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Screenshot of my system information

My current system is Ubuntu Desktop 22.04.1 LTS and I would like to get step wise procedure to enable/install/setup LDAC on Ubuntu 22.04.1 from experts here. I've already tried searching here and there to enable LDAC and ended up with unsuccessful attempts. My motive is to utilize my neckband(supports LDAC audio codec) to listen to .FLAC audio files over Bluetooth (since my neckband is a Bluetooth audio device). By the way I've already tried the latest released Ubuntu Desktop 22.10 and it supports LDAC audio out of the box, but due to sluggishness of the new version I switched back to Ubuntu 22.04.1. Which is why I expect guidance specific to Ubuntu Desktop 22.04. Thanks in advance. Attached image is a screenshot of my system information.

Sanskar Bhusal
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3 Answers3

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I successfully enabled LDAC support by following the instructions for enabling PipeWire found here: https://gist.github.com/the-spyke/2de98b22ff4f978ebf0650c90e82027e

Since link-only answers are thrown upon, I have included the instructions below.

Ubuntu 22.04 has PipeWire partially installed and enabled as it's used by browsers (WebRTC) for recording the screen under Wayland. We can enable the remaining parts and use PipeWire for audio and Bluetooth instead of PulseAudio.

Starting from WirePlumber version 0.4.8 automatic Bluetooth profile switching (e.g. switching from A2DP to HSP/HFP when an application needs microphone access) is supported. Jammy (22.04) repos provide exactly version 0.4.8. So, we're good.

Install

Install WirePlumber as the session manager:

$ sudo apt install pipewire-media-session- wireplumber

Notice '-' at the end of 'pipewire-media-session'. This is to remove it in the same command, because 'wireplumber' will be used instead.

Start WirePlumber for your user:

$ systemctl --user --now enable wireplumber.service

Configure

ALSA

Install the ALSA plug-in:

$ sudo apt install pipewire-audio-client-libraries

And copy the config file from PipeWire docs (provided by the plug-in) into the ALSA configuration directory:

$ sudo cp /usr/share/doc/pipewire/examples/alsa.conf.d/99-pipewire-default.conf /etc/alsa/conf.d/

Check if you have other (like Pulse) configs in the /etc/alsa/conf.d/ installed by something else. You might want to remove them.

PulseAudio

Everything was done automatically by pipewire-pulse package, which should have been installed by wireplumber package as recommended. If not, install it yourself.

Bluetooth

Install the codecs and remove Bluetooth from PulseAudio, so it would be handled directly by PipeWire:

$ sudo apt install libldacbt-{abr,enc}2 libspa-0.2-bluetooth pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-

The supported codecs are SBC and LDAC.

Unfortunately, aptX and AAC are not supported because of patents and other technical reasons. aptX is available starting from 22.10 via libfreeaptx0 installed by default there (22.10 uses PipeWire by default as well). If you really need these codecs in 22.04 you may use this PPA from @aglasgall which is based on universe, but rebuilds pipewire with additional packages for aptX and AAC from multiverse. Read the discussion here.

Done

Reboot and check if it works by running:

$ LANG=C pactl info | grep '^Server Name'
Sergey
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1

This article solved exactly what I was expecting ,that is to get LDAC working. Turns out I have to switch to Pipewire audio server. Ubuntu desktop 22.04 ships with pulse audio server. I don't know what does that mean, anyways my issue of not being able to use LDAC codec is solved.Link

Sanskar Bhusal
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0

Try installing the LDAC codec by running this:
sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad

George
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  • Tried , no changes on sound settings. Still shows only a2dp. I was expecting a2dp ldac or something like that on output sound format. – Sanskar Bhusal Nov 15 '22 at 14:07