AirPods Pro 2 Audio Stuttering/Choppy With Steam Deck OLED

[CargoShorts]

Hey all,

I just got my SD OLED in the mail a couple days ago and have been loving it so far! The other night, I played it in bed using my Airpods Pro 2 for silent play and it worked great. I tried it again the next night, but within a couple minutes, I noticed that the game audio was stuttering and was choppy. Almost like it was cutting in and out in the left and right buds at different times.

I've looked at Reddit forums reporting the issue, but I couldn't find a definitive solution anywhere. It seems to be an issue with the specific codec that the AirPods Pro 2s use. I'm also surprised there aren't really any YouTube videos covering this issue. Has anyone else experienced this and knows of a fix? Or are AirPods Pro 2 just simply not truly compatible with the SD? Should I just get a different pair of buds/phones for quiet play? If so, what buds/phones do you all like to pair with your SD?

Thanks!

[Axe]

Just finished a play session with AirPods Pro 2 without any problems about sound quality. Re pair with SD. Maybe between the auto connect with other iOS device?

[CargoShorts]

Originally posted by Axe:

Just finished a play session with AirPods Pro 2 without any problems about sound quality. Re pair with SD. Maybe between the auto connect with other iOS device?

Are you on the LCD or OLED? I'm wondering if it's an OLED only problem possibly? It worked for me totally fine once, but then the next time I tried it, audio was choppy and cutting out on either earbud at different times. Are you recommending that to make sure the APP2s are not connected to any other iOS devices?

Thanks!

[ISimulateXiaomiHyperOSOnHamonyOS]

Exactly the issue I have encountered these days. I am using the OLED version with airpods pro 2 (lightling version).

The audio sometimes works just fine but a lot of stutters recently. Reboot SD or reconnect airpods reduce the issue but it comes out in about 5 or 10mins.

[ClockworkDirge]

I’m having this problem with my brand new AirPods and my OLED Deck.

I went from Gen 3 to Gen 4 AirPods three days ago due to a dumb mistake, and the new audio issues are severe. I’m experiencing both extreme choppiness and complete audio loss while they stay paired. When the audio drops completely it doesn’t just switch to a different output, there’s just no sound at all until I completely disconnect the headphones. I did not have this issue at all with my Gen 3’s, despite using them every time I use the system, while playing for hours on end at times.

Disconnecting and reconnecting only solves the issues for a few minutes before they start having problems again. Resetting the Bluetooth antenna changes nothing. Resetting the whole system changes nothing.

Has any solution been found?

[No Mind]

Same issue here. :(

[Numan1617]

This happens to me occasionally. Even when I put the AirPods back in their case the audio remains choppy on speakers. A restart always fixes it and luckily it doesn’t happen often.

[Stinkys]

This happens to me also. SD OLED with AirPods Pro gen 2. Restarting Bluetooth on the SD temporarily resolves the issue whereas putting the AirPods back in the case doesn’t have any change. I believe AirPod compatibility was included in a recent SD update but it still seems to be pretty broken.

[King 👑]

This is what I did. I think the problem is linux is getting confused with Bluetooth in dual mode and trying to force the airpods to use Bluetooth low energy (BLE) mode because the airpods support the low energy mode. But then there isn't enough bandwidth to send the audio. The airpods start to crackle more and more until they fail completely.
Forcing it to use the older classic Bluetooth basic rate/enhanced data rate (BR/EDR) mode will use more power but keep the airpods from getting the lower bandwidth

Switch to desktop mode

Open Konsole

(Hit Steam button + X to bring up the keyboard)

Run the command kwrite /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

Look for a section in the document that looks like this
# Restricts all controllers to the specified transport. Default value
# is "dual", i.e. both BR/EDR and LE enabled (when supported by the HW).
# Possible values: "dual", "bredr", "le"
# ControllerMode = dual

change
# ControllerMode = dual
to
ControllerMode = bredr

Close the document and save the changes (this will prompt you for your root password)

go back to the Konsole window and restart the Bluetooth with the command:
sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

(this will also ask for your root password) or you could just reboot your whole steam deck if you prefer