Arch Linux

trinux

Member

From: ~/Spain/Cordova

Registered: 2013-07-04

Posts: 10

[SOLVED] Bluetooth headphones connect but don't auto-switch

Hi everyone,

I've noticed a strange regression regarding my Bluetooth audio behavior since the recent update of the ALSA packages to version 1.2.16.

Prior to this update, whenever I turned on and connected my Bluetooth headphones, the system would seamlessly and automatically switch the default audio output source (sink) to them.

Since the upgrade, the headphones connect successfully via Bluetooth, but the audio source remains locked to my internal soundcard/speakers. I am forced to manually change the output device every single time.

Here are some details about my current environment:
- Audio Server: PipeWire (with WirePlumber)
- Kernel: 7.0.10-zen1-1-zen
- Desktop Environment: Gnome

I have already verified that the device is trusted and paired correctly. I haven't changed any configuration files in /etc/wireplumber/ or ~/.config/.

Is anyone else experiencing this behavior since 1.2.16? I couldn't find an open bug report on the Arch GitLab or upstream trackers yet. If anyone could point me toward what might have changed in ALSA's interaction with the sound server layers, or how to properly debug the event triggering, I would highly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by trinux (Today 12:39:45)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,206

Re: [SOLVED] Bluetooth headphones connect but don't auto-switch

BT via pipewire "should" be completely disjoint from any ALSA shenanigans. Are you certain this is related to ALSA and not e.g. a kernel update/bluez/pipewire?  FWIW since a BT device is a new sink, for autoswitching to generally "work" module-switch-on-connect should be enabled: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … new_device is that the case?

trinux

Member

From: ~/Spain/Cordova

Registered: 2013-07-04

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] Bluetooth headphones connect but don't auto-switch

Thank you very much! You're right. I loaded the “switch-on-connect” module, and it's working perfectly now. The strange thing is that it used to work like this without loading any module. I'm not sure what changed. In any case, thank you for your help.