Poor Microphone Recording Quality on Fedora 42 with OBS Studio (Tronsmart Glary Alpha Headset)

[vertikal]

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a significant issue with microphone recording quality using OBS Studio on Fedora 42. My recordings are either too quiet (but clean) or have background noise and distortion when I increase the volume. For comparison, I previously used Windows 11 with GeForce Experience, and the quality was much better with the same hardware. I’m hoping to get some advice on improving audio quality on Fedora with OBS.

System and Hardware Details:

• OS: Fedora 42 (recently updated from 41)
• Kernel: 6.14.4-300.fc42.x86_64
• Motherboard: Asus PRIME B660M-A WIFI D4 (ALC897 audio chipset)
• Headset: Tronsmart Glary Alpha Gaming Headset (connected via 3.5mm jacks using Y-adapter, not USB)
• OBS Version: 31.0.3 (64 bit)
• Headset Specs: Microphone Sensitivity: -42 ± 3dB, Microphone Impedance: 2.2K Ohms

Issue Description: The audio recorded via OBS Studio is unusable—too quiet at clean levels, or noisy/distorted when amplified. On Windows, recordings were clear and balanced. I’ve tested with both OBS Studio and Audacity on Fedora, and the issue persists across tools.

Steps Taken So Far:

1. Checked ALSA devices with arecord -l, which shows:

arecord -l

card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC897 Analog [ALC897 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 2: ALC897 Alt Analog [ALC897 Alt Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
card 2: USBCamera [USB_Camera], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1

2. Attempted recording with ALSA using arecord -D hw:0,2 -c 1 -f S16_LE -r 48000 test.wav, but got the error arecord: set_params:1398: Channels count non available. Same error without -c 1.
3. Tried adjusting input settings in alsamixer -c 0 for Mic/Front Mic/Rear Mic channels and volume (80-90%), but no success in recording yet.
4. Added OBS filters (Gain, Compressor, Noise Suppression) as a potential fix, but core input issue persists.

Questions:

• Has anyone encountered the Channels count non available error with ALSA on Fedora or similar setups, and how did you resolve it?
• Are there specific settings for analog mic inputs (3.5mm) on HDA Intel PCH (ALC897) that might help with quality?
• Any recommendations for balancing volume and clarity with a low-sensitivity mic (-42 dB) in OBS on Linux?
• Should I focus on PulseAudio instead of ALSA for OBS capture with this hardware?

I’ve attached my OBS log file (uploaded via Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File) for reference. or other diagnostics if needed. I’m open to any suggestions or workarounds to match the recording quality I had on Windows.

dmesg | grep -i audio


[    4.577731] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[    4.626815] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for ALC897: line_outs=1 (0x14/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:line
[    4.626820] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    4.626822] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=1 (0x1b/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    4.626824] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    4.626825] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    dig-out=0x11/0x0
[    4.626826] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[    4.626827] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:      Rear Mic=0x18
[    4.626828] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:      Front Mic=0x19
[    4.626830] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:      Line=0x1a
[   12.295459] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio