I would say it's quite unstable, and I was informed that this could be a kernel race issue.
After I installed the 3.12 kernel on this system and cold boot into 3.13.0-37 (I forgot to switch to 3.12 on boot) with HDMI cable connected HDMI audio is now available. But if you disconnect it, sometimes it won't disappear automatically from Sound settings. If it's gone, hot-plug can't make the HDMI audio output available again. Error messages could be found in dmesg: [ 44.038792] HDMI: Unknown ELD version 10 ubuntu@201307-14037:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -i Audio -A2 00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 09) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0615] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel -- 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0615] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel ** Attachment added: "dmesg.log" https://bugs.launchpad.net/hwe-next/+bug/1383997/+attachment/4241538/+files/dmesg.log -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1383997 Title: [Dell Vostro 5470] No HDMI audio with 14.04 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/hwe-next/+bug/1383997/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs