PulseAudio issues, programs conflicting and only one will play audio

Please advise which applications are taking exclusive control of audio devices

System data shows both PulseAudio and PipeWire sound servers are running
Pipewire developers have recently advised that both sound servers running simultaneously will cause conflicts

FAQ · Wiki · PipeWire / pipewire · GitLab
running pulseaudio together with a PipeWire setup configured for audio is not supported (and will fail as both servers fight for devices).

I suggest you disable PipeWire server

systemctl --user disable --now pipewire.socket pipewire.service

and stop PulseAudio server

systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.socket pulseaudio.service

and check if the applications previously taking exclusive control of audio devices are still able to produce audio playing direct to ALSA

Then reboot system to restart PulseAudio without interference from PipeWire and check if all audio applications are working any better