PulseAudio/Pipewire services; bluetooth audio quality

[BlackCat]

Hi fellows.
My question is not a call for urgent help and the answer probably is lying somewhere in the depths of this forum, so forgive me if it is repeated, but this is simpler for me.
First of all the interesting issue is that I have two audio services: Pulseaudio and Pipewire. Both are active and running (at the same time?) and audio output is controlled by Pulseaudio.
Here are my checks of it:

gintautas@Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531:~$ systemctl --user status pipewire
● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-06-30 18:22:32 EEST; 1h 0min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 2122 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 4311)
     Memory: 572.0K
        CPU: 81ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─2122 /usr/bin/pipewire

birž. 30 18:22:32 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 systemd[2113]: Started PipeWire Multimedia Service.
gintautas@Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531:~$ systemctl --user status pulseaudio
● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-06-30 18:22:32 EEST; 1h 1min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 2124 (pulseaudio)
      Tasks: 7 (limit: 4311)
     Memory: 11.9M
        CPU: 13.710s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pulseaudio.service
             └─2124 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

birž. 30 19:20:11 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 60%
birž. 30 19:20:13 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 50%
birž. 30 19:20:13 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 60%
birž. 30 19:20:19 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 50%
birž. 30 19:20:26 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 60%
birž. 30 19:20:57 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 50%
birž. 30 19:20:58 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 60%
birž. 30 19:20:59 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 50%
birž. 30 19:21:05 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 60%
birž. 30 19:21:24 Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531 pulseaudio[2124]: Battery Level: 50%

gintautas@Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531:~$ pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 15
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: gintautas
Host Name: Gintautas-ThinkPad-Edge-E531
Server Name: pulseaudio
Server Version: 15.99.1
Default Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: bluez_sink.F4_4E_FD_64_A2_9C.a2dp_sink
Default Source: alsa_input.usb-C-Media_Electronics_Inc._ThinkPad_OneLink_Dock_USB_Audio-00.analog-stereo
Cookie: cbf4:f983

Sound output on my bluetooth speaker sometimes gets short interruptions or brief sound quality distortions. Don't blame the speaker, it is cheap chinese "noname", but audio from my phone on the same speaker from he same source (the same internet radio stations) is OK.
Also I have two audio services managers installed: alsamixer and pavucontrol. After starting alsamixer and playing with control it has no impact on sound at all, while I can control sound via pavucontrol. By the way, it's strange, but gnome system audio slider also has no control of bluetooth output volume at all.

Everything is pretty OK when I'm using speakers connected by wire. No interruptions, distortions, slider is working.
Question is: would it be a good idea completely to disable one of the sound services (pulseaudio) leaving just one (Pipewire) active? I have some trustworthy links on how to do this. Probably problem arises from these audio services interactions? Or it comes from bluetooth adapter, which is:

I apologize in advance if my reaction to your thoughts and observations will be delayed, it may take up to a few days, but I'll follow your posts on my phone.

[Rikopara]

I'm experiencing the same issue! Did you come up with a solution? I thought of reinstalling pipewire because there's a chance I screwed up something by executing random terminal commands from forums. But I'm afraid of making everything even worse.

[14nd]

i'm sad to say that bluetooth on linux in general doesn't gel well .
sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and you have to start tweaking .
i speak from my experience.
nowadays i just use a wired earpiece and it works lol

[swarfendor437]

Hi, I don't know if it will help you in terms of Bluetooth, but I have had issues in other OScs not playing audio to my Logitech Surround System. Ironically, not system settings solved this but the Audacious Application:

[HOW TO] Get a SoundBlaster Audigy Rx to work in your system!

Further update. Before I provide additional information, when I test Zorin 17 in live mode it produces sound but wrongly identifies the source as S/PDIF! I have had some issues with PCLinuxOS KDE (running Q4OS instead of Trinity Desktop of PCLinuxOS). Changed to PCIE Slot 1. PCLinuxOS has been pushing out Pipewire updates that did not help my situation, leaving me with sound coming from front centre speaker/s. The solution? Well first make sure you have most of the ALSA packages installed. Then …

[BlackCat]

Hi.
I disabled PulseAudio and everything seems OK.
I followed exactly step-by-step this guide.
https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2022/04/pipewire-replace-pulseaudio-ubuntu-2204/amp/

Now all my audio commands outputs are as I expect them to be, sound quality improved, slider is working.

Sorry, if my replay is not very detailed, but at the moment I'm out of computer and writing from phone.

By the way, in this manual is system restoration steps if something will go wrong, so you can try.

[BlackCat]

Thank You for response.
I'm curious and Linux is a very new area for me, so I'll check Audacious within a few days and will let You know about results .

[Rikopara]

Sadly, it didn't work out for me. systemctl says that PulseAudio is inactive, but the problem persists. Also, what's interesting is that at first everything worked just fine (except I need to use terminal bluetoothctl command; otherwise, the headset won't connect), but with every day sound quality and lag become worse and worse. I've tested my bluetooth speaker, and the sound seems normal.
Maybe someone can suggest where to look? Thanks.

EDIT: Magic just happened! Somehow after lots of attempts, it finally connected like every bluetooth device, and no lag so far. Maybe BlackCat's solution actually worked out, so thanks for the answer.

EDIT2: After some time stutters returned. I'm desperate again.

[BlackCat]

Sorry, but my knowledge in linux beyond this point is very limited, so i can't give you reasonable ideas. Try to execute as much system audio check commands as you know, put outputs here and wait for response from more experienced buddies. I'll also follow this post and will let you to know if some ideas will arise. By the way, do you have Blueman installed on your system? It also helped me with connections just after OS installation. I can't provide you exact command to check blueman status and install it if needed, but it's easy to find using Search.
Also, you can do a little audio profile check. It could be done easily using menu -> Sound settings. Open Sound settings, find your output device and look for Audio Profile. You can try to choose between HSP/HFP and A2DP profiles. My system sound was horrible using HSP/HFP.