I purchased a Sennheiser GSP 670 wireless gaming headset recently, and I cannot get stereo output to work on it. It connects via a 2.4ghz dongle, called the Sennheiser GSA 70.
This headset and dongle have some unique features. The headset has two volume knobs, and two audio channels. In Windows, the dongle shows up as two sound devices, a speaker called “GSA 70 Main Audio”, and a headset called “GSA 70 Communication Audio”.
The idea is that you can tell your voice chat software, like Discord, to output to the “Communication Audio” channel, and so you can control the volume from Discord with the secondary knob, independently from the “Main Audio” channel.
But with Linux/ALSA/PulseAudio, the headset and dongle show up as a single sound device, the “GSA 70”, and is mono only.
Under linux, the GSA 70 shows up with six profiles in PulseAudio, being each possible combination of “Multichannel”, “Mono”, and off, for both the output and input. All these profiles are mono only, I have tested this.
In Windows, the “Communication Audio” device shows up as a headset, containing both headset output, and microphone input, and is mono only. It may be that linux is only using this device, and not the “Main Audio”.
I’ve included screenshots of how the dongle appears in Windows, and various logs from linux.
Win10 screenshots
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pacmd list-cards
index: 3
name: <alsa_card.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
owner module: 9
properties:
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "Sennheiser GSA 70"
alsa.long_card_name = "Sennheiser Sennheiser GSA 70 at usb-0000:29:00.3-4, full speed"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_usb_audio"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:29:00.3-usb-0:4:1.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.1/0000:29:00.3/usb5/5-4/5-4:1.0/sound/card0"
udev.id = "usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00"
device.bus = "usb"
device.vendor.id = "1395"
device.vendor.name = "Sennheiser Communications"
device.product.id = "0089"
device.product.name = "Sennheiser GSA 70"
device.serial = "Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70"
device.string = "0"
device.description = "Sennheiser GSA 70"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-usb"
profiles:
input:mono-fallback: Mono Input (priority 1, available: unknown)
input:multichannel-input: Multichannel Input (priority 1, available: unknown)
output:mono-fallback: Mono Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
output:mono-fallback+input:mono-fallback: Mono Output + Mono Input (priority 101, available: unknown)
output:mono-fallback+input:multichannel-input: Mono Output + Multichannel Input (priority 101, available: unknown)
output:multichannel-output: Multichannel Output (priority 100, available: unknown)
output:multichannel-output+input:mono-fallback: Multichannel Output + Mono Input (priority 101, available: unknown)
output:multichannel-output+input:multichannel-input: Multichannel Duplex (priority 101, available: unknown)
off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
active profile: <output:mono-fallback+input:mono-fallback>
sinks:
alsa_output.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00.mono-fallback/#0: Sennheiser GSA 70 Mono
sources:
alsa_output.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00.mono-fallback.monitor/#0: Monitor of Sennheiser GSA 70 Mono
alsa_input.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00.mono-fallback/#1: Sennheiser GSA 70 Mono
ports:
analog-input: Analog Input (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
multichannel-input: Multichannel Input (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
analog-output: Analog Output (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
multichannel-output: Multichannel Output (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
pacmd list-sinks
index: 2
name: <alsa_output.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00.mono-fallback>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
state: SUSPENDED
suspend cause: IDLE
priority: 9040
volume: mono: 29489 / 45% / -20.81 dB
balance 0.00
base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
volume steps: 65537
muted: no
current latency: 0.00 ms
max request: 0 KiB
max rewind: 0 KiB
monitor source: 3
sample spec: s16le 1ch 48000Hz
channel map: mono
Mono
used by: 0
linked by: 0
fixed latency: 99.94 ms
card: 5 <alsa_card.usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00>
module: 31
properties:
alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
device.api = "alsa"
device.class = "sound"
alsa.class = "generic"
alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
alsa.name = "USB Audio"
alsa.id = "USB Audio"
alsa.subdevice = "0"
alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
alsa.device = "0"
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "Sennheiser GSA 70"
alsa.long_card_name = "Sennheiser Sennheiser GSA 70 at usb-0000:29:00.3-4, full speed"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_usb_audio"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:29:00.3-usb-0:4:1.0"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.1/0000:29:00.3/usb5/5-4/5-4:1.0/sound/card0"
udev.id = "usb-Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70-00"
device.bus = "usb"
device.vendor.id = "1395"
device.vendor.name = "Sennheiser Communications"
device.product.id = "0089"
device.product.name = "Sennheiser GSA 70"
device.serial = "Sennheiser_Sennheiser_GSA_70"
device.string = "hw:0"
device.buffering.buffer_size = "9594"
device.buffering.fragment_size = "2398"
device.access_mode = "mmap"
device.profile.name = "mono-fallback"
device.profile.description = "Mono"
device.description = "Sennheiser GSA 70 Mono"
alsa.mixer_name = "USB Mixer"
alsa.components = "USB1395:0089"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-usb"
ports:
analog-output: Analog Output (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
properties:
active port: <analog-output>
lsusb
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 1395:0089 Sennheiser Communications Sennheiser GSA 70
dmesg
[ 6103.447956] usb 5-4: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[ 6103.602665] usb 5-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1395, idProduct=0089, bcdDevice= 3.01
[ 6103.602668] usb 5-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 6103.602670] usb 5-4: Product: Sennheiser GSA 70
[ 6103.602672] usb 5-4: Manufacturer: Sennheiser
[ 6103.687239] input: Sennheiser Sennheiser GSA 70 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.1/0000:29:00./usb5/5-4/5-4:1.5/0003:1395:0089.000C/input/input38
[ 6103.687380] input: Sennheiser Sennheiser GSA 70 Consumer Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.1/0000:29:00.3/usb5/5-4/5-4:1.5/0003:1395:0089.000C/input/input39
[ 6103.741641] hid-generic 0003:1395:0089.000C: input,hiddev2,hidraw6: USB HID v1.11 Device [Sennheiser Sennheiser GSA 70] on usb-0000:29:00.3-4/input5
Is this an issue that can be fixed through configuration of ALSA or PulseAudio? I’m worried that this could only be fixed with a USB driver made for the dongle.
Any help would be appreciated, let me know if there is more information that I can gather to help.
Cheers.