Linux Working Around Audio Problems On The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X

Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 10 January 2026 at 09:40 AM EST. 7 Comments

For those loading Linux on the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handheld, there is currently audio quality issues, including gaps/dropouts in audio playback. A workaround is in the process of making its way to the Linux kernel until a proper solution can be sorted out.

Linux audio woes for the ROG Xbox Ally X handheld are being attributed to the calibration process for the TAS2781 audio codec causing these noticeable issues for users. The workaround is to skip the calibration process and just rely on the calibration data baked into the DSP audio firmware.

👁 ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X

This patch explains:

"There is currently an issue with UEFI calibration data parsing for some TAS devices, like the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X (RC73XA), that causes audio quality issues such as gaps in playback. Until the issue is root caused and fixed, add a quirk to skip using the UEFI calibration data and fall back to using the calibration data provided by the DSP firmware, which restores full speaker functionality on affected devices."

That patch is currently queued up in the sound subsystem's "for-linus" branch so it should be merged in the coming days for the current Linux 6.19 kernel cycle. The patch is also marked for back-porting to the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel so a few days after that should work its way to a Linux 6.18 point release for helping those running Linux on the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X.