External audio doesn't work either through dock, other USB hubs, or earbuds.

[Butterscotch_96]

The built-in speakers work fine. But when I dock the Deck or connect earbuds through the headphone port it just plays through the built-in speakers and does not let me change the audio output.

Just now what I tried doing was re-installing with the recovery USB and it made audio work but the controller stopped working. Then I tried updating to try and fix the controllers but the external audio broke again.

 

[stompysan]

I had a similar issue when using an external DAC/amp with my unit. I was able to work around it by booting into desktop mode and making sure the active audio device is the one you are trying to use. I do not know of a simple way to do this from gaming mode.

 

[Taleweaver]

I think I had this happen, but because I was focused on getting my screens to work I didn't pay much attention to it. Besides: in my case it wasn't so much an issue rather than that the audio output didn't shift automatically.

Either way...what I did was exit to the desktop mode (in fact: I never tried things outside the desktop mode). Then in the (linux alternative to) the start menu type something like "sound output". If the external sound output is properly plugged in (either in the steam deck itself or a USB-C docking station with sound throughput), you should be able to find it in the menu. I did find it was hot pluggable, meaning that the entry dissapears when you unplug it and reappears when you add it back in. Either way: just try the different outputs and set the one you need as default.

Oh, and make sure the volume of your external output is somewhere in the middle. I nearly blasted my ears off when testing because my external sound system can GET PRETTY DAMN LOUD!!!!