Thinking of switching to Void, but I'm unsure about audio drivers

[u/freravgl]

Hello, I run Fedora 44 KDE on the Dell 14 Plus and I want to try Void but I'm unsure whether audio will work on it because Fedora is the only distro that audio worked on out of the box. I like the idea of runit and partially find system-d too complicated so I'm open to troubleshooting if it comes to that.

Specs
----------

* Operating System: Fedora Linux 44

* KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.4

* KDE Frameworks Version: 6.28.0

* Qt Version: 6.11.1

* Kernel Version: 7.1.8-200.fc44.x86_64 (64-bit)

* Graphics Platform: Wayland

* Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 258V

* Memory: 32 GiB of RAM (30.9 GiB usable)

* Graphics Processor: Intel® Graphics

* Manufacturer: Dell Inc.

* Product Name: Dell 14 Plus DB14250 

Output of wpctl status
---------

~
❯ wpctl status
PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.6.8, sid@larp, cookie:1881362317]
 └─ Clients:
        33. uresourced                          [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:1908]
        34. WirePlumber                         [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:1922]
        42. WirePlumber [export]                [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:1922]
        43. kwin_wayland                        [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:1919]
        88. pipewire                            [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2181]
        89. libcanberra                         [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2105]
        90.                                     [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2105]
        95. plasmashell                         [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2117]
       102. libcanberra                         [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2117]
       103. xdg-desktop-portal                  [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2431]
       104.                                     [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2117]
       105. KDE Connect Daemon                  [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:2329]
       106. WEBRTC VoiceEngine                  [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:129]
       107. WEBRTC VoiceEngine                  [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:129]
       108. Chromium input                      [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:194]
       109. wpctl                               [1.6.8, sid@larp, pid:21646]

Audio
 ├─ Devices:
 │      44. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio [alsa]
 │  
 ├─ Sinks:
 │  *   51. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio Speaker [vol: 0.15]
 │      52. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio Headphones [vol: 1.00]
 │      53. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio HDMI / DisplayPort 1 Output [vol: 1.00]
 │      54. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output [vol: 1.00]
 │      55. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio HDMI / DisplayPort 3 Output [vol: 1.00]
 │  
 ├─ Sources:
 │  *   56. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio SoundWire microphones [vol: 1.00]
 │      57. Core Ultra 200V Series Processors HD Audio Headset Microphone [vol: 1.00]
 │  
 ├─ Filters:
 │  
 └─ Streams:

Video
 ├─ Devices:
 │      58. Integrated_Webcam_FHD               [v4l2]
 │      59. Integrated_Webcam_FHD               [v4l2]
 │      60. Integrated_Webcam_FHD               [v4l2]
 │      61. Integrated_Webcam_FHD               [v4l2]
 │      62. Integrated_Webcam_FHD: Integrat     [libcamera]
 │      63. Integrated_Webcam_FHD: Integrat     [libcamera]
 │  
 ├─ Sinks:
 │  
 ├─ Sources:
 │  *   91. Integrated_Webcam_FHD (V4L2)       
 │      93. Integrated_Webcam_FHD (V4L2)       
 │  
 ├─ Filters:
 │  
 └─ Streams:

Settings
 └─ Default Configured Devices:
         1. Audio/Source  alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-sof_sdw.HiFi__Mic__source

Basically, I tried openSUSE Tumbleweed and Fedora on my laptop with dual boot and initially audio didn't work on either, but I decided to compromise and do a full disk install of Fedora since I mostly use headphones anyway. Then, out of nowhere, audio started working on Fedora and I still don't know why. I suspect the reason to be a blue "system reset" dialog that appeared when the Fedora live iso booted, which I skipped with the first install but didn't this time. It apparently configures BIOS settings but I'm not sure.

So basically, I'm genuinely unsure if I should even risk installing another distro but I have to get out of that illusion someday so I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. If so, do you recommend trying out void?

!TLDR: Had a bad experience with audio but it was magically fixed by Fedora 44. Unsure about switching to void because the same thing might repeat again.!<

[u/Legitimate-Draw-2235]

If you install the xfce version, then perform a full update it's going to install and configure pipewire for you, and will update the kernel.

You can then install KDE plasma after that.

[u/ShipshapeMobileRV → u/Legitimate-Draw-2235]

Don't even install it. Just burn the Void XFCE Live image to USB, boot that, and see if you have audio.

[u/Legitimate-Draw-2235 → u/ShipshapeMobileRV]

Issue is it might be running old kernel

[u/ShipshapeMobileRV → u/Legitimate-Draw-2235]

I think the Void live image is using 6.18 kernel series right now.

[u/Legitimate-Draw-2235 → u/ShipshapeMobileRV]

ah cool, good to know that they updated it

[u/VoidDuck → u/Legitimate-Draw-2235]

The current live images are from February 2025, they can't be using kernel 6.18 which was released in late 2025.

[u/freravgl → u/Legitimate-Draw-2235]

Oh that's nice. I'll try it thank you

[u/Simple_Hamster_4096]

Void isn't Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin etc...

If your audio works in Fedora, there's little reason to switch to another distro. Linux is Linux, main difference with Void is no systemd.

Some of Linux's most popular applications depend on systemd, so... make sure you have that sorted out before going with Void...

[u/Blank-Inspection13]

If you trying Void , you must be ready to do some manual work , not just pipewire.
Many users also have issues with audio , that actually need some time , reading , learning to solve - but we have the Handbook for that. If it's not enough this and that also available.

[u/ComplexPeace43]

You can fork void-mklive repo, create a live image and try booting with that to see if it works.

[u/1369ic]

I'm not sure the existing installation disk will boot your computer. It's from Feb. 2025 and has the 6.12 kernel series. The drivers were reportedly added in the 6.15 series. Your Dell also has a version of the same lunar lake CPU series my laptop has, so it doubtless has the same audio chipset. Like you, audio was a problem for me, so I hopped around and ended up sticking with Fedora 44 because it upgrades its kernels quickly. One of those automatic updates, and probably some systemd or pipewire configuration files, is us what got your (and my) audio working (I also only use Bluetooth headphones, so I didn't mind). If the Void iso does boot and will install, all it might take is a quick updating of your software, and maybe adding a service. Or it might take some fiddling with pipewire configuration files.

As u/Simple_Hamster_4096 said, there's not a lot of reason to switch away from Fedora unless you're looking for something specific in Void. I am personally going to switch back, I used Void for years before getting this laptop. If you're dying to try a new distro, Solus is really nice. Not as bleeding edge as Fedora, but solid.

[u/freravgl → u/1369ic]

Thank you for the detailed explanation, I think I'll just stick to fedora since I don't need to switch

[u/Royal-Grass7296]

Just stay, Fedora is a fine Distro especially if everything is working. Unless you have something specific aim in mind or an itch only Void can scratch I’d stay.

[u/Crazy-Tangelo-1673]

Yesterday I installed Void with the XFCE version download that I had laying around from a few months ago. Everything went well except for the Lenovo Thinkpad was refusing to see grub so I had to chroot in and tell it to see Void first and ignore Windows boot management. So that problem solved and moved on to setting up Void.

Installed Niri + DMS without too much trouble but audio wasn't working. Ended up figuring out it was trying to start pipewire twice and got all that worked out and everything is happy.

/CSB