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I seem to be getting some audio stuttering regardless of which source is playing on 18.04.

I've tried:

  • add options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
  • edit to load-module module-udev-detect tsched=1 in /etc/pulse/default.pa
  • add resample-method = src-sinc-best-quality in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

No results whatsoever. A small stutter every 4-5 seconds.

Also, I don't have a wireless card.

Edit:

The audio settings window seems like it changes quickly between 'Line Out - Built-in Audio' and 'Headphones'. Footage here

Edit:

If I connect my headphones through the front panel, the output is stable, but if I connect the same headphones through the audio output on the back, the driver seems to keep switching / disconnecting output channels like shown in the videos.

Both alsamixer and pavucontrol are working nicelly, but they both reflect the fact that output channels seems to keep disappearing for brief moments. (The same thing that happens if I actually connect headphones at the front, but only for a few milliseconds, it's noticable).

I tried disconnecting the whole front panel... thinking that the hardware might be triggering "headphone mode", but it had no effect. It was still switching to headphones for brief stutter-length moments.

Edit: Seems related: link

Edit: Related: Pops/Crackles on Realtek ALC892, HDA Intel PCH (ALSA Though... that topic is closed, and like the last guy, disabling auto mute doesn't solve remove the crackling sound for me either. Does anyone know how to make sure it does? Or what "using only alsa" means?

Steinbitglis
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  • So far, this is a huge disappointment. Ubuntu 18.04 (long term suport etc.), entirely default installation, and it simply can't play audio without stuttering. Then... no answers for a week and I got the tumbleweed badge on the Q&A site. – Steinbitglis Oct 25 '18 at 08:13
  • You aren't, by chance, playing the audio over Bluetooth, are you? I frequently experience interference when using my Bluetooth speaker which directly correlates to the usage of my wireless network (not necessarily my wireless card either). – Nonny Moose Nov 04 '18 at 16:46
  • I noticed that the settings window seems to be flickering at the same time as the audio stuttering. I've recorded it here. – Steinbitglis Nov 09 '18 at 09:26
  • I have a similar problem. (18.04.1, listening with USB-Logitech headphones and sound stutters and eventually stops until I refresh the sound). Have you also tried it on windows? I noticed, that I have the same behavior in windows 10 although with the MIC (which disappears all few secs.. could be also irrelevant). – lhlmgr Nov 12 '18 at 11:12
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    Yes, I use speakers that connect through mini-jack. They work fine on Windows. – Steinbitglis Nov 13 '18 at 09:44
  • It seems, in my case its the following bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rtkit/+bug/1547589 . – lhlmgr Nov 14 '18 at 10:35
  • I don't think that's it.

    user@system:~$ sysctl status rtkit-daemon.service sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/status: No such file or directory sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/rtkit-daemon/service: No such file or directory

     – Steinbitglis Nov 15 '18 at 11:05
  • Hm.. ok, thanks for the update. Have you checked the syslog output / dmesg? (I even get the errors / stuttering when booting from a clean 18.04.1 liveCD.) – lhlmgr Nov 15 '18 at 13:52
  • No mention of rtkit in either /var/log/syslog or dmesg – Steinbitglis Nov 16 '18 at 14:18
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    this worked for me: https://askubuntu.com/a/862896/72823 (and maybe this site: https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Soundkarten_konfigurieren/HDA/ ) – lhlmgr Nov 18 '18 at 20:30
  • pavucontroll shows some interesting results: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4xj5oyvvb3rulr/soundflicker2.ogv?dl=0 – Steinbitglis Nov 19 '18 at 11:01
  • My lspci and dmesg – Steinbitglis Nov 19 '18 at 11:33

1 Answers1

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This is an old issue with certain versions of the alsa driver, but disabling Auto-Mute seems to fix the most immediate problems.
Pops/Crackles on Realtek ALC892, HDA Intel PCH (ALSA)

Also in more recent distros with pulseaudio, it might be necessary to disable pulseaudio in order for the disabling of Auto-Mute to actually take effect.
How to Remove PulseAudio & use ALSA in Ubuntu Linux?

A bit scary how this issue actually digs all the way into the kernel, while still depending on pulseaudio, which in this situation we're actually totally fine without.

Steinbitglis
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