Arctis Sound Manager has been released in version 1.5.2 - shortly after, version 1.6.0 followed with Streamer Mode and support for the GameBuds charging case.

The tool manages the audio settings of SteelSeries Arctis headsets on Linux, such as microphone EQ, filter chains and the GameDAC display. Version 1.5.1 was released just recently.

Version 1.5.2 added an automatic Sonar preset per game (Steam, Lutris, Heroic or by executable name), similar to GG’s QuickSet. It is disabled by default. The OLED display now shows the EQ of the active channel, and bug reports include kernel USB and sound messages.

Changes in version 1.5.2:

Added

• “Automatic Sonar preset per game.” “Turn on ‘Automatic preset per game’ on the Sonar page and ASM applies the matching Game channel preset as soon as a game starts (Steam, Lutris, Heroic or by executable name)”. Similar to GG’s QuickSet feature. Manual preset selections during gameplay are remembered per game. Tray menu allows forcing a preset or selecting “Do not change.” Disabled by default; preset switching causes brief audio interruption.
• “OLED screen now displays active channel EQ.” The display “follows the channel actually playing (Media, Chat, Output…) and is labelled with its name.” Previously always showed Game preset. Discord calls won’t override running game displays.
• “Enhanced bug reports include system diagnostics.” “Bug reports include the kernel’s USB and sound messages, from the current and the previous boot” (Issue #317)

Fixed

• “Microphone card display lag resolved.” “Picking a microphone switched the input but the card kept the old name until the next pick.” (Issue #318)

Changes in version 1.6.0:

The new Streamer Mode provides a second, independent mix of Game, Chat, Media, Aux and the processed mic, which shows up as a “Stream Mix” source in OBS and other recording software. The release also fixes problems with the Arctis Nova Pro Wired (volume knob) and SteamOS/Distrobox, and resolves a startup failure on Linux Mint 22/Ubuntu 24.04 (X11).

Added

• Streamer Mode: “a second, independent mix of Game, Chat, Media, Aux and the processed Mic” with individual volume and mute controls. This output appears as a “Stream Mix” source for OBS and other recording software. The feature delivers clean audio to viewers while keeping the user’s headset mix separate.
• GameBuds charging case support: When connected via USB, the Headset page displays battery status, charging state, lid position and earbud placement within the case.

Fixed

• Arctis Nova Pro Wired volume knob (#321): Resolved problems causing sound cutoff, maximum volume issues, microphone malfunctions and lag. The application was using incorrect communication protocols for the wired DAC.
• SteamOS/Distrobox audio (#181): Fixed missing Sonar audio on container-based systems by implementing retry logic through distrobox host execution.
• SteamOS permissions (#181): Addressed recurring “Operation not permitted” errors after permission repairs by granting per-port and per-node access.
• Linux Mint 22/Ubuntu 24.04 (X11): Resolved missing libxcb-cursor0 dependency that caused silent crashes at launch.

Contributors: rasmus91, baccatuesday, TheV-git

Source: GitHub