bt-reload-headphones

Workaround for Sony (and possibly other) BT headphones refusing to switch over to A2DP audio sink profile.

What does it do?

This package installs a script (bt-reload-headphones) to disconnect and then reconnect to any BT device which (a) supports the audio sink profile, and (b) is for some reason unable to switch over to it. It also installs a udev rule to execute this script automatically when a BT device is connected. This feature can be turned off.

Installation

For Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, other Debian-based

Add my Debian repository to your sources, then install the package with apt:

echo deb https://deb.ekblad.cc/ubuntu disco main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ekblad-cc-disco.list
wget -O - https://ekblad.cc/key.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update
sudo apt install bt-reload-headphones

You can also download the .deb file, then install it as any other package: sudo dpkg -i <the .deb file>

For other distributions

Clone the repository, run make, then run sudo make install. The script can be uninstalled by running sudo make uninstall.

Help! It doesn't work!

If your headphones still won't switch over to A2DP mode with this workaround, your problem probably goes deeper. Sometimes un-pairing and then re-pairing your headphones solves the problem. If it doesn't, I'm afraid this tool is unlikely to help you.

Configuration

This package can be configured by editing the /etc/bt-reload-headphones.conf configuration file. The following parameters are supported:

• PULSEAUDIO_USER: name or id of the user running the Pulse Audio daemon. Used to determine whether it's possible to switch audio devices over to A2DP or not. If unset, the script will attempt to automatically find an appropriate user.
• DEVICE_BLACKLIST: space-separated list of MAC addresses of BT devices that should never be reconnected. List must be given in "quotes".
• DEVICE_WHITELIST: space-separated list of MAC addresses of BT devices that we're allowed to reconnect. If empty, all devices supporting the A2DP profile are examined. List must be given in "quotes".
• AUTORUN: should the script run automatically whenever a BT device is connected? Set to yes (the default) to enable, any other value to disable.