Pause causes Bluetooth speaker to turn off

2024-07-16 11:16:38

Hello.

I am using Foobar V2.1.5 which I think is the latest stable release. When playing through a Bluetooth speaker or headphones, if I hit pause, the music stops but so also does all audio through the speaker from other apps. Now this is a real problem for me because I am totally blind and I use a screen reader that talks to me. So I do need audio to keep going even when the player stops playing.

I'm not sure if this behavior is intended, in which case it might be a feature, or unintended, in which case it might be a bug. But if it is intended, it would be great to have a configurable setting that does not turnoff the whole audio to the speaker when playing is paused.

Thank you.

Re: Pause causes Bluetooth speaker to turn off

Reply #1 – 2024-07-16 11:24:10

Can it be that you set foobar2000 output to exclusive mode by accident?

Re: Pause causes Bluetooth speaker to turn off

Reply #2 – 2024-07-16 11:43:09

The easiest thing is to have multiple Audio Devices.
Add a USB DAC and more.
The DAC 96 kHz/ 24-Bit can be recognized and used immediately by simply plugging it into a USB port without the need for a driver.

Select default device.
Control Panel > Sound > Device Select > default device
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for example:
FOSTEX PC-100USB-HR-2
https://us.amazon.com/Fostex-USA-Resolution-PC-100USB-HR-2-AMS-PC-100USB-HR-2/dp/B01N5Y9783?ref_=ast_sto_dp
It's easy to operate and the sound quality is good.
Just turn the big volume controller.

Re: Pause causes Bluetooth speaker to turn off

Reply #3 – 2024-07-16 12:58:58

Connect another speaker to the Analog audio terminal (RCA).
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Once Bluetooth is connected, the Bluetooth device becomes the default audio device, so switching it in Control Panel > Sound may fix the issue.

In Windows 11, you can easily select the default audio device by clicking the volume icon in the task tray and then clicking Sound Output.

Re: Pause causes Bluetooth speaker to turn off

Reply #4 – 2024-07-16 22:42:02

Hi people.

Thanks Bogozo for your suggestion to look at whether Foobar has exclusive control of the audio device. I didn't think that was the case because when Foobar is playing, audio from other sources is still coming through, including from my screen reader. But your suggestion caused me to take another look at the extensive list of advanced parameters. I found one there to do with integration with the Windows 10 universal volume control. This was checked, and my instinct suggested that perhaps I don't want this integration. I unchecked it and restarted Foobar and that has solved the problem. It means I can now pause Foobar and other audio keeps going.

Thanks also to others for your suggestions. However I do have to say that I didn't think it was helpful to suggest I buy a whole new output device when it was clear I want to listen through my choice of bluetooth speaker or headphones. Also for the same reason I didn't think it was helpful to suggest I send default audio to another device. Let's be clear, this forum is for technical issues with Foobar and the problem did relate to something Foobar was doing. In the end I did find a setting change that solved my problem.

Thanks everyone. Imagine hitting pause and your screen goes completely blank. That is what it was like for me when I hit pause and could no longer hear my screen reader. So good to have this resolved.