Audio crackling when interfacing with some sound related things using pipewire or pulseaudio

Hi all! I have been losing my -ing mind over this for 2 days now and its starting to affect my well being.
The title is vague because I cannot find a common denominator for this problem, in spotify starting/stopping a song will cause the audio to pop, adjusting the sound will cause a terrible crackling noise. aside from spotify which is the worst, this is less consistent for the rest of the system. For example through all my trouble shooting and changing of various settings/apps the audio slider crackling was on and off for freetube.

I have:
-replaced pulseaudio with pipewire following a thread on this site i believe.
-edited various audio config files to no avail
-tried using various audio apps recommended in support threads
-reinstalled both pulse and pipewire

i am now running pipewire, according to “aplay -L” although when i first purged pulseaudio and loaded pipewire, a had a bug where upon opening, spotify would say it is at the volume i left it but when i hit play it maxes the volume, this was solved by reinstalling manjaro-pulse, even though im still using pipewire.
in other words i have to idea what im doing and im losing it
my headset is the hyperx cloud orbit S, which for all intents and purposes is the better documented audeze mobius.

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.28-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=a541d9da-bdd2-42a4-9da9-6b8a6563531d rw quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.24.3 tk: Qt 5.15.3 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: X470 AORUS GAMING 5 WIFI v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: X470 AORUS GAMING 5 WIFI-CF
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F62
    date: 01/24/2022
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  RAM: total: 15.61 GiB used: 4.65 GiB (29.8%)
  RAM Report:
    permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+
    family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 8 stepping: 2 microcode: 0x800820D
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 768 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x64 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
    L3: 16 MiB desc: 2x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2706 high: 4189 min/max: 2200/3700 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 4189 2: 1954
    3: 4174 4: 1981 5: 4179 6: 1869 7: 2094 8: 2106 9: 2173 10: 2112 11: 4177
    12: 2053 13: 4186 14: 1964 15: 1942 16: 2157 bogomips: 118445
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1
    bmi2 bpext clflush clflushopt clzero cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpb cpuid
    cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid
    fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibpb irperf lahf_lm lbrv lm
    mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc
    nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq
    pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse
    pse36 rapl rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sep sev sev_es sha_ni skinit smap
    smca sme smep ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 succor svm svm_lock
    syscall tce topoext tsc tsc_scale v_vmsave_vmload vgif vmcb_clean vme
    vmmcall wdt xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr xsaveopt xsaves
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass
    mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1
    mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2
    mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia
    v: 510.54 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0a:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1b81 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Logitech C920 PRO HD Webcam type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 046d:08e5
    class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3600x1080 s-dpi: 92 s-size: 994x301mm (39.1x11.9")
    s-diag: 1039mm (40.9")
  Monitor-1: DP-2 pos: right res: 1680x1050 hz: 60 dpi: 90
    size: 473x296mm (18.6x11.7") diag: 558mm (22")
  Monitor-2: DVI-D-0 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 dpi: 92
    size: 531x298mm (20.9x11.7") diag: 609mm (24")
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 510.54
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com.
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0a:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f0 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0c:00.3
    chip-ID: 1022:1457 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Logitech C920 PRO HD Webcam type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 046d:08e5
    class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Device-4: JMTek LLC. USB PnP Audio Device type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2:3 chip-ID: 0c76:161e
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-5: Kingston HyperX Cloud Orbit S 3D 8Ch type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 5-4:5 chip-ID: 0951:1703
    class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.28-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.20 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2526 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp6s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: Gigabyte driver: igb
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 07:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:1539 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp7s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 Bluetooth Adapter type: USB driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-2:2 chip-ID: 8087:0025 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 290.1 GiB (15.6%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
    model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 3B2QEXM7 temp: 37.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM010-2EP102
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: CC43 scheme: MBR
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 915.53 GiB (98.32%)
    used: 279.52 GiB (30.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: a541d9da-bdd2-42a4-9da9-6b8a6563531d
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
    label: NO_LABEL uuid: F25F-17EE
  ID-3: /run/media/raph/adacf534-8899-4330-9b67-300d8fb71cda
    raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 915.81 GiB (98.31%) used: 10.58 GiB (1.2%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: N/A
    uuid: adacf534-8899-4330-9b67-300d8fb71cda
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 14 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-2:2 info: Intel Wireless-AC 9260 Bluetooth Adapter
    type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0025 class-ID: e001
  Device-2: 1-3:3 info: Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller (model 1914)
    type: <vendor specific> driver: xpad interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 500mA chip-ID: 045e:0b12 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: 1-10:4 info: Logitech C920 PRO HD Webcam type: Video,Audio
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    power: 500mA chip-ID: 046d:08e5 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Device-4: 1-12:5 info: Cooler Master AMD SR4 lamplight Control
    type: Keyboard,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 2516:0051 class-ID: 0300
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 8 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 3-1:2 info: Razer USA Huntsman V2 Analog
    type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 5 rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 1532:0266 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 3-2:3 info: JMTek LLC. USB PnP Audio Device type: Audio,HID
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 0c76:161e class-ID: 0300
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 5-1:2 info: Razer USA DeathAdder V2 Pro type: Mouse,Keyboard
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 5 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 1532:007d class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 5-4:5 info: Kingston HyperX Cloud Orbit S 3D 8Ch type: Audio,HID
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 0951:1703 class-ID: 0300
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.5 C mobo: 16.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 57 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 8%
Info:
  Processes: 366 Uptime: 12h 46m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 250
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.2.0 clang: 13.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1459
  lib: 453 flatpak: 0 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.16
  running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.13

One solution that I really want to try is using jack, but its not very well documented and searching for things related to it is a nightmare because its literally called jack. its also seems like exactly what i need considering my headset (10-50000hz) and my problems.
If you know that jack would fix my issue and are willing to guide me setting it up, that would be ideal
but since there is no guarantee it would work, any other ideas are welcome.

1 Like

Hi guys!!!

I have a similar problem and also tried a lot of steps:

-replaced pulseaudio with pipewire following a thread on this site
-edited various audio config files
-tried using various audio apps recommended in support threads
-reinstalled both pulse and pipewire
-finally purged pulseaudio and reinstalled pipewire

The problem that persists is the crackling audio when playing youtube and streaming video with a browser (firefox, brave, edge)

Kernel: 5.15.28-1-MANJARO
Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller

Is there any solution other than those already tried?

Note: The same hardware was working with the latest versions of Ubuntu, Pop_os and Fedora.

If audio crackling only happens when using web-based audio sources it may be possible to adjust volume without crackling by using Panel volume controls (eg plasma-pa) or DE Audio Volume Controls
(e.g pavucontrol-qt)
If the controls for PulseAudio/PipeWire do not cause crackling, reconfiguration of the sound server will have minimal effect on the underlying problem in web-browsers or electron packages

Turning off audio processing within browser might be more effective to deal with problem at source
Disable WebRTC audio post processing - Firefox/Tweaks - ArchWiki

I finally managed to solve the problem with the following steps:

  1. Remove all packages related to pulseaudio.

  2. Install pipewire packages:

sudo pacman -S pipewire manjaro-pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-zeroconf gst-plugin-pipewire wireplumber
  1. Install the realtime-privileges and the rtkit packages:
sudo pacman -S realtime-privileges rtkit
  1. Enable the rtkit daemon
sudo systemctl enable --now rtkit-daemon
  1. Add my user to the following groups
sudo gpasswd -a myuser rtkit
sudo gpasswd -a myuser realtime
  1. Reboot

I hope it helps !!!

1 Like

Thanks!