Audio stuttering with Pipewire

General system EndeavourOS installation
41

Investigating the changelog for the latest version of pipewire (0.3.44) (changelog here: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/releases/0.3.44) I have found this:

The default maximum latency was reduced from 170ms to 42ms. This should
improve overall latency for application that ask for a large latency,
such as notifications.

  • max-quantum is now also scaled with the rate. A new quantum-limit property was added as a hard limit for the quantum. This makes it possible to configure for larger than 8192 buffer sizes. Note than many JACK applications have a hardcoded 8192 limit. (#1931)
  • The max-quantum was reduced to 2048, This gives a 42ms default latency. (#1908)

Could this be my issue or?

42

This may well be related to my issue actually

I could wait until the new pipewire release but then Iā€™d have that crackling until then of course. What packages do I need to downgrade so I can get pipewire working to when it didnā€™t stutter for the meantime?

43
44

I mean Iā€™d like to keep using pipewire, this is the only problem Iā€™m having with it and I hope it will be resolved. I can either downgrade or remove the pipewire I have and replace it with the git versions. If I did that would it work immediately after a reboot or?

45

downgrade and see if it works after a reboot. I personally never had problems after replacing pusseaudio with pipewire

46

I would try the downgrade as @sradjoker says.

47

Alright, Iā€™ll try that tomorrow

48

What packages do I need to downgrade?

49

Iā€™m not 100% sure what all packages you should downgrade. I had more than just pipewire updates last time.

50

Is there a log i can check to see what was updated?

51

You can check your pacman log in /var/log/

Edit: These are some the latest updates i got recently.

[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded alsa-card-profiles (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded pipewire (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded pipewire-jack (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded firefox (96.0.2-1 -> 96.0.3-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded gst-plugin-pipewire (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded pipewire-alsa (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded pipewire-pulse (1:0.3.43-5 -> 1:0.3.44-1)
[2022-01-27T14:56:50-0500] [ALPM] upgraded rubberband (2.0.1-1 -> 2.0.2-1)
52

Thanks, Iā€™ll downgrade all the pipewire and alsa stuff tomorrow

53

I experienced that tooā€¦but there was an update to something in pipewire system at the time (donā€™t remember what), so easily explainable. Glad to see someone else got it :wink:

54

Did rebooting fix that for you as well?

55

Yep

56

Damn it

57

I downgraded to 0.3.43 today and found it was MUCH worse. like 20 times worse. I downgraded to 0.3.42 and it was the same. (I couldnā€™t downgrade pipewire-jack to anything below 0.3.43 though)
I have no idea what I should do

58

Iā€™ve upgraded to 0.3.44 again and it still persists but isnt as bad as the other versions.
I have however learned something important.
The audio stuttering in OpenSpades only occurs when cmus is opened while itā€™s running. If Iā€™m listening to my music and then open OpenSpades thereā€™s no issues. same for if Iā€™m running cmus, start openspades, then close cmus and re-open it. So it only happens if cmus is started while openspades is running.
Edit: All of this applies to Audacious as well

59

I tested making Audacious output to Alsa instead of Pulseaudio but it still stutters in Openspades

60

I think for now the best solution is to just start cmus before starting OpenSpades until thereā€™s a new PipeWire release and (HOPEFULLY) it will be fixed.