PipeWire is a newer multimedia framework for Linux and a replacement for PulseAudio. Please note that PipeWire is more than just an audio server but has video capabilities as well.

You should not have any issues getting PipeWire setup as it provides support for PulseAudio, JACK, ALSA and GStramer-based applications out of the box. So using tools like pactl should pose no challenge at all.

Why use PipeWire?

• Support for high quality Bluetooth codecs out of the box
• Allows for much lower latency capturing of both audio and video.
• Gives Wayland systems screen sharing capabilities via WebRTC with fine access control
• Was designed with a strong security model allowing for better communication with containerized applications
• Aims to be a modern, efficient, flexible, extensible and professional multimedia system

Funfact: If your distro uses Wayland then you probably already have PipeWire as it's needed for said screen sharing capabilities.
So in conclusion, it's just newer and better.

Guides

• 🎧 Improve Bluetooth Audio With PipeWire
• ⏰ Use Adaptive Sampling Rates With PipeWire
• 💿 Native DSD Playback With PipeWire