Issue with headphones and Bluetooth on XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 running Ubuntu 26.04

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1

Ubuntu Version: 26.04

Desktop Environment: GNOME

Problem Description:

Running Ubuntu on my Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1, when using my Linkbuds S or Bose QC35 Headphones via bluetooth, often the sound is choppy and if I move around the sound might stop, even if I move away 2 meters from my laptop it stops. I’ve tried multiple codecs some of them have helped but it doesn’t fully fix the issue. On my phone or Mac I don’t have this issue with these headphones, is there any additional drivers/configs that I need to do to my Bluetooth to fix this? This also doesn’t happen to my other Thinkpad running Fedora.

What I’ve Tried: Select a different codec.

2

Hi there, welcome to the community. This sounds like a driver or firmware issue.

Run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade to get the latest kernel and driver updates.

Install linux-firmware package updates if your Dell wireless card needs newer firmware binaries.

Dell also have a dedicated support page here Dell Ubuntu BlueTooth Devices

3

Thank you, I’ve tried to install the linux-firmware but encounter the following issue:

Cannot install linux-firmware on system as boot is managed by snapd.

4

Have you tried running snap refresh in terminal?