Sound system

Any Linux sound system consists of several layers:

Drivers and low-level interfaces — hardware support and control.
User-mode API (libraries) — utilized and required by applications.
User-mode sound servers (optional) — best for the complex desktop, needed for multiple simultaneous audio applications, and vital for more advanced capabilities, e.g. pro audio.
Sound frameworks (optional) — higher-level application environments not involving server processes.

A default Arch Linux installation already includes the kernel sound system (ALSA), and lots of utilities for it can be installed from the official repositories. If you want additional features you can install one of several sound servers.

Tip For advanced topics, see Professional audio.

Drivers and low-level interfaces

Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) — The default Linux kernel component providing device drivers and lowest-level support for audio hardware.

https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Main_Page || present in stock kernel

Open Sound System (OSS) — The original sound system for Linux.

http://www.opensound.com/ || oss^AUR

Sound servers

JACK Audio Connection Kit — Sound server for pro audio use, especially for low-latency applications including recording, effects, realtime synthesis, and many others.

https://jackaudio.org/ || jack^AUR, jack2

Network Audio System — An open-source, network-transparent, client–server audio transport system.

https://www.radscan.com/nas/nas-links.html || nas^AUR

PipeWire — Multimedia framework intended as a replacement for both PulseAudio and JACK, supports containers like Flatpak.

https://pipewire.org/ || pipewire

PulseAudio — General purpose sound system intended for out-of-the-box audio, multiple simultaneous inputs, can handle complex setups; is network-capable.

https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/ || pulseaudio