Mostly the same issues as BeetleB. It purports to pump audio samples. It does not. Another moving piece in between your app and ALSA, which seems to break down inexplicably when the crap that it's abstracting "just works" with zero configuration. Many times the solution to an audio problem on linux is to get rid of pulse. Still.

Also had issues with bluetooth, as you seem to have. I will permit the idea that this is possibly unrelated (bluez is garbage, yes), but bluetooth audio was working for me previously, and only broke when pulse entered the picture.

FWIW from an API perspective I still think OSS seems better than ALSA... Linux audio seems to be a repeated case of people confusing interface with implementation, and the interface only ever gets more complex.