Arch Linux

As of 3.1 there will be a new config option in the alsa HD-audio module: SND_HDA_PREALLOC_SIZE.

For people using alsa directly, the value of this option makes no difference (as far as I know). However, with PulseAudio increasing this value will make it possible to only wake up once every two seconds when playing audio.

I suggest setting the value to 2048, as mentioned in the help text (below). As far as I know, there is no downside to this, the only reason not to increase it further is that PulseAudio does not take advantage of a value above 2048, so there would be no point.

For easy reference:

+config SND_HDA_PREALLOC_SIZE
+ int "Pre-allocated buffer size for HD-audio driver"
+ range 0 32768
+ default 64
+ help
+ Speficies the default pre-allocated buffer-size in kB for
+ HD-audio driver. A larger buffer (e.g. 2048) is preferred
+ for systems with PulseAudio. The default 64 is chosen just
+ from the compatibility reason.
+
+ Note that the pre-allocation size can be changed dynamically
+ via a proc file (/proc/asound/card*/pcm*/sub*/prealloc), too.