aurora12 with asahi-audio: DCP outputs take the default from MacBook Speakers, which go silent #314

Mac and installed build

• Model / board / SoC: MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Max (2023) / apple,j414c / apple,t6021
• Installed Aurora tag: not determinable. Package linux-aurora 7.2.11.aurora12-1 from the omarchy repo is what we know. The repo has no matching release tag.
• uname -r: 7.2.11-12-1-ARCH
• Bootloader: m1n1-aurora 1.6.1.aurora22-1, uboot-asahi 2026.07.asahi2-4. asahi,m1n1-stage2-version reads bc79acc4-dirty.
• Audio: asahi-audio 4.1-1, alsa-ucm-conf-asahi 10-1, pipewire 1:1.6.10-1, wireplumber 0.5.18-1
• Distribution: Omarchy on Arch Linux ARM with the omarchy package repo. omarchy-mac 0.2.3-1 and omarchy-mac-boot 20261027-1 are installed. We use Asahi's audio packages, not aurora-audio.
• appledrm.hdmi_audio reads Y with no option set, so drm/apple: turn DP/HDMI audio on by default #300's default is active.

Both firmware versions and provisioning

asahi,os-fw-version: 13.5
asahi,system-fw-version: 26.6.2

Provisioning: not relevant.

Reproduction, expected result, and actual result

Package state: this install's alsa-ucm-conf-asahi has no apple_dcp profile. alsa-ucm-conf-aurora and aurora-audio provide and conflict with the stock packages, but their replaces only name the -aurora packages, so an update leaves the stock ones in place.

Device tree links: audio-controller@39b540000 goes to dcp@289c00000 (dcpext0), and audio-controller@39b580000 goes to dcp@315c00000 (dcpext1).

1. Update to aurora12 and reboot, with no external display attached.
2. Play sound.

Expected: MacBook Speakers stays the default.

Actual: the two apple_dcp cards appear as "Apple DisplayPort" in Omarchy's sound menu and as "Built-in Audio Stereo" stereo-fallback sinks in pactl. The default became alsa_output.platform-39b540000.audio-controller.stereo-fallback and the speakers were silent. Choosing MacBook Speakers (audio_effect.j414-convolver) restored sound.

Our own pick then persisted over a restart, so a saved pick is honored. We don't know whether saved settings contributed to the first default. pw-dump shows priority.session 1000 on both DCP sinks and 850 on MacBook Speakers.

HDMI and USB-C both play on the first entry. The second stayed silent with no sink, playing into the void. Both entries are always listed with identical names, even with nothing attached.

Last known good: unknown.

Graphics or session details

Not a graphics problem.

Relevant error lines

Date, hostname and kernel: trimmed.

# Boot after the update, no external display attached yet
09:18:23.045632 dcp-dp-audio 39b540000.audio-controller: no sink, playing into the void

# Second entry selected with the monitor attached
09:47:32.400455 dcp-dp-audio 39b580000.audio-controller: no sink, playing into the void

Related issues, pull requests, or code examples

• drm/apple: turn DP/HDMI audio on by default #300: turned DP/HDMI audio on by default.
• Display audio: qualify HDMI/DP audio before changing its default #48: display audio qualification.
• DP/HDMI sound stays stuck after a display drop during playback: PCM DISCONNECTED, PipeWire error loop #315: sound stuck after a display drop, on the same Mac. USB-C hot-swap from HDMI: every mode rejected while routed to dcpext1, Hyprland aborts #313: Hyprland crash on HDMI to USB-C swap.

Workaround: choose MacBook Speakers in the sound menu.

What was not tested

• The aurora-audio stack
• Other M1/M2 Macs
• With drm/apple: turn DP/HDMI audio on by default #300 reverted