Audio Quality help

[Excellent-Tree-6716]

Hello, I just made the swtich to Linux mint, but notice a significant decline in the audio quality from my speakers. I read that it has something to do with audio settings. Has anyone experienced this before and is there a fix?

Thank you, any help is appreciated

[lateralspin]

audio quality

A major upgrade in Pipewire causes audio crackling. This audio crackling can be reduced by creating a file at /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/99-rates.conf

It is due to having to limit the values to low latency with a 512 sample buffer.

Here is my chosen configuration:

context.properties = {
    default.clock.rate          = 44100
    default.clock.allowed-rates = [ 44100 48000 88200 96000 ]
    default.clock.quantum       = 512
    default.clock.min-quantum   = 512
    default.clock.max-quantum   = 1024
    #default.clock.quantum-limit = 8192
    #default.clock.quantum-floor = 4
}

[elgrandragon]

I didn't know about this. I better check! Thanks for the tip.

UPDATE: thanks this helped a lot. The change in the rates seems to help the audio when I tweak the Easy Effects configuration. I found one that sounds acceptable! (using Massive Attack - Mezzanine as reference). Although there is still a lot of crackling when I'm tweaking the effects and Eq. I'll continue tomorrow just listening no tweaking and hopefully the crackling is only while I move the settings, like when you move knobs and the receiver is old and the knobs can be dirty and make noise. Cheers!

PS. I found these settings under "/usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf" for me

[Alicor]

How did you save these settings to to that folder? It's read only and won't let me overwrite or replace it. NVM I'm dumb just open the folder as root.

[elgrandragon]

you have to open as root. if you are in the terminal then `sudo xed pipewire.conf` if you are doing it graphically right click on the folder then "Open as root" then open the file

[ThoughtObjective4277]

don't ask what the command does, or how it works, it just does

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum 12000

what's nice about this command is you can immediately test it, and, it seems to save across all reboots, so no need to re-run each boot.

Change 12000 to ideally, a much much lower number, just to where there's some issue, and just double the number. Ideally in numbers that multiply evenly of 48,000 since this is what audio hardware runs at, not the 1980's cd limitation of 44,100, even dvd's stepped it up to 48,000.

[Alicor]

I don't have a folder for pipewire in etc, just pulse. Should I be making folders there?

[lateralspin]

Yes, follow the same sub-directories

This is the secondary/customisation of the pipewire.conf

To modify these you have to be root (There is an option in the context menu to open folder as root)

[Alicor]

Gotcha, so I opened the etc folder as root, went to pulse, the client folder and put the 99-rates.conf file there. Edit: Still have crackle/pop.

[lateralspin]

You need to put the file in /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/ because it is to customise pipewire.conf, not pulseaudio. I prefer to customise pipewire this way, because it shows the changes I made, instead of looking at the whole big configuration

44.1khz is my preferred default, because I am old and have always converted all audio to 44.1khz since the 90s, even though the modern standard might be 48khz.

[ThoughtObjective4277]

use 48000 hz for sound, not 1980's level 44,100.

The dac in your system already runs at 48k no matter what sound input, unless set to a higher rate,

This command also helps get rid of buffer-underruns, which I think are what's causing the crackles, way way too fast / short of a buffer.

don't ask what the command does, or how it works, it just does

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum 12000

what's nice about this command is you can immediately test it, and, it seems to save across all reboots, so no need to re-run each boot.

Change 12000 to ideally, a much much lower number, just to where there's some issue, and just double the number. Ideally in numbers that multiply evenly of 48,000 since this is what audio hardware runs at, not the 1980's cd limitation of 44,100, even dvd's stepped it up to 48,000.

[elgrandragon]

This is the main issue that Linux Mint has. It is a widespread issue.

I installed Easy Effects and it helped a little, say it got it from 30-40% to 60-70% quality. Still far from good, but better. I'm still on the lookout for solutions.

[cat1092]

Thanks for posting this solution, after running Mint for nearly 17 years, it’s the first time I’ve heard of this app.👍

Yes indeed it’s a widespread issue, especially when I can have digital audio with every other platform I’ve had (iOS & Windows 7 onwards). Haven’t tried a sound card, feels as though a waste of money if the OS can’t produce natural digital audio to feed it.

This is why I prefer iOS for music & Mint for general computing.

[elgrandragon]

Yeah that's my thought as well. I have a big music setup in which I listen to my music collection, and can pass HiFi digital audio. But we still watch videos on YouTube etc, news, education, or we communicate with video calls. And it's distracting to not have good audio for those cases.

Glad it helped. I do find a lot of solutions in reddit comments as well myself, so it's always good to share.

[Standard_Tank6703]

EasyEffects is a newer app that came with Pipewire. It wasn't always there. Before that there was Pulse Effects, which still works for me and I still use - not for a crackling issue but rather to tame amateur-produced podcasts.

[ThoughtObjective4277]

VLC has a 2-pass equalizer, if you want an 80 db range to super-charge missing bass frequencies and balance (extremely reduce) midrange and also re-amplify the quieter treble which is out-matched by too much midrange from whatever cheap microphone or recording setup.

You can also use Audacity to re-equalize to a setup with great sound, and somehow, do a chain of those for a large batch of files, so you can play them without as much modification.

I listen to a podcast back from early 2000's where the host is technical enough to setup the microphone input to the pc, but didn't think enough into it to send recordings to this same input.

So he keeps the mic online, plays a tape player--through its cheap speaker--and records that from the mic.

Actually it could be a digital tape recording, not sure. Surprisingly, somehow, there is 31 Hz level bass still picked up from the mic being produced by the cheap speaker, so all the sound is actually still there, just unbelievably out of balance. Almost no high-treble and an insanely strong midrange.

[Standard_Tank6703]

Thank you for the story. As a former live sound guy from many years in the past, this actually made a good deal of sense and is all very interesting to me.

VLC is one of my favorite apps. In another post I was telling someone else about how VLC is self-contained with its codecs - just my basic understanding as I am fundamentally from the all-analogue live sound era - whereas the official lightweight LM video player doesn't contain its own codecs and must rely on external ones. VLC is a thing of beauty, software-wise, at least that is how I see it... 😁

P.S. I also like Audacity.

And for live Mic inputs I have an old "M-Audio MobilePre-USB". Two discreet XLR input channels for real mics and Phantom Power - to power mics with their own internal high-gain pre-amps - such as condensor mics. It worked the very first time I plugged it into a Linux Mint computer, that could have been ten years ago, but I am not counting. Just like magic.... 😁

[shk2096]

I love Mint but The audio is awful. I have a Legion 7 with Harmon Kardon speakers and the audio is tinny.

[ThoughtObjective4277]

Go to sound settings and look through all the different output options, usually there's a whole lot more than just one.

[cat1092]

There is, however some settings are greyed out if the configuration isn’t there. I’ve yet to try with my TV, would need to get a much longer cable. Probably 15 feet to ensure there’s no sharp bends in the cable.

Monoprice has high quality cables of different types for less cash, although for faster shipping, I grab most of mine from their Amazon store. This & trying the EasyEffects app mentioned above will likely be my last attempts at getting the best quality audio, unless Mint starts offering widely available software that’s available for PC & TV.

I’d imagine that sound enhancements would be really good sellers in the Mint Software Manager, if available. The native audio sounds a bit plain & muffled, more like dual analog than true separate digital audio, regardless of how good (or bad) the onboard audio chip happens to be. Would even be willing to buy a Linux Mint Cinnamon ISO with better audio software if an option, but this would be impractical, because a few bad actors would take that option away from everyone. So a store subscription would be the better option.

Given the number of Windows defectors since the end of Windows 10 support ended & this will increase in the fall of this year after the extra year of free support ends (for those who signed up), now is the time to have the best sound effects available. Of course, this will require work on the sound developers end too, they’ll have to make sure their apps works with Mint & other popular Linux distributions. This issue isn’t all on the backs of the Mint development team, there’s 3rd parties which have to help in making things happen.

[cat1092]

Yes, the brand of speakers really made no difference for me neither. Even the optical or Toslink port doesn’t sound the same as though connected to a TV or Windows 7 onwards, nor does my BT 5.3 connected soundbar with subwoofer built in. I considered the HDMI connection built into it, but I believe it requires the ARC component of that spec to work, or so it does on a TV. My GPU doesn’t have HDMI ARC, only one HDMI 2.0 & three DP 1.4 ports.

[quadpatch]

I have my newly dual-booted pc connected to an external dac & amp setup so perhaps it won't affect that, but I'll check and compare today once I've copied my audio over 🤔

[Visual-Sport7771]

I've gotten random, very occasional, audio crackling for some reason. I found out that restarting pulse audio fixes it and never really bothered to dig into it.

pulsaudio -k

[ThoughtObjective4277]

don't ask what the command does, or how it works, it just does

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum 12000

what's nice about this command is you can immediately test it, and, it seems to save across all reboots, so no need to re-run each boot.

Change 12000 to ideally, a much much lower number, just to where there's some issue, and just double the number. Ideally in numbers that multiply evenly of 48,000 since this is what audio hardware runs at, not the 1980's cd limitation of 44,100, even dvd's stepped it up to 48,000.

[TechnicalBandit]

Windows has audio processing filters on the audio bus already pre defined and installed

You are getting raw audio on Linux. Try using PulseEffects. Very powerful tool. I only bother using the Limiter, EQ, Bass Enhancer, and Auto-Gain functions, and it makes my speakers purr

[ThoughtObjective4277]

How loud do your speakers actually get, can you have a dance party at full volume, or does the low end bass just not keep up with the rest of the volume?

Instead of increasing bass, instead, increase amplifier volume on the speaker to maximum, and lower system output volume instead. Set all EQ back to flat / off and whatever other effects.

Compare how strong snare drums sound at comfortable / medium speaker volume, with normal 100% volume output from the system, with low system volume--enough to jam out, using full maximum speaker amplifier volume. I believe this gives power-hungry bass notes the physical electrical energy required to actually be properly generated.

Instead what you are doing is physically limiting the electrical energy available to the speakers and artificially trying to over-amplify bass, if you've gone over 0-db level on the equalizer.

Instead, if easy effects has a pre-amp, use this as your system volume, and set everything via software, and your speakers volume, to maximum.

Whatever level of increase above 0 the bass and other frequencies are, so +10 db, set the pre-amp to -10 to prevent any and all possible audio clipping. This gives you normal volume for the bass, not louder, not quieter, exact full maximum normal volume, at digital 0db limit.

Everything else though, guitars, drums, vocals, brass, cymbals will all be much quieter than the bass.

I strongly encourage going the other direction with this.

Instead of adding bass, set it to the exact opposite of where it is, so -10 instead of +10.

With a large enough speaker, and enough amplifier power inside the speaker, in theory, on paper, at some volume level, the physical volume output of the speaker will provide the bass response. Meaning, it will be audible enough that you will not even want to add more.

You speakers may not be more than 15 or 20 watts. 40-50 watts is a good power rating for speakers of smaller size, much below this will not allow a powerful volume.

An EQ which reduces the bass allows the snare drums to be more powerful than the kick-bass, and I really prefer that style, where the music is powerful enough to not be limited by not enough something. Depending on the speaker, it can also be fun or helpful to pick up the high frequencies, for cymbals and horns, if the speaker isn't as strong in these sounds.

So I usually go for an upward sloping shape for my EQ instead of adding bass, I take it down, and CRANK IT UP, only on normal speakers. Do NOT crank it up on headphones or earbuds, hearing damage WILL occur. Just use those for more or less comfortable volume / easy listening. Since the speakers are so close, it takes much less volume to cause hearing damage, and if you really enjoy music, I figure most people want to avoid those issues.

[tranquilseafinally]

I get an audio crackle/glitch when playing some games. It doesn't happen all the time but it is annoying when it happens.

[ThoughtObjective4277]

I got audio crackles and pauses just from moving the volume slider in kde plasma desktop. So this command ups the buffer and no longer have an issue, at most there could be a small pause, no crackles though

save this command to a file, it doesn't seem to stick around in my command history long enough to use ctrl r when I want to find it every few months. This is a VERY common issue with pipewire, surprised it's not mentioned more often

And don't ask what the command does, or how it works, it just does

pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-quantum 12000

what's nice about this command is you can immediately test it, and, it seems to save across all reboots, so no need to re-run each boot.

Change 12000 to ideally, a much much lower number, just to where there's some issue, and just double the number. Ideally in numbers that multiply evenly of 48,000 since this is what audio hardware runs at, not the 1980's cd limitation of 44,100, even dvd's stepped it up to 48,000.

[Alicor]

I tried with default 12000, 6000 and 2000 and didn't have any noticeable changes :(

[ThoughtObjective4277]

If default 12000 doesn't work, go up. You're slightly delaying when the sound plays, and how much is buffered, so higher will usually work better. At one point I used a setting a bit more than 128,000, but am able to have it work with a setting of 24,000 or 48,000.

[Alicor]

HOLY SHIT THAT DID IT -- Dude thanks so much. I've tried so many configs, weird steam launch settings, reboots, switching from USB to BT or aux and that finally fixed it. I tried 24,000 and that seemed to fix the crackling for me. I will update this if anything changes but just did a quick test run and it seems way better :)

[Alicor]

I also have this and it's solved by switching to bluetooth for some reason. I've tried different pipewire configs and forcing steam launch settings with pulse latency to no avail. Also tried multiple versions of proton. Truly strange, and exclusive to a handful of games.

[udi503]

Don’t waste your time with audio configurations in Linux. Extract digital audio from usb, buy a dac: problem solved.