[SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

calyx · 2025-12-30 18:52:56

Hi all,

Every time I start playing music (using Firefox or Chromium) my system slows down a lot, and becomes pretty sluggish. As soon as I pause the music, the system returns to normal. I can not see anything suspicious in `htop`. If anyone have some ideas on how I can debug this, I would be pleased.

C [a] lyx

Last edited by calyx (2026-01-01 17:31:51)

seth · 2025-12-30 20:03:28

Playing music like thunderstruck.mp3 (do you also get that for "mpv thunderstruck.mp3"?) or youtube/spotify/etc?
Are you using pulseaudio or pipewire?

my system slows down a lot, and becomes pretty sluggish

Which display server/compositor/environment in general?
What exactly is "sluggish"?
Is the mouse cursor affected?

Also, what is the audio output device? HDMI?

calyx · 2025-12-31 15:53:40

Thanks for getting back to me, seth!

> Playing music like thunderstruck.mp3 (do you also get that for "mpv thunderstruck.mp3"?) or youtube/spotify/etc?
Yes, this happen playing media locally, (mpv thundrestrick.mp3), and via Deezer, Spotify, YouTube.

> Are you using pulseaudio or pipewire?
$ pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
…
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.4.9)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
…

> Which display server/compositor/environment in general?
I am running i3wm (X11), without any compositor.

> What exactly is "sluggish"?
For example, changing browser tabs takes a lot longer. Without any music, everything is snappy. With music I have to wait a little bit when I change browser tabs, before the new tab is displayed. And, if my computer goes into "lock mode", while playing music, it takes a few seconds from I press enter after I have entered my password till the machine unlocks.

> Is the mouse cursor affected?
No, the mouse cursor seems to be unaffected. At least I can not notice any change.

> Also, what is the audio output device? HDMI?
I normally use USB, but I tried HDMI and the built in speakers (it is a laptop) as well, and the result is the same.

Last edited by calyx (2025-12-31 15:57:58)

5hridhyan · 2025-12-31 16:13:45

"Mouse cursor not noticeably laggy", I think it's not the issue with CPU but a problem in scheduling.
sometimes PipeWire RT threads can block or take priority over X11/i3.
Check priorities:

pw-top  
ps -eLo pid,cls,rtprio,cmd | grep pipewire

Also make sure no separate pulseaudio daemon is running.
If USB, check /proc/interrupts too. Increasing PW quantum or disabling RT might fix the lag.

Last edited by 5hridhyan (2026-01-06 06:49:36)

calyx · 2025-12-31 16:56:36

Thanks, 5hridhyan.

$ pw-top --batch-mode
S   ID  QUANT   RATE    WAIT    BUSY   W/Q   B/Q  ERR FORMAT           NAME 
S   29      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Dummy-Driver
S   30      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Freewheel-Driver
S   53      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  Midi-Bridge
S   56      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  bluez_midi.server
S   34      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_output.usb-GHW_Micro_GHW_USB_AUDIO_2020-02-20-0000-0000-0000--00.analog-stereo
R   45    256  48000  45.0us   0.6us  0.01  0.00    5    S16LE 1 48000 alsa_input.usb-GHW_Micro_GHW_USB_AUDIO_2020-02-20-0000-0000-0000--00.mono-fallback
R  225      1    144  36.7us   4.9us  0.01  0.00    0      F32LE 1 144  + PulseAudio Volume Control
R   44    256  48000  15.6us   0.5us  0.00  0.00    6    S16LE 1 16000 alsa_input.usb-046d_09a6_0D111920-02.mono-fallback
R  229      1    144   7.1us   5.4us  0.00  0.00    0      F32LE 1 144  + PulseAudio Volume Control
S   64      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo
R   65    256  48000  47.3us   0.8us  0.01  0.00    5    S32LE 2 48000 alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo
R  222      1    144  39.2us   3.7us  0.01  0.00    0      F32LE 1 144  + PulseAudio Volume Control
S   90      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  v4l2_input.pci-0000_00_14.0-usb-0_4.2_1.0
S   92      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  v4l2_input.pci-0000_00_14.0-usb-0_8_1.0
S   75      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_output.usb-GuangZhou_FiiO_Electronics_Co._Ltd_FiiO_K5_Pro-00.analog-stereo
R  377    256  48000  56.9us   5.4us  0.01  0.00    0    S24LE 2 48000 alsa_output.usb-NAE_Technologies_Inc_R-14PM-01.analog-stereo
R  220      1    144  40.2us   6.1us  0.01  0.00    0      F32LE 1 144  + PulseAudio Volume Control
R  561   3600  48000  46.5us   3.0us  0.01  0.00    0    F32LE 2 48000  + Firefox
R  508      1    144   1.5us   3.1us  0.00  0.00    0      F32LE 1 144  + PulseAudio Volume Control
S  704      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo
I  497      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0      F32LE 1 144 PulseAudio Volume Control
I  232      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0      F32LE 1 144 PulseAudio Volume Control
S  221      0      0    ---     ---   ---   ---     0                  PulseAudio Volume Control
I  326      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0      F32LE 1 144 PulseAudio Volume Control
I  390      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0      F32LE 1 144 PulseAudio Volume Control
I  535      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0    F32LE 2 48000 Firefox
I  570      0      0   0.0us   0.0us  ???   ???     0      F32LE 1 144 PulseAudio Volume Control

$ ps -eLo pid,cls,rtprio,cmd | grep pipewire
   1441  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire
   1441  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire
   1441  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire
   1443  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse
   1443  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse
   1443  TS      - /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse
 522779  TS      - grep --color=auto pipewire

Last edited by calyx (2025-12-31 17:06:55)

seth · 2025-12-31 17:04:58

Please use [code][/code] tags, the bbs predates markdown by approximately your age

Also make sure no separate pulseaudio daemon is running.

even if not, you might still have some plugins.

pacman -Qs pulseaudio

If not, does it help to run PW at 44100 Hz, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … ample_rate ?
Did you configure anything special wrt https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … processing or realtime scheduling of pipewire?
Is a fresh user account affected?

calyx · 2025-12-31 17:15:46

Please use code tags

Thanks for the tip!

$ pacman -Qs pulseaudio
local/pasystray 0.8.2-2
    PulseAudio system tray (a replacement for padevchooser)
local/pavucontrol 1:6.2-1
    PulseAudio Volume Control
local/pipewire-pulse 1:1.4.9-2
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - PulseAudio replacement
local/python-pulsectl 1:24.12.0-1
    Python high-level interface and ctypes-based bindings for PulseAudio (libpulse)

Did you configure anything special wrt processing or realtime scheduling of pipewire?

No.

If not, does it help to run PW at 44100 Hz

I can try.

Last edited by calyx (2025-12-31 17:21:00)

calyx · 2025-12-31 17:38:58

Okay, I installed Cable, and set Quantum to 2048. Immediately, the system felt a lot snappier. Unless the system becomes sluggish again, I believe the solution was found. I will wait a few hours before I close the topic as solved, just in case.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-12-30 18:52:56

[SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#2 2025-12-30 20:03:28

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#3 2025-12-31 15:53:40

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#4 2025-12-31 16:13:45

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#5 2025-12-31 16:56:36

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#6 2025-12-31 17:04:58

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#7 2025-12-31 17:15:46

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

#8 2025-12-31 17:38:58

Re: [SOLVED] My system slows down every time I play music.

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