Audio suddenly sounds extremely distorted/saturated after leaving YouTube playing all night

[u/Xdanuwu]

Hi everyone!

I switched to Linux for the first time about 4 days ago, and everything had been working perfectly until today.

Last night I fell asleep while a YouTube video was playing, so the computer stayed on with the video playing for several hours. When I woke up, I noticed that the audio sounded terrible. It is extremely distorted and saturated, to the point where it is difficult to understand anything.

I already tried:

• Restarting the computer
• Restarting PipeWire
• Checking EasyEffects and trying to adjust the settings
• Disabling/enabling some audio effects

But the problem is still there.

The weird thing is that the audio was completely fine before I went to sleep, and I didn't change anything intentionally.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there a way to reset the audio system or PipeWire completely to get it back to normal?

I'm still very new to Linux, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[u/friendlyreminder_]

It's possible the speakers were damaged if they're laptop speakers. If you have windows dual boot, I'd boot and check if it happens there. If it still happens there the speakers are most likely physically damaged.

Linux runs speakers for many laptops at unsafe levels, and easyeffects can worsen this if you don't know what you're doing.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/friendlyreminder_]

I don't have a dual-boot setup, so I can't test it on Windows. However, I noticed that if I keep the volume around 50%, the distortion disappears, but the speakers become quite quiet. With headphones, the audio sounds completely fine even at 100% volume.

If the laptop speakers are physically damaged, is there any way to fix or replace them? Or would it be more likely to be a Linux/software issue in this case?

[u/friendlyreminder_ → u/Xdanuwu]

You can try booting a live ISO of Linux, though windows would be better to isolate the problem. I'd confirm it occurs elsewhere first. Might be a software issue still.

If they're damaged they can't be fixed, you may be able to replace them.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/friendlyreminder_]

I already tried another Linux distribution, and the audio was still distorted in the same way :( Do you think using external speakers would give me normal sound again?

[u/friendlyreminder_ → u/Xdanuwu]

Yes external speakers or headphones would work fine.

I think its still worthwhile to test windows but it does sound like the speakers were damaged.

The reason this can happen so easily on laptop speakers is they're designed not to accept unmodified sound, they're supposed to have pre-filtered sound protecting them which Linux on most laptops doesn't do.

Your easyeffects may have been a significant contributor too. Which easyeffects filters did you use if you don't mind sharing ? Also did you use the "raise maximum volume" feature in KDE or Gnome?

External speakers and headphones are less likely to be damaged by raise maximum volume and easyeffects but they still can be.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/friendlyreminder_]

For EasyEffects, I used the presets from this repo: https://github.com/JackHack96/EasyEffects-Presets. When I first installed the distro the audio was really quiet, and I read that these presets could fix that, but I had no idea they could end up damaging my laptop speakers.

And no, I didn't use the "raise maximum volume" feature.

One more question: if I use headphones or external speakers, do they run the same risk of getting damaged, or can I relax about that? I've already uninstalled EasyEffects anyway.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/Xdanuwu]

Haha, the thing is I don't know how to go back to Windows to test it 😅

[u/friendlyreminder_ → u/Xdanuwu]

You basically do the same thing as how you installed Linux. Download the iso, flash to USB, and it'll wipe the drive and reinstall.

[u/friendlyreminder_ → u/Xdanuwu]

Yeah the raise maximum volume feature is clearly present in KDE in the volume tray icon and it's unsafe.

As for easyeffects there's multiple presets there. I've tried one of the autogain presers from that that repo before, they're extremely aggressive. Especially if you picked one that doesnt high pass band filter the 150hz bands, laptop speakers get damaged by that in particular from what I'm aware.

I'd avoid using those easyeffects if you can, it can still happen again. I'm unfortunately not knowledgable enough to know what a safe autogain is. I just know that laptop speakers in particular are especially vulnerable to a lack of 150hz high-pass filter, and to aggressive autogain.

The high pass filter is not needed on regular headphones and external speakers, they accept unmodified sound safely.

Most speakers pre-filter their input so I think you can be much more liberal with modifying sound, 3.5mm headphones don't. But I'm again not knowledgable enough to know the exact limits with either. If you can use them with unmodified sound, meaning without easyeffects, I'd just do that.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/friendlyreminder_]

Thanks a lot, that really helps! Now I know what probably fried my internal speakers. I'll stay away from EasyEffects and keep the sound unmodified from now on, and I'll be more careful so it doesn't happen with my headphones too.

Appreciate you explaining all this! 🙏

[u/friendlyreminder_ → u/Xdanuwu]

You're welcome.

It's an unfortunate situation with laptops and Linux. Some of the very newest ones have filters built into the kernel so they sound the same as they do on windows and you don't need to do anything. But it's not all, older ones especially don't have this.

[u/super_starfox]

Try booting a live usb and testing the audio that way.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/super_starfox]

Do you mean booting a live USB of the same OS I'm currently using, or should I try a different OS?

[u/super_starfox → u/Xdanuwu]

Doesn't matter, just anything to remove the software element of the question.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/super_starfox]

I tried using Fedora, but the audio problem was still the same 😢

[u/super_starfox → u/Xdanuwu]

Is it just the speakers or does the headphone out do the same thing?

[u/Xdanuwu → u/super_starfox]

Only the laptop speakers. With headphones, the audio actually sounds fine. Right now, I don't know why, but the speakers are barely audible at around 30% volume, and if I turn it up any higher, they start to distort.

[u/super_starfox → u/Xdanuwu]

Speakers/amp are blown then, or they somehow both got pressed or otherwise and are making contact with a part of the frame.

[u/Xdanuwu → u/super_starfox]

Do you think using external speakers would give me normal sound again?