Bluetooth Audio Delay

[Mantis]

Is anyone else having very noticeable bluetooth audio delay on their Steam Deck? I have tried multiple different bluetooth earbuds, and my device has about a half second delay. When watching a youtube video in desktop mode, the audio is not even close to in sync with the video. When playing a game like Elden Ring, there is a noticable sound delay when you use your weapon. It's to the point where I can't even use bluetooth audio.

[Waldherz]

I have never experienced any bluetooth device that doesnt have noticable delay.
Not even AptX under 5.0

[Jake]

I'm not sure if this will work for all BT headphones. I have a relatively inexpensive Acreo bluetooth headphone that supports only the SBC and AAC audio codecs. After reading the links from this thread and some info about Codec Latency[www.howtogeek.com] I assumed that the Steam Deck was selecting AAC when my headphones connected. AAC is better quality but higher latency. So, not great for games. Although SBC isn't that great either.

From what I can gather, the preferred codecs, latency wise, are these:

aptX LL > aptX > SBC XQ > SBC > aptx HD > AAC

But this seems to depend on the specific devices involved so you might have to experiment to get the best results.

It is pretty easy to change the selected codec for each Bluetooth audio device on the Deck:

Method #1

1. Connect your BT headphones to the Deck.
   
2. Switch to Desktop Mode.
   
3. From the system menu (bottom left) find the PulseAudio Volume Control app.
   
4. Change to the Configuration tab.
   
5. Find your headphones in the list and change the codec.

Method #2

1. Connect your BT headphones to the Deck.
   
2. Switch to Desktop Mode.
   
3. From the lower right click the speaker icon.
   
4. In the popup find your BT headphones and click the hamburger icon on the right.
   
5. Choose the profile/codec you prefer.

Method #3

1. Connect your BT headphones to the Deck.
   
2. Switch to Desktop Mode.
   
3. From the system menu (bottom left) find the System Settings app.
   
4. In the list on the left scroll down to the Hardware section and select Audio.
   
5. Find your headphones in the list and change the Profile to the codec you prefer.

Game Mode

My headphones are not great and I wasn't 100% sure that these changes were working in Game Mode. To check this in Desktop Steam I added the PulseAudio Volume Control app as a non-steam game.

From Game Mode I had to configure the controller using a mouse template (since it didn't do this by default for me). From the PulseAudio Volume Control app I could review or change the codec while in Game Mode.

To exit PulseAudio Volume Control I had to open the Steam menu and use Exit Game.

Notes and References

I entered and exited Game Mode and Desktop Mode and rebooted several times while working through this process. I'm not sure whether that made any difference.

I also added Firefox as a non-steam game to load up some audio latency test videos on Youtube to do some testing in Game Mode. That was faster than loading a game for each test, although I tested a couple games as well.

I also found the Decky Bluetooth plug-in helpful after rebooting into Game Mode as my headphones didn't always reconnect automatically.

You might have to experiment with different codecs. According to the reading I've been doing some of the higher bandwidth codecs can cause connection stability issues. I think this is going to be device dependent.

https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/
https://www.howtogeek.com/851432/how-to-fix-bluetooth-audio-delay/#autotoc_anchor_4

[mattstroud]

Publicado originalmente por AskaLangly:

SBC codec will have the most latency.
aptX will have much less latency than SBC, but will still be a tad behind.
You want aptX LL in this case. Just need to make sure both the Bluetooth device and headset supports the codec.

How do you choose a specific audio codec in game mode, or set one to be used in game mode? I an change the code in desktop mode and it removes the audio delay, but I can see how to change it for game mode.