I'm having a strange problem with A2DP audio playback. It works just fine when nothing else is going on in the background, but when the RSS reader, mail client, or even syslog activates (according to monitoring top while playing back audio) the audio will skip for a beat or so. This is tollerable, but a second or so later it seems that pulse audio figures out it is behind and tries to catch up. Instead of just skipping ahead, it actually speeds up the playback for a few seconds until it gets back to where it should be. This is VERY annoying to say the least. I've shut down just about everything except syslog and dbus-daemon that seem to correlate to combat this, but I'd like to know if anyone else is having this problem. This is NOT related to the Wifi bug 6766 (which I've been able to reproduce but expected due to antenna proximity), as it happens even with 3G and no wifi on.

BTW it doesn't happen with a wired connection, only BT. I noticed that pulseaudio is showing --high-priority, but bluetooth is not. Would it make sense to make the BT driver a high priority as well?

Not that this helps any, but my E71 used to do that all the time. I never found a way to fix it.

Yes! I have this problem as well. Definitely happens with the BH-905 headset. When streaming through my Alpine KCE-400BT/IDA-X305 there is no noticable speedup after a skip, but the skips are still present.

At one point when driving I thought I noted a skip every 10 mins, but in other situations (at my desk with the BH-905) the skips are more frequent.

What BT audio device are you using for the output?

Before removing the RSS widget I had similar episodes, with constant skips/speedups while the reader updated (but at least no 2.5G noise like when connected over a wire).

I'm using a Sony Xplod receiver in my work truck, a Blue Ant M1 speaker and Sony DR-BT22 headset. I haven't noticed it as much on the M1, but it does still happen. That could be because I'm using it at home or where I have Wifi available, so faster updates.

I do have the same problem and it is annoying. Do you happen to know a way to change the BT driver priority?

Listened a little bit on the DR-BT22s at work post update. No issues at all, and even worked well streaming Internet radio, which never worked much at all before.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

FWIW, I used to also have this with an old Sony BT dongle (this would also happen with most devices I ever tried it with, including my old N95).

I recently purchased a BH-214 and that symptom is definielty less noticeable; whether that's due to the newer protocol supported by the 214 (BT 2.1) or the fact that it has better connectivity or a larger buffer to prevent skips perhaps?

Second (final?) update: Listened in the work truck most of today and only had one or two skips and no speed changes, even with the RSS widget on the desktop and mail updating every 1/2 hour. It also seems to connect to audio devices much faster.

Same issue here
But I haven't noticed the cause. I can't tell if there was something updating in the background.

I have Nokia MD-7W and BH-214. I use latter much less so the issue have only happened with the speakers.
Interestingly enough the 7W worked flawlessly with the N900 even though it was such a slower device.