low volume sound on new PC, especially compared to Windows [SOLVED]

[tigerucla]

I've been dual booting W10 and LM20.1 for about a year, and on my older PC, the volume in LM was great (maybe too great- I often kept it below 10%). My new PC (HP Omen 25L), which I simply transferred my LM SSD to (W10 is on the main SSD), works great, except the volume level is not nearly as loud compared to when I'm in W10. I'm setting it around 60% to get the same volume level I used to get. If I want to turn the volume up, 100% isn't nearly loud enough. If I go into Sound/Settings and turn Amplification up to 150%, it is louder, but the sound quality gets bad.

Any ideas how to get more clean volume? I can live with it the way it is, but would like to make it better if I can. Is this a driver issue? The Omen 25L uses AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio from HP.

Thanks

inxi -Fxz
System:
Kernel: 5.11.0-22-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: HP product: OMEN 25L Desktop GT12-0xxx v: N/A
serial: <filter>
Mobo: HP model: 87C3 v: 00 serial: <filter> UEFI: AMI v: F.12
date: 11/02/2020
CPU:
Topology: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen
L2 cache: 4096 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
bogomips: 114983
Speed: 2092 MHz min/max: 2200/3600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2187 2: 2829
3: 1952 4: 2346 5: 2169 6: 4258 7: 2067 8: 2312 9: 2162 10: 2567 11: 2453
12: 2405 13: 2272 14: 2108 15: 2035 16: 2090
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 [GeForce GTX 950] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nouveau
v: kernel bus ID: 23:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NV126 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.2.6 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com.
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 23:00.1
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 25:00.4
Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
bus ID: 3-2:3
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-22-generic
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: rtw_8822ce v: N/A port: e000
bus ID: 21:00.0
IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 22:00.0
IF: enp34s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.97 TiB used: 136.66 GiB (4.5%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital
model: PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-512G-1006 size: 476.94 GiB
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST32000542AS size: 1.82 TiB
ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050
size: 465.76 GiB
ID-4: /dev/sdc vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 227.74 GiB used: 31.34 GiB (13.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc3
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 68.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 64 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 999
Info:
Processes: 375 Uptime: 1h 02m Memory: 15.61 GiB used: 4.48 GiB (28.7%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17
inxi: 3.0.38

[tigerucla]

I found out that NVIDIA drivers were not loading properly. I solved this by disabling secure boot in BIOS. Once I did that, the driver fully loaded and sound volume is now normal.

edit- Now that I think about it, the NVIDIA driver should have nothing to do with the audio. So disabling secure boot must've affected the audio driver as well. Any thoughts?

[SMG]

edit- Now that I think about it, the NVIDIA driver should have nothing to do with the audio. So disabling secure boot must've affected the audio driver as well. Any thoughts?

If you check the audio section of your inxi, you'll see Nvidia is mentioned, so yes, Nvidia is a factor. Note the first two devices operate using the same driver version from the kernel.

Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com.
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 23:00.1
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 25:00.4
Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
bus ID: 3-2:3
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-22-generic

Secure Boot has been known to block the Nvidia drivers from loading during boot cycle even if the Nvidia drivers are installed. Installing and loading are two separate functions.

Nvidia handles what ports are used for video and if you are using HDMI, then you have both audio and video going through the port and then the cable. That makes the Nvidia driver a factor in this situation.

This original information indicates you were using the nouveau open-source driver for your installation. I do not know how that might affect audio.
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 [GeForce GTX 950] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nouveau
v: kernel bus ID: 23:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NV126 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.2.6 direct render: Yes

[tigerucla]

Nvidia handles what ports are used for video and if you are using HDMI, then you have both audio and video going through the port and then the cable. That makes the Nvidia driver a factor in this situation.

Thanks for the info. It helps me learn, even as slowly as I am.

If I'm not using HDMI to connect my monitors (I'm using DVI and DP), would the NVIDIA driver still be a factor? I'm using speakers plugged into the audio port, and no sound coming from the monitors.

[SMG]

I've not yet done much audio troubleshooting, so I do not know all the nuances of what can be affected. Maybe someone else will be able to answer your question.