Asahi Linux progress report

Asahi Linux progress report

That ability was not removed by Intel HDA - in the HDA spec, you have Selectors which can be controlled by the host software to route audio signals in any fashion the codec designer chooses to allow.

Some codecs allow you to route audio in a loopback fashion, some don't - those with processing tend to. Same as AC'97 - some AC'97 devices allow loopback, some don't. The difference is that Windows Vista doesn't expose a full set of controls - just the minimal set they want for "consumer" audio - on HDA, whereas it can't do that on AC'97 devices.

Nothing to do with hardware, and everything to do with the choice of software you run on that hardware. Linux never had this issue :)