Controller speaker and haptics

A DualSense in your hands plays what the game on the host sends to the controller's voice-coil haptics and its built-in speaker. Nothing is sent while the pad is quiet.

What you needCopy Anchor Link

• A DualSense or DualSense Edge on the client, plugged in over USB or, on Linux and Windows, paired over Bluetooth. On Android it needs USB.
• A Linux, Windows or Android client. Controller haptics is on by default; Controller speaker is on by default on Linux and Windows, off on Android (client settings). On Android both also need DualSense / DualShock passthrough (USB) on. The Apple clients play neither.
• Controller speaker on for the host, in the web console under Host → Settings → Audio. It is on by default and covers the haptics too.
• On a Linux host, a game running under GE-Proton 11-5 or newer. Stock Proton doesn't route controller audio.
• On a Windows host, Steam installed: the pad's audio device uses Steam's streaming speaker driver.

Over BluetoothCopy Anchor Link

A paired DualSense has no sound card on the client, so the client carries the speaker and the haptics inside the controller's own Bluetooth reports, about every 11 ms. There is no profile to switch and nothing to install. The client log shows pad-audio output opened on the DualSense bluetooth=true.

• The haptics play at 3 kHz instead of 48 kHz, so the finest textures are softer than over USB.
• The pad's headphone jack and microphone stay off.
• On Linux the client needs access to the pad's hidraw node, the same access the controller's gyro and lightbar already need.
• --pad-audio-test below checks a USB pad only.

No Pro Audio switch on the hostCopy Anchor Link

The usual Linux advice for DualSense haptics is to set the pad's Profile to Pro Audio. You don't need to for streaming: the controller the host gives the game already has the four-channel output haptics need, the same outputs a DualSense has on SteamOS. In your sound settings it shows as Wireless Controller with no profile selector.

A DualSense plugged into the host itself gets the same outputs from the ALSA profile the host packages install (rpm, deb, Arch, Bazzite sysext). Replug the pad, or restart PipeWire, after installing.

Check it's workingCopy Anchor Link

The host log shows, per pad:

pad-audio nodes minted (real-pad split: …)                  # Linux hosts
pad audio streaming (0xD1, Opus 48 kHz, silence-gated)
DS5 title asserted haptics-select (audio haptics) pad=0

The last line means the game found the controller's audio device and switched from rumble to haptics. If you see it and feel nothing, test the client. If it never appears, the game didn't find the device.

If a game doesn't find itCopy Anchor Link

On a Linux host, add GE-Proton launch options. Try this first; it opens the controller's audio device directly:

PROTON_DUALSENSE_HAPTICS_PREFER_NON_EVENT=1 %command%

Some titles also want:

PROTON_SONY_WINDOWS_DEVICE_NAMES=1 PROTON_KEEP_SONY_AUDIO_ENDPOINT_VISIBLE=1 %command%

Death Stranding Director's Cut needs PROTON_DUALSENSE_SPLIT_AUDIO=1 %command%.

To see which device GE chose, add WINEDEBUG=+pulse and look for a line starting Routing DualSense.

On a Linux clientCopy Anchor Link

The voice coils are channels 3 and 4 of the pad's sound card, and most distributions present the pad as stereo, or as a mono speaker plus headphones, which drops them. When the pad has no four-channel output, the client switches its card to Pro Audio for the session and restores your profile afterwards; it never saves the switch. SteamOS already has a four-channel output.

• To manage the card yourself, set PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_PROFILE=0 in the client's environment and pick a four-channel profile.
• A Flatpak client may not be allowed to switch the profile. If the log says so, set the controller's Profile to Pro Audio in your sound settings.
• The switch recreates the card's microphone too. If your microphone is the DualSense's own, that session falls back to your default one.
• A client killed mid-stream leaves the pad on Pro Audio until you replug it, log out or reboot.

Test the client without a hostCopy Anchor Link

Plug in the DualSense and run:

punktfunk-session --pad-audio-test

It lists the DualSense outputs it finds, names the one it picked, and plays a three-second tone into the voice coils. If the pad buzzes, the client works and the problem is on the host or in the game. Add --speaker to test the speaker instead, --seconds N to run longer.

In a Flatpak install, including the Steam Deck:

flatpak run --command=punktfunk-session io.unom.Punktfunk --pad-audio-test

Known limitsCopy Anchor Link

• The pad's speaker stays silent. The speaker shares channel 1 with the headphone jack. The client points it at the speaker when Controller speaker is on, but a game that sets the pad's audio itself overrides that. PUNKTFUNK_PAD_SPEAKER_PATH and PUNKTFUNK_PAD_SPEAKER_VOLUME (client-side settings) try other values.
• A real DualSense plugged into the host can take the audio. Some titles find it first. Unplug it while you stream.
• Titles that match the pad by container ID don't recognise it on a Linux host. Titles that match by name or USB ids work.
• A Windows host gives one pad controller audio by default. PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_SLOTS raises it to four (Configuration).