I can confirm that this is still a bug for me, two months later, but I've recently noticed that this also happens on my work computer, which has the same soundcard as my gaming PC at home (the Asus Xonar DS), but with a different motherboard (the Asus M5A88-M).
However, instead of SPDIF being at the top of the list, my webcam (which has a built in microphone) is in the same position. So while I do have the ability to capture audio by default, it is not of good quality (I normally select my headphones which use the rear microphone port on the sound card). In this case I'm pretty sure there was no weird lockup with audio programmes running at the time, so perhaps this is just generally an issue in 14.04 that has been caused by an update at some point since release? -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to alsa-driver in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1334329 Title: Sound input settings not saved Status in “alsa-driver” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: When attempting to set my preferred sound input device, simply leaving sound preferences and going back to sound preferences, and selecting input, causes the default SPDIF to be selected again, and not the internal microphone I preferred. I made a video to demonstrate what I mean by this here: http://youtu.be/9Q9EQvLl_rA 1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu 14.04 2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy pkgname' or by checking in Software Center I really don't know. It's just the sound preferences. 3) What you expected to happen For my selected sound input to be saved. 4) What happened instead Keeps defaulting to the top sound input ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu4 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2 Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: wl ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2 Architecture: amd64 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC1: brandon 23953 F.... pulseaudio /dev/snd/controlC0: brandon 23953 F.... pulseaudio CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Wed Jun 25 11:20:14 2014 InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-26 (60 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417) PackageArchitecture: all SourcePackage: alsa-driver Symptom: audio Symptom_AlsaRecordingTest: ALSA recording test through plughw:PCH successful Symptom_Card: Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6400 Series] - HDA ATI HDMI Symptom_PulseAudioRecordingTest: PulseAudio recording test through plughw:PCH successful Symptom_Type: None of the above Title: [HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH, recording] Recording problem UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) dmi.bios.date: 01/24/12 dmi.bios.vendor: Apple Inc. dmi.bios.version: MBP81.88Z.0047.B27.1201241646 dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag# dmi.board.name: Mac-94245A3940C91C80 dmi.board.vendor: Apple Inc. dmi.board.version: MacBookPro8,2 dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: Apple Inc. dmi.chassis.version: Mac-94245A3940C91C80 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAppleInc.:bvrMBP81.88Z.0047.B27.1201241646:bd01/24/12:svnAppleInc.:pnMacBookPro8,2:pvr1.0:rvnAppleInc.:rnMac-94245A3940C91C80:rvrMacBookPro8,2:cvnAppleInc.:ct10:cvrMac-94245A3940C91C80: dmi.product.name: MacBookPro8,2 dmi.product.version: 1.0 dmi.sys.vendor: Apple Inc. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1334329/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp