You're correct, it seems like sof-firmware is already installed.
pacman -Qs Sound Firmware:
local/sof-firmware 1.6.1-1
Sound Open Firmware
pacman -Qi sof-firmware:
Name : sof-firmware
Version : 1.6.1-1
Description : Sound Open Firmware
Architecture : any
URL : https://www.sofproject.org/
Licenses : custom:BSD custom:ISC
Groups : None
Provides : None
Depends On : None
Optional Deps : None
Required By : pulseaudio-support
Optional For : None
Conflicts With : None
Replaces : None
Installed Size : 7.59 MiB
Packager : Jan Alexander Steffens (heftig) <[email protected]>
Build Date : Sun 27 Dec 2020 12:03:44 EET
Install Date : Thu 07 Jan 2021 10:05:31 EET
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : No
Validated By : Signature
ls -1 /usr/lib/firmware/intel | grep sof:
drwxr-xr-x - root 7 Jan 10:05 sof
drwxr-xr-x - root 7 Jan 10:05 sof-tplg-v1.6.1
lrwxrwxrwx 15 root 27 Dec 2020 sof-tplg -> sof-tplg-v1.6.1
In my attempt to understand what you meant by "maybe unload relevant module and try using intel driver" I read some info from this page Kernel module - ArchWiki and also did what the arch page on my laptop module mentioned:
which started the first module in the code fragment below after a reboot:
snd_hda_intel 57344 0
snd_intel_dspcfg 24576 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl
snd_hda_codec 167936 5 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_soc_hdac_hda
snd_hda_core 106496 10 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_ext_core,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_intel_hda
snd_pcm 147456 11 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_soc_skl,snd_hda_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine
snd 114688 10 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm
Could you please offer a bit more direction on the topic?
Thought the following output might help:
lsmod | grep sof
snd_sof_pci 24576 0
snd_sof_intel_byt 20480 1 snd_sof_pci
snd_sof_intel_ipc 20480 1 snd_sof_intel_byt
snd_sof_intel_hda_common 98304 1 snd_sof_pci
snd_soc_hdac_hda 24576 1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof_xtensa_dsp 16384 2 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_byt
snd_sof_intel_hda 20480 1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof 139264 4 snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_byt,snd_sof_intel_ipc
ledtrig_audio 16384 2 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_sof
snd_hda_ext_core 36864 4 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_intel_hda
snd_soc_acpi_intel_match 45056 3 snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl
snd_soc_acpi 16384 4 snd_soc_acpi_intel_match,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_byt,snd_soc_skl
snd_intel_dspcfg 24576 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl
soundwire_intel 45056 2 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_hda_core 106496 10 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_ext_core,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_intel_hda
snd_soc_core 323584 6 soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_soc_dmic
snd_pcm 147456 11 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_soc_skl,snd_hda_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine