available: false
version: 2022.07.0
version_latest: 2022.07.0
One would assume that
ha audio default output -- DEVICE_NAME.CORRECT_PROFILE
ha audio default input -- DEVICE_NAME.CORRECT_PROFILE
would fix this, but this will only give you an error saying that the device path was not found (or something), since we can only select a device path with an enabled profile.
Specific example for my case: I bought a USB sound card (based on a Cmedia CM6206-LX chip if anyone’s wondering) with optical in- and outputs which I want to use. HA automatically selects the analog duplex profile, though (due to a quirk of the card, any analog output still gets routed through the optical output as well, so I only had to set the input, but that’s beside the point).
How to change the profile of a sound device
Thanks to this page from the Arch wiki, I was able to change the profile using pactl. The syntax is as follows:
pactl set-card-profile <symbolic-name> <profilename>
In my case, I had to use this command:
pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00 output:iec958-stereo+input:iec958-stereo
After that, you need to run ha audio reload for the changes to apply.
Checking with ha audio info again yields the following:
audio:
application: []
card:
- driver: module-alsa-card.c
index: 0
name: alsa_card.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00
profiles:
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Input
name: input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Output
name: output:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Stereo Duplex
name: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
- active: false <------------------------------------------- !! THIS IS NOW SET TO FALSE !!
description: Analog Stereo Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-stereo+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-21
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-21+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output
name: output:analog-surround-40
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-40+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-41
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-41+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output
name: output:analog-surround-50
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-50+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-51
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-51+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output
name: output:analog-surround-71
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:analog-surround-71+input:analog-stereo
- active: false
description: Analog Surround 7.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) Input
name: output:analog-surround-71+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output
name: output:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input
name: output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo
- active: true <------------------------------------------- !! THIS IS NOW SET TO TRUE !!
description: Digital Stereo Duplex (IEC958)
name: output:iec958-stereo+input:iec958-stereo
- active: false
description: "Off"
name: "off"
- driver: module-alsa-card.c
index: 1
name: alsa_card.platform-bcm2835_audio
profiles:
- active: true
description: Stereo Output
name: output:stereo-fallback
- active: false
description: Mono Output
name: output:mono-fallback
- active: false
description: Multichannel Output
name: output:multichannel-output
- active: false
description: "Off"
name: "off"
input:
- applications: []
card: 0
default: true
description: USB Sound Device Digital Stereo (IEC958)
index: 1
mute: false
name: alsa_input.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00.iec958-stereo
volume: 1
output:
- applications: []
card: 0
default: false
description: USB Sound Device Digital Stereo (IEC958)
index: 0
mute: false
name: alsa_output.usb-0d8c_USB_Sound_Device-00.iec958-stereo
volume: 1
- applications: []
card: 1
default: true
description: Built-in Audio Stereo
index: 1
mute: false
name: alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.stereo-fallback
volume: 0.857696533203125
host: 172.30.32.4
update_available: false
version: 2022.07.0
version_latest: 2022.07.0
An option to do this in the GUI would be greatly appreciated; a new user might find this a bit tricky.