Bluetooth audio Underruns, dropouts or crackling sound

[Vancouverite]

My bluetooth performance when connected to an audio device is very poor on my Lenovo T440s. There are multiple problems when I connect to my logitech device:

1) It often disconnects unexpectedly. It will connect for 2-5 seconds before disconnecting. This happens over and over with no messages in dmesg.
2) If I can get it to connect, the audio device is listed in the sound settings only about 50% of the time. I have to disconnect, restart bluetooth (\etc\init.d\bluetooth restart) and try again.
3) If I can get it playing, the audio lags by ~10s and is really, really chopped up. Totally unintelligible.

The things I know which might help:
Computer Type:
Lenovo T440s

Operating system:
Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty

Linux version :
3.13.0-29-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 4 21:00:20 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Bluetooth card:
Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 (rev 83)

Pulseaudio version:
pulseaudio 4.0 - I don't think it's pulse audio as the daemon won't start:
$ pulseaudio --check
$ pulseaudio -D
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup failed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:4.0-0ubuntu11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: seth 2220 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: seth 2220 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC1D0c: seth 2220 F...m pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Jun 22 14:29:41 2014
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-05-21 (32 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Symptom: audio
Symptom_Card: (EE)Logitech Adapter
Symptom_Type: Underruns, dropouts, or "crackling" sound
Title: [(EE)Logitech Adapter, playback] Underruns, dropouts or crackling sound
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/12/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GJET64WW (2.14 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20AQ006HUS
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: 0B98401 PRO
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGJET64WW(2.14):bd11/12/2013:svnLENOVO:pn20AQ006HUS:pvrThinkPadT440s:rvnLENOVO:rn20AQ006HUS:rvr0B98401PRO:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 20AQ006HUS
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T440s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Krisztian Poos (rocky-poos)]

Same behaviour (only no. 3) on a T530 with a Samsung soundbar! The connection is always ok with the soundbar, however the sound itself lags very often and it is a very poor quality in this meaning.

[Hammad R (quickishfm)]

Same behaviour here - very very similar to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/405294 but the issue persists. I have a T430, Xubuntu 18.10, inbuilt bluetooth, and pulseaudio 12.2. This makes it very hard to use headphones and wifi at the same time.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Hammad,

Since you are using 18.10 you would have the fix for bug 405294. That means any remaining issues will be specific to your wifi/bluetooth hardware. Please open a new bug by running:

  ubuntu-bug bluez

and I will assess it.

---

Vancouverite,

This bug is a duplicate of bug 405294 (unless proven otherwise like Hammad's). Unfortunately that's not fixed in 14.04.