Plasma Settings Sound test

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The test buton in the sound settings is very helpful.

We all know that pipewire (or wireplumber) has some wake up time after being suspended. The test sounds are reasonably short. Sound migst seem broken as when clicking a speaker to test the sound nothing might be heard as pipewire needs time to wake up.

I see a couple of solutions

  1. as the user probably wants to test after making a change pre-wakeup pipewire
  2. enter a short delay to the test sounds to make sure that when sounds plays it can actually be heard
  3. make the user aware of the problem or even give some visual indication that pipewire ist suspended.
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i would be against any kind for automatic delay as it would make the UX frustrating when you click on something and nothing happens.

better would be for wire_______ and co to figure out their issues and for them to work as they are expected to work… if that means checking in with each other to make sure sound is actually going out, than that’s what they need to do.

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I’m trying to understand…

  1. True statement.
  2. Not a (universally) True statement: noticing the time it takes for Pipewire/wireplumber to ‘wake up’ after suspend is not a universal experience, most people don’t notice any delay at all - so the ‘issue’ is likely due to your situation, not inherent.

Additionally, you state that (as you stated in your ‘Solution’ ) you are deliberately trying to click the ‘test’ button immediately on resume ‘as the user probably wants to test after making a change pre-wakeup pipewire’.

Well no, if YOU are making changes to your pre-wakeup pipewire, then you are definitely an edge case, not covered by the guarantee.

Notably:

  1. Everyone knows that suspend is fast, but I would suspect most folks know it is not ‘instantaneous’ and that there is likely a very slight (almost imperceptable) delay… for example, after suspending, I must wait a short while before hearing a ‘click’ (likely the PSU coming fully online) and seeing video as the screen wakes up… I do also hear (as I have an external amplifier) a slight ‘bump’ in the speakers.

My experience is that I actually hear the audio come online before my screen wakes up (HDTV over HDMI)…

However, the ultimate solution is simply to give your machine a second to wake up, not to build in extra delays (which themselves cannot be activated on a suspended machine, they would simply make it longer for the machine to resume).

Also, the statement ‘as the user probably wants to test after making a change pre-wakeup pipewire’ is rather confusing in itself… you changed something in pipewire, then you need to suspend and resume, and immediately test it on resume?

Why?

If you’re testing balancing power saving settings with a fast reliable wake-up or something like that… well then the failure for sound to emerge immediately on clicking is all the information you need.

4

More to the point - what is the actual problem here?

I find the solution rather telling:
`Solution 1: as the user probably wants to test after making a change pre-wakeup pipewire’.

Well, that’s not a solution - and if that’s the issue, then the solution is extremely simple… be aware that resuming from suspend is not likely to be completed in less than a few hundred milliseconds - to expect this is unreasonable.

Let us know if there’s any delay for you.