RME HDSP+Multiface: Pipewire crackling playback

Hi list,

I am having constantly crackling drop-outs when trying to use my RME
HDSP+Multiface card under pipewire. Let me add that the card works
flawlessly under native jack.

Here is what pw-top tells me. The ERR count for the card goes up while I
am playing back audio from mpv through it:

S   ID   QUANT RATE  WAIT    BUSY     W/Q   B/Q   ERR    FORMAT        NAME
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
R   44   1024  48000 325.4us 111.5us  0.02  0.01  365    S32P 18 48000 alsa_output.pci-0000_04_00.0.multichannel
R  121      0  44100  60.1us  89.1us  0.00  0.00    0     F32P 2 44100 + mpv

The problem persists with other playback software such as a browser too:
R  121   3600  48000  29.9us  46.5us  0.00  0.00    0    F32LE 2 48000 + Firefox

I can make the error go away by manually switching the HDSP card to
44.1kHz using the hdspconf control panel. Then audio will playback at wrong
speed/pitch but without drop-outs. Switching back to 48kHz will now
produce playback at correct speed/pitch and without dropouts.

The drop-outs return almost always when the playback software is
restarted.

I don't think it is an issue that can be resolved by increasing quant
further.

I have also tried to tinker with pw-metadata, first querying settings:
$ pw-metadata -n settings
[...]
	update: id:0 key:'clock.rate' value:'48000' type:''
	update: id:0 key:'clock.allowed-rates' value:'[ 48000 ]' type:''
	update: id:0 key:'clock.force-rate' value:'0' type:''

and the trying to force a different rate:
$ pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-rate 44100
which yields no updated rate:
	update: id:0 key:'clock.rate' value:'48000' type:''
	update: id:0 key:'clock.allowed-rates' value:'[ 48000 ]' type:''
	update: id:0 key:'clock.force-rate' value:'44100' type:''
possibly since 44100 is not found in the allowed-rates? 

I am not trying to add more possible rates with
$ pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.allowed-rates 44100,48000
(unsure about the exact syntax and not finding any docs on it)
followed by 
$ pw-metadata -n settings 0 clock.force-rate 44100
still gives:
	update: id:0 key:'clock.allowed-rates' value:'44100,48000' type:''

Is there a config file I can set that cards sampling rate in?
Can anyone recommend anything else I can try to get clean playback?

Thanks for all help, it is much appreciated!
Peter