Can you describe what some of your hurdles have been? Pipewire is probably not going to solve your issues as it's not a complete replacement for JACK [0] and uses the same API anyway. Realistically, if you're writing a new DAW, you're still going to want to use the JACK API. If your problems are driver-related, that definitely won't be solved by switching to a different audio daemon.
And for the record, the open source audio community is not dead. There is activity, but you have to know where to look.
And for the record, the open source audio community is not dead. There is activity, but you have to know where to look.
[0]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/FAQ...