The audio level remains very low even when the volume control is turned up to maximum.
The is due to Pulseaudio controlling the wrong sound channel.
This problem can be worked around by modifying the Pulseaudio alsa configuration files:
# sed -i 's/\[Element Front\]/\[Element Master Front\]/g' \ /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/*
After making the modifications, reboot the system for the changes to take effect.