Ubuntu Studio audio playback is choppy when connected to wifi (sounds like turntable skipping), problem goes away when wifi disabled

[William Myers]

Turning off PulseAudio timer scheduling does not fix the problem. Shouldn't be a hardware issue because it was not present in Ubuntu 18.04. I am currently on the latest Ubuntu Studio release.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:13.0-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-24.26-lowlatency 5.3.10
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-24-lowlatency x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2: william 2221 F.... jackdbus
 /dev/snd/pcmC2D0c: william 2221 F...m jackdbus
 /dev/snd/pcmC2D0p: william 2221 F...m jackdbus
CurrentDesktop: MATE
Date: Mon Dec 30 18:22:30 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-11-27 (33 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Studio 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Symptom: audio
Symptom_Card: USB-Audio - USB Audio CODEC
Title: [HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH, playback] Pulseaudio fails to detect card
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/24/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A19
dmi.board.name: 0TRW8H
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA19:bd12/24/2018:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139343:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0TRW8H:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS 13 9343
dmi.product.sku: 0665
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
modified.conffile..etc.pulse.default.pa: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.pulse.default.pa: 2019-12-30T18:20:31.085005

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Sounds like you're not getting enough buffering. Please try a normal kernel that's not 'lowlatency'. Normal kernels might be able to tolerate low bandwidth situations better with higher buffering.

The root cause however sounds like you're trying to use a 2.4GHz wifi network while also using Bluetooth which is around 2.4GHz. If you can then please use 5GHz networks instead so they don't interfere with your Bluetooth.

Please also run these commands:

  lspci -k > lspcik.txt
  lsusb > lsusb.txt

and send us the resulting files.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Although you might not be using Bluetooth at all :)

Another issue I can see here is that your audio devices are being used by jackdbus. That daemon might be used by Ubuntu Studio, but it's not part of normal Ubuntu and we don't see this kind of issue in normal Ubuntu. So I am adding a jackd task.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please also try some newer or older kernels, to see if any versions don't exhibit the bug:

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/

[William Myers (whm3223)]

I think you're right that it's probably the kernel. I'm having trouble changing that, but when I get it done I'll update.

[William Myers (whm3223)]

Also, no I'm not using bluetooth. The sound issues happen whether I'm using an audio interface or the onboard sound.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for jackd2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]