Different audio sources create crackling and buzzing at different times/unable to find pipewire config files

When opening a video in an application such as Discord or a web browser a brief crackling sound is made, then audio properly functions

In some games, Steam and otherwise, I hear a constant buzzing that changes in pitch and volume depending on shader quality, location in-game, and the direction in which I’m looking

I have been following along with this Manjaro forum post since it appears to be related to my issue; however when attempting to solve the issue with step 4 “Try setting alsa headroom” I am unable to locate alsa-monitor.conf (The prior steps have been unable to solve the crackling)

To remedy I attempted to use the commands listed in step 1" Create the config files for pipewire":

sudo mkdir -p /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/ && sudo cp /usr/share/pipewire/*.conf /etc/pipewire/ && sudo cp /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/*.conf /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/
mkdir -p ~/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/ && cp /usr/share/pipewire/*.conf ~/.config/pipewire/ && cp /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/*.conf ~/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/

After running I am met with the error
cp: cannot stat '/usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/*.conf'

Im curious if the *.conf has something to do with the error as I am still a learner when using sudo commands and such

Final note, list of audio devices as listed by running inxi -Fxxc0z --no-host | eos-sendlog

Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel
    bus-ID: 1-11:5 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 046d:081a
    chip-ID: 8086:7ad0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b
  Device-3: Creative Labs Sound Core3D [Sound Blaster Recon3D / Z-Series]
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 1102:0012
  Device-4: Logitech Webcam C260 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.18.5-arch1-1 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.52 running: yes

Pipewire configuration is documented here:

I have taken a look at this documentation and it appears very useful in being able to edit pipewire.conf however as I should have further stated in my post I am specifically having trouble looking for alsa-monitor.conf which is supposed to be located in /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/

Im looking for this file in particular as the Manjaro forum post im using as reference for solving the audio problems has multiple potential fixes centered around editing that file.

What does the command
sudo ls /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/
give you?

I guess you should have run the cp command from a root-shell, or with sudo rights.

Also, you may want to look into the ArchWIki, here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire#Audio_is_distorted

Running sudo ls /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/ gives the following output:
with-alsa with-jack with-pulseaudio

Also with the cp command, running in root still causes the issue

I still have been unable to locate the proper files that the Forum I’m following says is required to edit, does anyone have further insight on why they’re not in the location they should be?

That means, the configuration files simply aren’t there. Seems to be a software-setup issue of the pipewire system on your machine.

Is there any potential way to mend the issue?

Also I wonder if the previously discussed errors with the following commands have anything to do with this

sudo mkdir -p /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/ && sudo cp /usr/share/pipewire/*.conf /etc/pipewire/ && sudo cp /usr/share/pipewire/media-session.d/*.conf /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/
mkdir -p ~/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/ && cp /usr/share/pipewire/*.conf ~/.

You could try re-installing the whole pipewire bundle and then look again, if the config files in /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/
are there. Other than that, no.

After reinstalling pipewire via the command git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire.gitI am unable to find any files in /etc/pipewire/media-session.d/

Should I attempt to remove the sound card I mentioned in my initial post to see if that has any effects?

You should install the pipewire software from the Arch- repos. Any other way may result in exactly the mess you are in right now. So please remove everything and take a look here:

https://discovery.endeavouros.com/?s=pipewire

Ah, thankyou; when you say “remove everything” do you mean to remove the entire /pipewire/ folder from /etc/ before reinstalling?

(Just want to make sure I dont delete something I should’t delete)

No!

Go about uninstalling / installing the linux way, please! Simply deleting files and folders can have catastrophic consequences. Never do that!

Instead, look here, man!
https://discovery.endeavouros.com/audio/pipewire/2021/09/

Ah; sorry if I’m being a bit of a help vampire at this point, but in attempting to remove the packages listed on the EndeavourOS Pipewire page viasudo pacman -R causes errors as there are dependent applications and functions preventing the removal of the packages.

Is there some simple workaround? I haven’t found anything that immediately is related to this after some searching online.

Before attempting to completely reinstall Pipewire I managed to get the commands initially listed in my post to function and appear to have functioning config files; however the troubleshooting via those config files does not solve the crackling I hear.

Since I’ve been utterly unsuccessful to change anything in software to make this function I’m going to move onto changing hardware; will report back if I make any progress.

Thanks for the support, especially considering my clear lack of experience with linux systems.

Been a few days, I removed the soundcard in favor of just using Analog Stereo and as expected it functions fine

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