gsp-surround-linux

Virtual 7.1 surround and the EQ presets of the Sennheiser GSP 350 gaming headset on Linux, without the Windows software, with a small app to switch them.

It is made for the GSP 350 (USB dongle 1395:005d). It may also work with other headsets of the GSP family that use the same USB dongle and drivers, but that is untested; see Other headsets.

Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Sennheiser, EPOS, Conexant or Dolby Laboratories. Product names are only used to say which hardware this works with.

What it does

On Windows, the Sennheiser driver turns a game's 7.1 sound into headphone stereo with a fixed filter ("Dolby Headphone"). The dongle itself is a plain USB sound card with an EQ built in.

This project recreates exactly that:

1. Virtual 7.1 device. A PipeWire filter adds a "GSP Virtual Surround 7.1" output. Every channel is run through the filter measured from the original driver. The filter file comes from gsp-surround-irs and is downloaded during setup. Compared with the real driver output, the difference is about −46 dB, which is inaudible.
2. Presets. Off / Game / Music / eSports. The EQ of each preset runs inside the dongle. The app selects it with the same 2-byte USB command the Sennheiser app sends. Game also raises the bass (LFE) channel by 3 dB, as the driver did.
3. Surround on/off. Off sends plain stereo straight to the headset.
4. Kept up to date. A small background service re-applies everything at login and whenever the dongle is plugged in.

Recreated from

	version
Headset / dongle	Sennheiser GSP 350, USB 1395:005D, firmware (bcdDevice) 0x0007
Driver package	Conexant "USB Audio" 1.31.35.10 (2016-05-20)
Driver file	usbaud64.sys 1.31.36.6
Control app	Sennheiser SmartAudio3 2.1.4.0
Measured on	Windows 11 23H2

Install

Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint

1. Download gsp-surround_<version>_all.deb from the latest release and double-click it. Your software installer opens: click Install. It asks for your password once and brings PipeWire and the GTK bindings along if they are missing. In a terminal: sudo apt install ./gsp-surround_*_all.deb.
2. Open GSP Surround from your application menu, go to the Setup tab and click Set up. This downloads the filter file and configures PipeWire for your user; no password is needed.
3. Choose GSP Virtual Surround 7.1 as output if it isn't already the default. In games, select 7.1 / surround in the audio settings if the game asks.

If the EQ presets have no effect, unplug and replug the dongle once (see Troubleshooting). The package needs libadwaita 1.2 or newer: Debian 12, Ubuntu 22.10 and Linux Mint 22 or newer.

Other distributions

Download gsp-surround-<version>.tar.gz from the same page and unpack it. Install the packages from Manual installation, then:

sudo make install              # to /usr/local; use PREFIX=/usr for /usr

Open GSP Surround from the menu and use Setup → Set up as above. sudo make uninstall removes it again. The device rule goes to /etc/udev/rules.d for /usr/local (udev does not read /usr/local) and to /usr/lib/udev/rules.d for PREFIX=/usr.

Run from a clone

No system install, everything stays in your home folder:

git clone https://github.com/Sudashiii/gsp-surround-linux
cd gsp-surround-linux
./gsp-surround

1. Open the Setup tab and click Install everything. It asks for your password once, to install missing packages and a device rule.
2. Unplug and replug the dongle once.
3. Choose GSP Virtual Surround 7.1 as output if it isn't already the default.

After installation the app is in your app menu as GSP Surround, and the gsp-surround command is available in new terminals.

If the app doesn't start, the GTK 4 / libadwaita Python bindings are missing. ./gsp-surround prints the command for your distribution, or run ./gsp-surround install to install everything from the terminal.

The app

• Sound: the connected headset, virtual 7.1 surround on/off and the EQ preset.
• Setup: what virtual surround needs on your system, with Set up (Install everything when run from a clone), Re-apply and Remove setup (Uninstall from a clone).
• Logs: the output of what the app ran, with Copy (handy for a bug report) and Clear.

Requirements

• Linux with PipeWire and WirePlumber, the default on current Fedora, Ubuntu (22.10 and newer), Arch, openSUSE and others. Setup can switch over from PulseAudio.
• systemd (user session), Python 3.
• For the app: GTK 4 and libadwaita 1.2 or newer with Python bindings (PyGObject).

Manual installation

If you'd rather not let the app install things:

1. Install the packages:

   distribution	command
   Debian / Ubuntu	sudo apt install pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-bin wireplumber python3 python3-gi gir1.2-gtk-4.0 gir1.2-adw-1
   Fedora	sudo dnf install pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio pipewire-utils wireplumber python3 python3-gobject gtk4 libadwaita
   Arch	sudo pacman -S --needed pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber python python-gobject gtk4 libadwaita
   openSUSE	sudo zypper install pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio pipewire-tools wireplumber python3 python3-gobject typelib-1_0-Gtk-4_0 typelib-1_0-Adw-1

   The GTK packages are only needed for the app.

2. Run the installer in a terminal. It asks before anything that needs sudo, and only asks for it when a package is missing or the device rule has to change:

   bash scripts/install.sh

   Options:

   • --ir FILE uses a filter file you already have instead of downloading it.
   • --profile NAME chooses a profile from gsp-surround-irs.

3. Unplug and replug the dongle.

What the installer sets up from a clone, so you can check or undo it by hand:

what	where
app, scripts, filter file	~/.local/share/gsp-surround/
PipeWire filter (virtual 7.1 device)	~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/gsp-surround.conf
no automatic stereo→7.1 upmix	~/.config/pipewire/{pipewire-pulse,client,client-rt}.conf.d/90-gsp-surround-no-upmix.conf
background service	~/.config/systemd/user/gsp-surround.service
device rule (EQ access, start on plug-in)	/etc/udev/rules.d/70-gsp-surround.rules
command / app menu entry	~/.local/bin/gsp-surround, ~/.local/share/applications/gsp-surround.desktop
settings	~/.config/gsp-surround/

With the .deb (or make install PREFIX=/usr) the first part lives in system folders instead, and Set up only does your own part (filter file, PipeWire filter, no-upmix files, settings, as above):

what	where
app, scripts	/usr/share/gsp-surround/, command /usr/bin/gsp-surround
menu entry, icon, AppStream data	/usr/share/applications/gsp-surround.desktop, /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/gsp-surround.svg, /usr/share/metainfo/io.github.sudashiii.GspSurround.metainfo.xml
device rule	/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/70-gsp-surround.rules
background service	/usr/lib/systemd/user/gsp-surround.service, enabled through pipewire.service.wants/; it does nothing until you have run Set up

Terminal commands

gsp-surround                         open the app
gsp-surround preset off|game|music|esport
gsp-surround surround on|off
gsp-surround check                   what is installed / missing
gsp-surround apply                   re-apply (what the background service does)
gsp-surround uninstall               remove your setup (and the app, when installed from a clone)
gsp-surround --version

Troubleshooting

• Run gsp-surround check and look for [FAIL] lines.
• EQ presets have no effect / "EQ control: no access": unplug and replug the dongle once after installing.
• No sound on the virtual device: check that "Sound routed to the dongle" is ✓ in the Setup tab. If not, click Re-apply or replug the dongle.
• Don't switch the dongle's profile to "Pro Audio" in your sound settings. The app needs the normal profile.
• The surround button on the headset does nothing; on Windows the Sennheiser app handled it. Use the app instead.

Remove

• Installed with the .deb or make install: click Remove setup in the app's Setup tab, then remove the app in your software manager (sudo apt remove gsp-surround, or sudo make uninstall). Remove setup deletes the filter file and PipeWire settings of your account first, because a package cannot touch your home folder.
• Installed from a clone: click Uninstall in the Setup tab, or run gsp-surround uninstall. The app closes afterwards, since it removed its own files.

Your preset settings in ~/.config/gsp-surround are kept.

Other headsets

Other GSP headsets that came with the same dongle and the same Sennheiser/Conexant drivers probably work the same way. To try one:

1. Plug it in and open the app. If it isn't detected, pick it under Use an untested USB headset in the Sound tab. EQ presets are not sent to untested dongles; virtual surround uses the GSP 350 filter.
2. If it works, or doesn't, please open an issue with the output of lsusb and gsp-surround check.

If your headset's driver sounds different from the GSP 350's, its filter has to be measured on Windows; see gsp-surround-irs.

Development

make test        # python3 -m unittest discover tests: backend, GUI, installer, packaging and release tests
make check       # validate the desktop entry, AppStream data, service unit and scripts (STRICT=1: fail if a tool is missing)
make deb         # dist/gsp-surround_<version>_all.deb
make dist        # dist/gsp-surround-<version>.tar.gz, from git HEAD

The GUI tests need GTK 4, libadwaita and a display (a desktop session, or xvfb-run); without one they are skipped. The installer tests run scripts/install.sh and uninstall.sh against a fake home directory with stub commands, so they never touch the real system.

• app/gsp_surround.py: the GTK app and window (header with the tabs, background tasks).
• app/pages.py: the Sound, Setup and Logs pages.
• app/backend.py: checks and actions.
• scripts/: the actual work, which also runs without the app.
• data/devices.conf: the list of supported dongles.
• data/icons/: the app icon and the small headset icon used inside the app. The latter is -symbolic, so it has to stay fill-only (no strokes) for GTK to recolor it in dark mode.
• Makefile, packaging/: make install, the .deb and the release helpers. VERSION is the one place that holds the version number.

Releasing

A GitHub Actions pipeline (.github/workflows/release.yml) builds the release when you push a version tag:

1. Set the new number in VERSION and commit it.
2. Tag and push; the tag must be v plus the number from VERSION:

   git tag v$(cat VERSION)
   git push origin main v$(cat VERSION)

3. The pipeline runs the tests and checks, then publishes a GitHub release with
   • gsp-surround_<version>_all.deb, the installer (built by make deb, never committed),
   • gsp-surround-<version>.tar.gz, the source (make dist), and SHA256SUMS,
   • release notes made from the commit messages since the previous release. A tag with a suffix such as v1.1.0-rc1 becomes a pre-release.

The notes list the first line of every commit, so write it for the people who read the release. An optional prefix groups them: feat: under New, fix: under Fixes; docs:, test:, ci:, build:, chore:, style: and refactor: under a collapsed Maintenance section. Everything else, plain sentences included, goes under Changes. Merge commits, commits named "Release x.y.z" and anything marked [skip changelog] are left out.

To rehearse, open the repository's Actions tab, choose Release and Run workflow: it builds everything and attaches it to the run as a download, and publishes nothing. The same files can be built locally with make artifacts (into dist/) and the notes with python3 packaging/release_notes.py --tag HEAD --version "$(cat VERSION)".

License

MIT, see LICENSE. The filter files in gsp-surround-irs are not covered by this license.