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PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

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Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#31

Post by sph »

0xbkt wrote: post #30

I was never successful in getting both mic and HQ audio working with BT on PulseAudio. Configuring to use A2DP gives the most fulfilling sound quality while nullifying the mic, thus becoming a huge deal-breaker for me. Does PipeWire incorporate any wizardry to overcome this and let me have simultaneous access to both mic and high quality audio? I have a JBL Everest Elite 700 and I am running on Ubuntu 21.10.

It does. I haven't tested it personally but AFAIK PipeWire does switch automatically to the best codec when you're not using the mic.

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#32

Post by colordrops »

heavyset_go wrote: post #3
colordrops wrote: post #2

Ironic, I just upgraded my NixOS system which uses PipeWire and now my Bluetooth headset has gotten really flakey for video con calls. It's not that audio is broken, but something has changed with PipeWire where it no longer uses the right audio device for output and input and I have to fiddle for a few minutes now before every call. Haven't figured it out yet.

Are you using WirePlumber and pipewire-pulse?

Previous response is too old to edit.

Looks like NixOS's pipewire service enables WirePlumber by default. Not sure if it changed recently from media-session, and that's why it's gone unstable, or if it's something else.

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#33

Post by emerongi »

christophilus wrote: post #27
spacemanmatt wrote: post #15

Since I switched to pipewire I've had the best Linux audio end-user experience with BlueTooth devices, ever.

I have found my vanilla Fedora install to have a better Bluetooth experience than my Mac did. That’s quite a feat.

A bit offtopic, but having received a Mac for work recently, I have come to appreciate Fedora and Gnome so much more. Throughout the years I've heard people rave about Apple and I honestly think Gnome is better. The only argument against Linux at the moment is the app ecosystem.

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#34

Post by shaicoleman »

rektide wrote: post #21

Bluetooth continues to be one of the most critically under-delivered standards, in my view. LC3, that this update discusses at the end, was announced January 2020. Over two years ago. There's still, to my knowledge, no devices that support it. None, not a one. In general I feel like we only just got Bluetooth 5.0 devices available on computers. Bluetooth 4.0 or 4.2 has been frighteningly prevalent, until very very re…

> Bluetooth continues to be one of the most critically under-delivered standards, in my view. LC3, that this update discusses at the end, was announced January 2020. Over two years ago. There's still, to my knowledge, no devices that support it. None, not a one.

Bluetooth >= 5.2 and LC3 are some of the prerequisites of LE Audio, but LE Audio is a separate standard that builds upon them.

The Bluetooth has only finalised the core parts of the LE Audio standard 22/Mar/2022 [1].

Some optional parts of the standard, e.g. "TMAP: Telephony and Media Audio Profile" are still not finalised. [2]

Many of the phones that support Bluetooth 5.2 should be able to support LE Audio.

On the software side, Android 13 (expected Q3 2022) will be the first OS to fully support LE Audio, and that's a few months away.

It was indeed very poorly communicated, and there was poor expectation management, but within a few months all the pieces should come together and the first devices should appear.

1. List of recently adopted standards: https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specs/

2. Diagram of all the different pieces of the specs: https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/recent-enhan...

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#35

Post by rzzzt »

Adverblessly wrote: post #23
ComputerGuru wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely an issue with Netflix on Ubuntu. Enough that I prefer to “obtain” via other means the content I have paid access then watch it in mpv (where I must still manually introduce a video delay). The delay you describe should be only as long as it takes for the audio packet to be processed by the audio stack as the video syncs with the audio and not the other way around. But I don’t think Bluetooth blocks for an…

> Definitely an issue with Netflix on Ubuntu. Enough that I prefer to “obtain” via other means the content I have paid access then watch it in mpv (where I must still manually introduce a video delay). pavucontrol let's you introduce a delay per device (in Output Devices under "Advanced" for the specific device), which might allow you to use it with Netflix directly. Or at least I managed to get it working wonkily on…

But the audio already arrives late compared to the visual part. To compensate for that, PulseAudio has to support time travel, while any video player "merely" has to delay the image sequence by a few frames to let it line up with the sound...

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#36

Post by hushpuppy »

emerongi wrote: post #33
christophilus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found my vanilla Fedora install to have a better Bluetooth experience than my Mac did. That’s quite a feat.

A bit offtopic, but having received a Mac for work recently, I have come to appreciate Fedora and Gnome so much more. Throughout the years I've heard people rave about Apple and I honestly think Gnome is better. The only argument against Linux at the moment is the app ecosystem.

This is true.

Apple still is more sophisticated in the desktop scripting department. Applescript support in most applications and the ability to tie that into actions is seriously powerful stuff.

Gnome wins in the ability to use javascript to customize window handling, but it isn't really able to script application actions like you can in OS X.

It is improving though. If you can use keyboard to navigate the functions you want in applications you can automate it with software like keymapper.

https://github.com/houmain/keymapper

There are other similar software available. Probably a half a dozen serious projects in total.

Keymapper is software that intercepts input from your keyboard and allows you to 'remap' it. It operates on the libinput level of things, so it works regardless of environment or if you are in the console. It does require elevated privileges, though.

This, when combined with Gnome-shell extension and user keymapperd daemon can provide application-specific contexts for keyboard combos. The extension monitors for switching applications and gives keymapper the ability to be context-aware.

This is how I "solved" the copy past nightmare for myself in Linux. This way no matter if I am in a browser, terminal, or Emacs I have consistent copy-paste keys. (super-c, super-v). Makes things easier.

This isn't even remotely on the same level as applescript, but at least it is something. You have to understand low-level Linux keyboard stuff, which is still a mess. Versus being able to simply record yourself using applescript.

Gnome certainly is a very relaxing environment once you get used to it. Much less frantic or distraction filled compared to Windows or OS X. I like it.

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#37

Post by aviraldg »

adamomada wrote: post #29
kaladin-jasnah wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PipeWire supports the most audio codecs of any desktop operating system, period. Windows and Mac don't have LDAC, Mac doesn't have aptX, etc.

I vaguely remember an old post from here showing someone hacking up Bluetooth to give SBC codec better quality, and it only being available on Linux (or maybe it was Linux+Android?) I’ll try to dig it up and edit it in here, as I think it was a great hack

Do you mean mSBC?

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#39

Post by adamomada »

aviraldg wrote: post #37
adamomada wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I vaguely remember an old post from here showing someone hacking up Bluetooth to give SBC codec better quality, and it only being available on Linux (or maybe it was Linux+Android?) I’ll try to dig it up and edit it in here, as I think it was a great hack

Do you mean mSBC?

I found a couple links, since I remembered that Zenwalk distro was one of the first to include it. They call it SBC XQ

[0] http://soundexpert.org/articles/-/blogs/audio-quality-of-sbc...

Via

[1] http://www.zenwalk.org/2019/09/audio-quality-of-sbc-xq-bluet...

Re: PipeWire: Bluetooth Support Status Update

#40

Post by iotku »

noobermin wrote: post #38
spacemanmatt wrote: post #15

Since I switched to pipewire I've had the best Linux audio end-user experience with BlueTooth devices, ever.

So is pipewire actually valuable and not just pulseaudio all over again?

While not perfect yet (it's still a relatively young project) it works as good or better than pulse in most general usage scenarios and avoids a lot of nonsense that you used to have to go through with using jack audio in tandem with pulse as well.

For the most part it works out of the box with good latency without extra configuration and provides good routing options as well for more advanced usage.

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