As described in this AskUbuntu post, basically every time there’s some audio playback, there is a variable delay when the audio starts. It can range from anything like a fraction of a second to a full two seconds.
I noticed this first when playing YouTube videos and then it was excruciatingly obvious and a real problem while editing audio in Audacity.
If it’s any good, I’m using an NVIDIA RTX 3070 and I’m still under X, not Wayland, and using Pulse Audio.
My audio is going to my HDMI connected monitor where my speakers are connected.
This is only happening since I did a fresh install of Kubuntu 24.04 earlier this September.
Update: Added my graphics card model.
I get this with Ubuntu and fedora as well using Wayland pipewire
Also when the sound in a video goes very quiet it appears to cut out and have a delay again in resuming
If I play very quiet white noise in the background no delays or cutouts happen