I've been dealing with persistent sound issues on my Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon setup, especially after an update a few months ago. The sound frequently cuts out, particularly when my system is under heavy load—like gaming while watching videos or listening to music. I've tried increasing the buffer size significantly, which helped a bit, but I still encounter static or popping sounds after multitasking. The only fix I've found is to kill the PipeWire processes and let them restart. Given my hardware—a Ryzen 7950X3D, Radeon 7900XTX, and 64 GB DDR5—I doubt it's a performance issue. I'm guessing it's really about fine-tuning PipeWire for how I use my system, but I could use some expert advice on how to get everything configured just right.
5 Answers
PipeWire adapts to your system load, so issues can arise based on that. Since Mint follows the Ubuntu LTS versions, it might not have the latest PipeWire updates. If you're looking to fine-tune it, I recommend checking out this detailed guide on PipeWire and its relationship with ALSA and PulseAudio: [Guide on PipeWire Configuration](https://arslaan.studio/setting-up-a-linux-media-studio-workstation-audio-video-graphics-davinci-resolve-etc/#audio-sound-midi-drivers). Reset your configurations first, then adjust settings individually instead of going for high-level profiles.
Have you experienced similar issues on a different distro, like Fedora or Arch? Mint might be using an outdated version of PipeWire, which could be causing your problems.
Honestly, the issue might not be with PipeWire but how your system is configured. It sounds like you need to tailor it to fit your specific usage requirements better.
Just a tip from me: always share your distro details, hardware specs, and any error messages when asking for help with tech problems! It really helps others to help you better. 😊
If you mentioned changing the buffer size, I'm assuming you're referring to the quantum value or sample rate? There are helpful threads addressing audio crackling issues on Linux Mint you might find useful, like this one: [Audio Crackling Fix](https://www.reddit.com/r/zorinos/comments/1p9s7bg/audio_crackling_fix_on_linux_mintpop/). It could give you some additional insights to troubleshoot your problem.
Actually, Mint is quite modern and runs the same version of PipeWire as other current distros. I think there's some misunderstanding about that.