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The Linux audio stack demystified

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Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#21

Post by pdw »

anvuong wrote: post #5

Thanks for the nice writing. But do you have any insight on why is bluetooth audio so clunky on Linux? I'm using a pair of Sony XM4 and I have never had any problems on my 4 Windows machines. But on Ubuntu (both 22.04 and 24.04), I have had to jump through many hoops, from editing a bunch of config files, changing kernel flags, disable and enable a bunch of things I don't understand (mostly from reading Arch Wiki), j…

Debian does not ship the AAC codec, due to legal quagmire surrounding the necessary code. The same probably goes for Ubuntu. That might be the cause of at least some of your problems. https://tookmund.com/2024/02/aac-and-debian

Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#22

Post by jauntywundrkind »

ssl-3 wrote: post #18
disinterred wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use arch linux and have never had an issue with pairing bluetooth with anything. In fact, imho, it works much smoother than Windows because I keybind bluetoothctl to connect to any bluetooth headphones, speakers, keyboard or whatever automatically using their bluetooth device IDs. To do this you must first pair them (I use the blueman-manager gui) and then get their bluetooth device ids and keybind the bluetoothctl…

I've never done much with Bluetooth under desktop Linux, but that sounds like a woeful pain in the ass compared to the usual steps for Android or Windows: 1. Pair headphones in a couple of clicks/taps; sound comes out.

You can just pair as usual, yes, like any other OS, via a similar gui. And the device will then reconnect in the future.

What the parent is describing is an advanced flow, that can be helpful if you have lots of computers & need to juggle bt devices.

Setting up a hotkey just takes pre-work to setup. This workflow is optional. But it saves time & effort if for some reason you are one of the very few users who moves devices around a lot.

Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#23

Post by creeble »

tialaramex wrote: post #12
swatcoder wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read them as talking about listening , as represented in mentioning audiophiles. The extra depth/range available in DAW's are useful for effects processing, mixing, and mastering and are a little colored by trying to squeeze max-performance DSP on a general-purpose/commodity CPU. I just don't take them as talking about that here though.

And the bits are basically free. If we had very cheap 24-bit floats and nothing bigger, maybe we'd use those, but we've got cheap 32-bit floats, so those are fine. The most important property of floating point is "infinite headroom". In integer space, sixteen times quieter means 4 fewer bits of audio, get the levels wrong badly enough and people can hear your mistake even if you fix it later - but in float space it b…

“16 times quieter” is not 4 bits.

“Half volume” is subjective, and for music is typically between 6 and 10dB (most US audio engineering classes use 10dB).

Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#26

Post by akira2501 »

OsrsNeedsf2P wrote: post #14
epx wrote: post #7

I miss the simplicity of OSS :\

Hardware gets more nuanced and Linux needs to accommodate it. Otherwise we'd be stuck with blurry fonts and no UI scaling like it's 2014

Consumer grade audio hardware has not gotten any more "nuanced" for several decades now. For the vast majority of use cases OSS was perfectly fine and it offered more than enough API to handle new features.

For the small minority of uses cases where you might have two sound cards and you may want to do some kind of sample accurate combined production between the two at very low latencies, sure, OSS was _somewhat_ inadequate.

So we ended up with a giant complicated audio stack where the boundaries between kernel space and user space are horribly blurred and create insane amounts of confusion and lost hours to benefit the 1% of users who might actually use those features.

It was a complete mistake.

Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#28

Post by self_awareness »

anvuong wrote: post #5

Thanks for the nice writing. But do you have any insight on why is bluetooth audio so clunky on Linux? I'm using a pair of Sony XM4 and I have never had any problems on my 4 Windows machines. But on Ubuntu (both 22.04 and 24.04), I have had to jump through many hoops, from editing a bunch of config files, changing kernel flags, disable and enable a bunch of things I don't understand (mostly from reading Arch Wiki), j…

> I'm using a pair of Sony XM4 and I have never had any problems on my 4 > Windows machines. But on Ubuntu (both 22.04 and 24.04), I have had to > jump through many hoops [...]

I also have XM4's (best headphones in my life; seriously, they've saved my sanity and lowered my stress levels, more than a few times), but I never had any problems with BT pairing. I use them with my phone, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, ArchLinux and macOS, although not Windows, and they always pair up perfectly fine. I have two-device mode activated at all times.

My SO uses them (she has her own XM4's) with Windows and her phone, and also never had any problems.

Maybe it's a hardware issue?

Re: The Linux audio stack demystified

#30

Post by Izkata »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #22
ssl-3 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never done much with Bluetooth under desktop Linux, but that sounds like a woeful pain in the ass compared to the usual steps for Android or Windows: 1. Pair headphones in a couple of clicks/taps; sound comes out.

You can just pair as usual, yes, like any other OS, via a similar gui. And the device will then reconnect in the future. What the parent is describing is an advanced flow, that can be helpful if you have lots of computers & need to juggle bt devices. Setting up a hotkey just takes pre-work to setup. This workflow is optional. But it saves time & effort if for some reason you are one of the very few users who moves de…

A hotkey is more work than GP is describing. Pairing is a one-time thing, after that they connect automatically when the headphones are on and nearby.

...which, also, is exactly what mine do with Ubuntu. I used bluetoothctl to pair them once when I first got them, and when I turn them on Ubuntu automatically connects and switches the audio over. I don't have the same model headphones as GGGP, so I'm guessing it's a problem specifically with that model's implementation (Edit: or from another person who has the same model and no issues, perhaps some combination of hardware/software specific to that user).

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