Skip Navigation
Linux @lemmy.ml
bufke @lemm.ee

What's your experience with bluetooth audio?

Bluetooth audio is my least favorite part of using Linux and it seems like my coworkers agree. I hear a lot of praise for pipewire, but it doesn't match what I experience. Does any system work well for anyone?

To clarify, it can work. But it's a harsh experience compared to say Android. I've used Ubuntu, Fedora, and PopOS. I've tried a few different headphones, using Galaxy Buds 2 current. Pulseaudio tends to "do as it's told" but doesn't automatically switch to the right (confusingly named) profile. With Ubuntu 23.10, using pipewire, it does automatic switch profiles. Sometimes this works great. But very often, it gets stuck on on a profile or just stops working. I have to reconnect bluetooth to fix it.

Is there some magic combination of things that works or is this just how it is for everyone?

40 comments

  • Bluetooth works great. Debian w/ XFCE (pulseaudio). But, there is some config on a fresh install: 

     undefined
            # apt install blueman pulseaudio-module-bluetooth  
  
    # nano /etc/pulse/default.pa  
    add:  
    load-module module-switch-on-connect  

    # nano /etc/bluetooth/input.conf  
    change:  
    IdleTimeout=0

  • Gentoo and Pipewire kinda just works.

    I expected a battle, like on my work Ubuntu laptop with pulse audio, but holy cow... Pipewire ftw.

  • Fedora Kinoite, working just as well as on Android (GrapheneOS)

    Using Pipewire. The issue really is the shitty firmware of my headphones.

  • I use NixOS, but before that I was on openSuse. I have not thought about Bluetooth in at all in the last few years. Zero issues. I pair it in KDE's default bluetooth manager and then never really touched it since. Media keys all work, I control it over WiFi from my phone with kdeconnect no problem.

    I think a few months ago I had to turn my headphones off and on again when the quality got really low for a second. Reading this thread I guess I'm extremely lucky? I don't produce music or anything like that, so I might not be taking advantage I'd some its more exotic features.

    EDIT: I am using a basic USB Bluetooth dongle I bought at least 8 years ago for my desktop, and my laptop just uses the built in Bluetooth. If that's any consolation.

  • No problem here with Opensuse slowroll (Sway WM) and a Realtek bluetootth radio, I'm using blueman for managing enabling/managing bluetooth connections.

  • I installed fedora 38 on my lenovo thinkpad t14 (now running fedora 39) and aside from one easily fixed issue bluetooth works perfectly. My gaming pc running windows can use my laptop as an audio device via bluetooth which is pretty cool.

  • So I've recently moved over to using my Pixel buds pro almost full time and am hoping you stoke a convo here to revisit.

    KDE Connect affords us the ability to fire off commands from a phone to do any number of things. One use case of mine is to disconnect/reconnect Bluetooth devices from the desktop since it is greedy and tends to bogart my earbuds when playback stops on other connections. This has worked pretty well so far but with that in mind, I have only just started playing around with things and so I look forward to refining the experience with other utilities.

    That said, I find Bluetooth is buggy on almost every OS out there (Android is constantly in what feels like a state of repair..)
    Best of luck!

  • I haven't had any issues.
    \ But it's not uncommon to a problem somewhere in the Bluetooth stack. It's important you report any bugs you come across to the respective projects, because of how diverse Bluetooth devices are it's hard to get perfect support for everything.

  • For me on Arch and also, but a lot less frequent fedora I find that it works fine then every few months there's an update that breaks it for a few days till it gets patched. But besides that it works fine for me. I use blueman in DWM BTW

  • Now that I know what to do (switch audio codecs on sound icon in menu bar depending on being in a call or listening to music) it works better for me on Linux Feroda than on Windoge.

  • It's okay. On my desktop with an Intel card my headphones occasionally have an issue where they'll stop actually playing sounds until I swap the codec in GNOME Settings. I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the headphones proper, because I don't think I've had the issue with my earbuds or when using them on my laptop.

    Speaking of my laptop, if I have WiFi turned on, the Bluetooth goes to shit. It sounds fine, but the audio will randomly cut out. I blame Realtek.

  • I don't use Bluetooth a whole lot on my Linux box (Arch Linux 20231128, MATE Desktop Environment, bluetoothd, pulseaudio). That said, I have blueman-manager in my system tray all the time, and it seems to do a decent job of managing two pairs of headphones (they're there, and I use them occasionally, just not often). The thing that seems to work for me is to use pavucontrol (PulseAudio Volume Control) to set the parameters of the Bluetooth headphones while they're active and associated, and those settings are stored for later. That way, when I'm wearing a pair of those headphones my laptop's speakers are automatically muted, the Bluetooth headphones go back to where I had them before, and whatever I happen to be playing back through (Firefox, vlc, whatever) automatically cut over to them and away from the (now muted) speakers).

    I guess I just did it one step at a time - get bluetooth turned on, get a pair of headphones associated with them, then turn off speakers, then.... I iterated on it until I had something that worked.

  • Sometime HSP just stopped working so now I have to do calls with my laptop built-in mic.

    Also, some programs like Zoom just fail to use the right output device no matter what I choose in settings. I just have to make headphones the fallback device for anything to work.

    But the most annoying thing is Linux somehow stealing the playback when my headphones are connected to multiple devices. Even when nothing plays on the computer but does play on the phone, there's no audio. I have to disable/disconnect my computer to use headphones with phone when my computer is in range.

40 comments