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feat: DualSense BT microphone + USB 3.0 connection watchdog

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BT microphone over Bluetooth: the DS5 mic now works over the dongle's BT
pairing — decoded from the controller's Opus stream to the USB capture
endpoint. Hinges on pkt[4] bit 0 (mic-enable) in the outbound 0x36 audio
report; credit to awalol (upstream) for identifying it. Mic-tagged 0x31
frames ((data[2]>>1)&1) are ALWAYS diverted out of the input path (decoded
when on, dropped when off) so Opus payload can never corrupt sticks/buttons.
Always-on via a sticky-latch keep-alive that only runs post-enumeration
(tud_mounted) so it never floods the fresh-pair handshake (which otherwise
delayed controller detection past the watchdog and tore the link down).
Toggle: bt_mic_enable config field (default on) — OLED Settings + web config.
README gains a "DualSense Microphone over Bluetooth" section;
BLUETOOTH_AUDIO_NOTES.md rewritten from "dead end" to the working mechanism.

USB 3.0 connection watchdog: auto-recovers a stalled connection (re-inquiry)
instead of hanging on the amber lightbar, for USB 3.0 ~2.4 GHz RF interference
that desensitizes the CYW43 BT radio. Re-enabled the ACL-fail / auth-fail /
create-connection-reject recovery paths. README "USB 3.0 ports & Bluetooth
interference" section with mitigations.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
MarcelineVPQ
2026-05-24 01:30:37 -06:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.7
parent 89847ed06e
commit 20b41d80a1
9 changed files with 211 additions and 80 deletions
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README.md
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@@ -140,11 +140,43 @@ When the connected DualSense reports its battery at or below 10% (and it is not
To opt out at build time, configure with `-DENABLE_BATT_LED=OFF`. Default is ON.
## DualSense Microphone over Bluetooth
**The DualSense's built-in microphone works over the dongle's Bluetooth pairing** (since v0.6.8). The controller streams its mic as Opus audio; the dongle decodes it and presents it to the host as the standard DualSense USB capture device, so any app (Discord, OBS, in-game voice) can use it like a normal microphone.
This was long believed impossible — earlier versions of this fork documented it as a hard Sony-firmware limitation (and the Linux `hid-playstation` kernel driver still doesn't support it). It turned out to hinge on a single enable bit in the dongle's outbound audio report. **Full credit to [awalol](https://github.com/awalol/DS5Dongle) (upstream) for identifying it.** The corrected investigation log lives in [BLUETOOTH_AUDIO_NOTES.md](./BLUETOOTH_AUDIO_NOTES.md).
**Using it:**
- **On by default.** Pair the controller and the mic begins streaming within a second or two — no game audio required (the dongle keeps the stream alive on its own).
- **Raise the capture volume on the host** — it defaults low. On Linux, find the card with `arecord -l`, then e.g. `amixer -c <DualSense card> sset 'Headset' 90%`. Verify capture with `scripts/mic_diag.sh capture`.
- **Toggle it off to save controller battery** — OLED **Settings → BT Mic**, or the **BT microphone** switch in the [web config tool](#web-config-tool). Always-on mic keeps the DS5's audio subsystem awake, which drains its battery noticeably faster, so disable it if you don't use voice.
**Caveats:**
- Mic audio is **mono** (decoded mono, duplicated across the stereo capture endpoint).
- Toggling off mid-session stops the host feed immediately, but the controller keeps streaming until it next reconnects (there's no known "stop" command); connecting fresh with the toggle off never enables it.
- The OLED **Diagnostics** screen's `Mic in:` counter reads ~100/s while the mic is streaming — a quick way to confirm it's live.
## Known Issues
- Overclocking to 320 MHz @ 1.20 V is **required** for stable BT pairing. Dropping voltage to 1.10 V or clock to stock breaks the CYW43 PIO SPI bus and BT stops working. A small heatsink on the RP2350 is recommended for sustained gameplay.
- HD haptics may not fire in every game on Linux + Steam; this is game-side (some titles only send HD-haptic audio under Windows-specific APIs). Tested working in Spider-Man Remastered; not delivered in Ghost of Tsushima — same firmware, same controller.
- **DualSense microphone does not work over the Bluetooth pairing.** This is a Sony / DS5-firmware-side limitation also documented in the upstream Linux kernel driver (`drivers/hid/hid-playstation.c` line ~1509: *"Bluetooth audio is currently not supported"*). The mic works fine when the controller is connected directly to the host via USB-C. See [BLUETOOTH_AUDIO_NOTES.md](./BLUETOOTH_AUDIO_NOTES.md) for the full investigation log + what's already wired firmware-side if a future contributor cracks the BT-side trigger.
- **USB 3.0 ports can disrupt pairing** — the controller may get stuck on a solid amber/yellow lightbar and never connect, while the same dongle works fine on a USB 2.0 port. This is RF interference, not a firmware bug; see [USB 3.0 ports & Bluetooth interference](#usb-30-ports--bluetooth-interference) below. (As of v0.6.8 the firmware auto-retries a stalled connection instead of hanging, which recovers many — but not all — marginal cases.)
## USB 3.0 ports & Bluetooth interference
If the dongle works on one port but not another, **try a USB 2.0 port first.** USB 3.0 ports and (especially) USB 3.0 extension cables emit broadband RF noise centered near 2.4 GHz — the same band the dongle's Bluetooth radio uses to talk to the controller. This is a well-documented industry issue (Intel, *"USB 3.0 Radio Frequency Interference Impact on 2.4 GHz Wireless Devices"*), not specific to this firmware. The noise desensitizes the dongle's BT receiver, so the controller can start connecting (amber lightbar) but the link is too noisy to complete — it hangs on yellow.
Mitigations, roughly in order of effectiveness:
1. **Plug the dongle into a USB 2.0 port** (often the simplest fix — many motherboards/cases have both).
2. **Use a short USB 2.0 extension cable** to get the dongle a few inches away from the USB 3.0 ports / metal chassis, improving line-of-sight to the controller. Avoid USB 3.0 extension cables specifically.
3. **Use a powered USB 2.0 hub** plugged into the USB 3.0 port — the hub downshifts the link and adds distance.
4. **Clip a ferrite bead** onto the cable near the dongle.
5. **Keep the controller closer / in line of sight** of the dongle during pairing.
The firmware will keep retrying a stalled connection on its own, so leaving it plugged in for ~10–20 s after the lightbar goes amber may let it recover without a replug.
## Performance / Overclocking