Jack2 or pulseaudio issue after 2026-03-23 update

Support Audio
1

My audio system hasn’t been working since the big update yesterday. All audio files sounds like an overlapping effect … like a triple delay. Does anyone have any ideas?

Audio setup
jack2, jack2-dbus, realtime-privilegs
cadence w/ puleaudio bridge

# cadence log
Tue Mar 24 19:01:24 2026: Connecting 'system:capture_1' to 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-left'
Tue Mar 24 19:01:24 2026: Connecting 'system:capture_2' to 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-right'
Tue Mar 24 19:01:24 2026: New client 'PulseAudio JACK Sink' with PID 1562
Tue Mar 24 19:01:24 2026: Connecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-left' to 'system:playback_1'
Tue Mar 24 19:01:24 2026: Connecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-right' to 'system:playback_2'
Tue Mar 24 20:14:21 2026: Disconnecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-left' from 'system:playback_1'
Tue Mar 24 20:14:21 2026: Disconnecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-right' from 'system:playback_2'
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackFreewheelDriver::ProcessSync: SuspendRefNum error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackAudioDriver::ProcessGraphSync: ProcessWriteSlaves error, engine may now behave abnormally!!
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackPosixProcessSync::LockedTimedWait error usec = 213320 err = Connection timed out
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackEngine::ClientDeactivate wait error ref = 5 name = PulseAudio JACK Sink
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackEngine::ClientKill ref = 5 cannot be removed from the graph !!
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 23 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 26 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Failed to find port 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-left' to destroy
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 23 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 26 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Failed to find port 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-right' to destroy
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackPosixProcessSync::LockedTimedWait error usec = 42664 err = Connection timed out
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackEngine::ClientCloseAux wait error ref = 5
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: Client 'PulseAudio JACK Sink' with PID 1562 is out
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 23 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: ClientNotify fails name = PulseAudio JACK Sink notification = 1 val1 = 0 val2 = 0
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: Disconnecting 'system:capture_1' from 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-left'
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: Disconnecting 'system:capture_2' from 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-right'
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: JackAudioDriver::ProcessGraphSync: SuspendRefNum error, engine may now behave abnormally!!
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 23 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Failed to find port 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-left' to destroy
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Cannot write socket fd = 23 err = Broken pipe
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: CheckRes error
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Could not write notification
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: ERROR: Failed to find port 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-right' to destroy
Tue Mar 24 20:14:22 2026: Client 'PulseAudio JACK Source' with PID 1562 is out

$ inxi -Fxxxz
System:
  Kernel: 6.19.8-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
    clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.5.6 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland
    with: cairo-dock vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 7040 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0HD5W2 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 06B9
    uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI-[Legacy] vendor: Dell v: 1.11.1
    date: 10/10/2018
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-6700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
    arch: Skylake-S rev: 3 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3400 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 bogomips: 54398
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Skylake-S GT2 [HD Graphics 530] vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9 ports: active: HDMI-A-2,HDMI-A-3 empty: DP-1, DP-2,
    DP-3, HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1912 class-ID: 0300
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.21 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev
    alternate: vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 d-rect: 3840x1080 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-2 pos: primary,left model: Acer K242HL serial: <filter>
    res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 92
    size: 531x299mm (20.91x11.77") diag: 609mm (24") modes: max: 1920x1080
    min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-3 pos: right model: Acer K242HL serial: <filter> res:
    mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 92
    size: 531x299mm (20.91x11.77") diag: 609mm (24") modes: max: 1920x1080
    min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris wayland:
    drv: iris x11: drv: iris
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.0.2-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:1912 display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 layers: 2 surfaces: N/A device: 0
    type: integrated-gpu driver: mesa intel device-ID: 8086:1912
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info,wlr-randr
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Focusrite-Novation Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 driver: snd-usb-audio
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 1235:8016
    class-ID: fe01
  Device-2: USB MIDI Interface driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: fc02:0101 class-ID: 0103
  API: ALSA v: k6.19.8-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: active with: 1: a2jmidid status: active
    2: nsmd status: off
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.6.2 status: off with: wireplumber status: off
  Server-4: PulseAudio v: 17.0-98-gb096 status: active with:
    1: pulseaudio-alsa type: plugin 2: pulseaudio-jack type: module
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15b7 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wireguard1 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.39 TiB used: 223.01 GiB (15.7%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDH3 500G size: 465.76 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 20RL scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Silicon Power model: SPCC Solid State Disk
    size: 953.87 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 916a
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 57.37 GiB used: 34.85 GiB (60.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /boot size: 511 MiB used: 94.8 MiB (18.5%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-3: /home size: 152.74 GiB used: 62.13 GiB (40.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 5 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -1
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 30.0 C pch: 50.0 C mobo: 31.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1146 mobo: 1155
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.1 GiB used: 3.73 GiB (12.0%)
  Processes: 268 Power: uptime: 1h 45m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 259 default: graphical
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1880 Compilers: clang: 22.1.1 gcc: 15.2.1
    Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.40
2

some more details

Wed Mar 25 13:12:07 2026: Starting jack server...
Wed Mar 25 13:12:07 2026: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 90
Wed Mar 25 13:12:07 2026: self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: Device reservation request with priority 2147483647 denied for "Audio0": org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply (Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, 
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: ERROR: Failed to acquire device name : Audio0 error : Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broke
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: ERROR: Audio device hw:USB,0 cannot be acquired...
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: ERROR: Cannot initialize driver
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: ERROR: JackServer::Open failed with -1
Wed Mar 25 13:12:12 2026: ERROR: Failed to open server
3

I suggest first to check JACK pactchbay (Catia) audio connections and disconnect anything that might be duplicating an audio stream to headphones or speakers

If there is more than one PulseAudio JACK Sink and PulseAudio JACK source visible in the patchbay, stop the Cadence PulseAudio bridges and uncheck Auto-start at login
pulseaudio-jack provides module-jackdbus-detect that loads a JACK sink and source automatically when the JACK server is started, so loading more bridges via Cadence is not needed

Cadence used to be available from Manjaro repositories, but is only available from AUR and has not been updated in the last 2 years. If Cadence is problematic, jack2 can also be managed with jack_control commands, or Install qjackctl GUI

3 Likes
4

Everything works as expected when Jack is activated the sink becomes active, and when it’s deactivated, Pulse becomes active again. So Pulse and Jack2 themselves aren’t showing any problems. I removed jack2-dbus. The setup was performed as described here:

The journal only shows the following errors, which I haven’t been able to fix yet… possibly not relevant?

kernel: kvm_amd: CPU 7 isn't AMD or Hygon
pulseaudio[1019]: Failed to find a working profile.
pulseaudio[1019]: Failed to load module "module-alsa-card" (argument: "device_id="1" name="usb-fc02_USB_MIDI_Interface-00" card_name="alsa_card.usb-fc02_USB_MIDI_Interface-00" namereg_fail=false tsched=yes fixed_latency_range=no ignore_dB=no deferred_volume=yes use_ucm=yes avoid_resampling=no card_properties="module-udev-detect.discovered=1""): initialization failed.
pulseaudio[1019]: Failed to open connection to session manager: None of the authentication protocols specified are supported
pulseaudio[1019]: Failed to load module "module-x11-xsmp" (argument: "display=:0 xauthority=/run/user/1000/xauth_uJKFDe session_manager=local/user:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/1040,unix/user:/tmp/.ICE-unix/1040"): initialization failed.

inxi -A
Audio:
  Device-1: Focusrite-Novation Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 driver: snd-usb-audio
    type: USB
  Device-2: USB MIDI Interface driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB
  API: ALSA v: k6.19.8-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 17.0-98-gb096 status: active

.asoundrc

pcm.!default {
    type jack
    playback_ports {
        0 system:playback_1
        1 system:playback_2
    }
    capture_ports {
        0 system:capture_1
        1 system:capture_2
    }
}

ctl.!default {
    type jack
}

aplay -l
**** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (PLAYBACK) ****
Karte 0: USB [Scarlett 2i2 USB], Gerät 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Sub-Geräte: 1/1
  Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0

but this shows many surround devices … (not supported by Scarlett 2i2 USB)

aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
sysdefault
    Default Audio Device
lavrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Libav/FFmpeg Library
samplerate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
    JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
    Open Sound System
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
speex
    Plugin using Speex DSP (resample, agc, denoise, echo, dereverb)
upmix
    Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
    Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
sysdefault:CARD=USB
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    Front output / input
surround21:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=USB,DEV=0
    Scarlett 2i2 USB, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
usbstream:CARD=USB
    Scarlett 2i2 USB
    USB Stream Output
sysdefault:CARD=Interface
    Default Audio Device
usbstream:CARD=Interface
    USB MIDI Interface
    USB Stream Output
Pulse/jack setup replaced by pipewire - questions
5

The blog post from 2020 has a lot of outdated and erroneous information:

  • Manjaro used to use pulseaudio as default audio server but now uses pipewire-pulse.
    jack2 is included on Live ISOs but has never been the default audio server

  • The audio group is created during Manjaro install so suggestion to create another audio group is likely to be problematic

  • Arch-based systems use the realtime group for JACK instead of audio group. reconfiguring PAM limits in both groups may be problematic

  • Manually loading module-jack-sink and module-jack-source in PulseAudio can create more than one set of bridges to JACK if it used in conjunction with module-dbus-detect to automatically load bridges, and/or Cadence bridges
    (this is most likely causing the original problem of “triple delay”)

jack2-bus is required by cadence and cannot be removed discretely

$ pamac remove jack2-dbus
Preparing...
Checking dependencies...
Error: Failed to prepare transaction:
could not satisfy dependencies:
- removing jack2-dbus breaks dependency 'jack2-dbus' required by cadence

The .asoundrc file shown in previous post was probably created by selecting ALSA → JACK (Plugin) in Cadence
Changing the Bridge Type to (None) should remove the .asoundrc
Reloading ALSA (log out or reboot) should revert ALSA default output in aplay -l to:

default
    Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)

Troubleshooting a2jmidid is no longer possible if jack2 has been replaced