Hello, I have a particular audio card which provides both analog and HDMI output. CARDINFO: CARDINFO{id}="PCH" CARDINFO{card}="0" CARDINFO{driver}="HDA-Intel" CARDINFO{name}="HDA Intel PCH" CARDINFO{longname}="HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf140000 irq 127" CARDINFO{mixername}="Intel Skylake HDMI" CARDINFO{components}="HDA:10ec0283,80862063,00100003 HDA:80862809,80860101,00100000" sysfs: ATTR{class}="0x040300" ATTR{driver}="snd_hda_intel" ATTR{vendor}="0x8086" ATTR{device}="0x9d70" ATTR{subsystem_vendor}="0x8086" ATTR{subsystem_device}="0x2063" Both outputs are working fine and I can play audio on both outputs independently. (eg. 'aplay song1.wav -D hdmi' and 'aplay song2.wav -D hw:0' can run simultaneously). So hardware-wise, everything seems fine. When PulseAudio detects the card (module-udev-detect) it realizes that the card can play on audio on analog and HDMI, because it creates various profiles. 1 card(s) available. index: 0 name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3> driver: <module-alsa-card.c> owner module: 3 properties: alsa.card = "0" alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH" alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf140000 irq 127" alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel" device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3" sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0" device.bus = "pci" device.vendor.id = "8086" device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation" device.product.id = "9d70" device.form_factor = "internal" device.string = "0" device.description = "Built-in Audio" module-udev-detect.discovered = "1" device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci" profiles: input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: unknown) output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown) output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5460, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5200, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5260, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 100, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 100, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71-extra1+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5200, available: unknown) output:hdmi-stereo-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5260, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 100, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 100, available: unknown) output:hdmi-surround71-extra2+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 160, available: unknown) off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown) active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo> sinks: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo sources: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitor/#1: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#2: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo ports: analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no) properties: device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone" analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no) properties: device.icon_name = "audio-headphones" hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no) properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: no) properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no) properties: device.icon_name = "video-display" The default profile 'output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo' autocreates 1 sink. If I switch to an HDMI card profile, the analog-sink is replaced by an HDMI-sink. If I want to play audio on both outputs independently, I have to manually add a new sink: load-module module-alsa-sink device=hdmi:0 My question is: * Why isn't there a profile which autocreates both sinks? I think that should be the default profile for this card. * How are the profiles created? Is it the responsibility of ALSA? Thank you for your input, Lode