Hi @rjrizzuto . I have now since followed the guide here:
---
lang: en
layout: doc
permalink: /doc/sys-audio/
ref: 179
title: Dedicated VM for audio-isolation (sys-audio)
---
# Introduction
## General Concept
In Qubes, all VMs output sound to a virtual stream. By default, dom0 collects all these streams and relays them to the sound-device. This has the advantage of a very simple, robust setup. However, it requires dom0 to handle the sound card (a pci-device) and disables any additional sound devices. Since bluetooth-headsets are common or a broken sound-card requires using a USB-sound-device, a more flexible solution may be desirable.
## Setup Goals
A successful setup with this guide will provide a dedicated VM for sound processing. All VMs will output their sound through the new VM instead of dom0. New audio-devices can be added (e.g. via `qvm-usb`) and used as physical output. Microphone capability will be available as before.
## Caveats
Qubes 4.2 switched from pipewire to pulseaudio. Apart from some details (installed packages, required permissions), this doesn't seem to affect user experience at all.
The volume-tray-icon doesn't work for audio-VMs at the moment.
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That has worked like a charm on 4.2. Have gone through it with a fresh install multiple times. I am currently listening to bluetooth headsets via a sys-audio qube using that guide.
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