DeepFilterNet causes crackling in heard audio only when actively speaking

[ismailivanov]

System Information:

2025-10-16.02-10-39.mp4

Problem:
Audio output (headphone/speaker audio) has severe crackling and distortion only when I'm actively speaking with DeepFilterNet enabled on my microphone. Silent periods are fine - the issue only occurs during voice activity.

Symptoms:

• Crackling, popping, and stuttering sounds in headphone/speaker output
• Only happens when speaking into the microphone (voice activity)
• Silent moments have no crackling
• Affects all audio output (music, system sounds, etc.) when speaking
• Consistent across both Arch Linux and Fedora

Current Workaround:
Increasing buffer size (setting default.clock.min-quantum = 512 in PipeWire config) eliminates the crackling. However, I believe this underlying issue should be addressed in DeepFilterNet itself, as requiring system-wide configuration changes and accepting latency penalties is not an acceptable long-term solution.

Expected Behavior:
DeepFilterNet should process microphone input without causing crackling in audio output, even at PipeWire's default quantum settings (32).

Reproduction:

1. Install and enable DeepFilterNet LADSPA plugin for microphone input
2. Use default PipeWire settings (min-quantum = 32)
3. Play any audio (music, video, etc.)
4. Speak into microphone
5. Audio output crackles only during speech, not during silence

Additional Context:
The issue suggests DeepFilterNet's processing load spikes during voice activity, causing buffer underruns that affect the entire audio pipeline with smaller quantum values.

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