$ pactl list | grep description | grep USB device.description = "USB Device 0x46d:0x990 - USB Audio" Crappy name for a device, the one in lsusb is much better: $ lsusb | grep QuickCam Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:0990 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000 I know that PA gets the name from ALSA, but maybe that's a case where the name from HAL could be used.
But how should we decide whether the name from HAl or the name from ALSA is more useful?
Hmm, I think we could make PA blacklist certain names. However I wonder how an algorithm should look like that gets the lsusb/lspci name from HAL. Just going upwards in the device tree until we find an usb or pci name might be a bit risky because we might end up with strings like "Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1" then. I'd be happy to add this if there is a reliable algorithm to find this name.
PA from git will now use the lspci/lsusb name for naming sound cards.