My Problem
I recently tried using my old Ubuntu laptop (2012 13" MacBook Pro) to watch a movie. I connected to a Bose SoundLink Mini II, but I started experiencing audio quality issues. Approximately once every couple of minutes the audio would either drop completely or sound convoluted for about 1-2 seconds. The symptoms were identical on both Impish (21.10) and Jammy (22.04)[1].
My Resolution:
In an online forum, I found a comment that suggested that switching from the default PipeWire session manager (pipewire-media-session) to WirePlumber resolved a similar issue for someone else. Being unfamiliar with either of these applications I did some reading[2][3][4][5], and decided to give it a try.
Once I installed wireplumber and libspa-0.2-bluetooth and enabled wireplumber, my sound audio issues disappeared!
It appears that multiple different Linux distros have taken the stance that “WirePlumber will probably replace pipewire-media-session, someday”. For me, that “someday” is today.
If this helps you to resolve your own audio issues on Ubuntu, please leave a comment with your experience and any additional technical details you can share that might help others!
Firstly, if PipeWire is being used for audio at all in jammy then that is unintentional. We intend for jammy to use PulseAudio for audio, including Bluetooth. Although how to audit that this happens when we have dependencies requiring that both are installed, is unclear.
Second, yes wireplumber is a drop-in replacement for pipewire-media-session. Where we depend on either is in gnome-remote-desktop and they’re supported equally:
Thank you @holmanb for suggesting using wireplumber.
However, your installation steps did not work for me in Ubuntu 20.04, and neither could I find an installation guide on the wireplumber git, maybe because it’s not in Ubuntu main, like @vanvugt suggested .
I had audio issues similar to yours but only on Steam while using the compatibility layer Proton with a bluetooth headset, which have now been solved (hopefully) by installing pipewire instead.
I used the instructions on their website ( pipewire.org). However, I did have to install some dependencies manually (through pip), if anyone wants to follow those steps.
I dumbly followed these steps and now my bluetooth connection is not working at all. My pipewire-media-session was masked instead of disabled. Enabling it again does not work, it stays masked. Is there a way to unmask it again? The reason I tried this in the first place is because since Ubuntu 22.04 upgrade, when I connect my laptop to my radio, the sound on the radio sounds like it’s under water and then also a very mechanical sound. Is there a way to undo what I have done?
Actually it did work. Strange I thought I did it exactly that way yesterday. But perhaps I did not do it in this order after all. Thanks! I can connect to my music device again, but the original issue remains unfortunately.
I’m using ubuntu 23.04 with sony WF-XB700. I’m facing the same problem. There is no pipewire-media-session service. wireplumber service enabled. But I still have a problem. Is there any updates?
This addressed my BT issue. The intresting part with my ubuntu was that it was initially working - then stopped working for some unknown reason. I was able to hear the volume up/down feedback on wireless headset; I could also play a locally downloaded file. However any audio from browser would play from laptop speakers for some reason. Tried reinstalling BT audio drivers. But finally this one addressed it.
This worked for me Ubuntu 22.04 on an AMD lenovo thinkpad t14s gen2.
My initial symptoms were, terrible choppy, laggy sound on bluetooth while wifi was transmitting data, and also disconnect after 30seconds and then re-connect. Now I still have disconnect, but the audio quality is very good.