Windows 10: Windows Audio Crackle When Changing Volume

When I slide my windows 10 volume overall a weird crackle sound occurs each time it is changed. If I skip from 80 to 100 to 90 there will be a crackle on each change that lasts less than a second. This also happens when abruptly closing out of the volume and not letting the windows ding finish. It also happens when changing volume on different websites such as YouTube and Twitch. This seemingly came out of nowhere because I did not update windows or any drivers that I know of. The only thing I can possibly link this to is me plugging in a new headset of mine. I made sure that the headset didn't install any new drivers or anything that would mess up my audio. The headset used the same drivers as my old one did, High Definition Audio Device.


- I have tried testing 5 different headsets on the computer that is having the audio crackle and on a laptop which does not have the problem. The headsets only had the audio crackle on this computer.


- I have tried using device manager to uninstall all drivers and let windows reinstall them, did not fix it.


- I have tried blocking all windows files from downloading drivers, restarted the computer and manually installed fresh drivers, did not fix it.


- I have tried downloading the realtek audio drivers off of realtek's website, did not fix it.


- I have tried downloading the audio drivers for my motherboard ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi, and deleted the old ones, did not fix. It seems that the crackle is more prominent and drawn out when I did this, made the problem worse using that driver.


- I have tried using the "update driver" feature, selected the High Definition Audio Device, and swapped it over to Realtek. I have swapped back to High Definition Audio device as well. With the Realtek Audio Driver, the crackle is persistent and noticeable in both the front and rear audio jacks. When using the High Definition Audio Driver, the rear jack sounds just as crackly, while the front is harder to notice, but it still is slightly audible.


- I have tried using all the jacks on my computer, the audio jack crackle issue persists in each one.


- I have tried using USB connectors on each of my USB ports on my computer, did not fix. One of the Jack-USB converters had a different name, TX-Hifi Type_C Audio, the audio crackle when sliding volume up and down still persisted.


- I used my Monitor's speakers, I cannot hear the crackle but that is most likely due to the speakers themselves being extremely quiet.


- I have tried resetting the entire PC, did not fix.


- I have tried updating BIOS, did not fix.


- I have tried unplugging HD Audio Front Panel Connector and used the back ports only, did not fix.


- Deleted a bunch of recent windows updates, did not fix.


- Tried uninstalling all devices in device manager besides the one I was using, did not fix.


- Changed all enhancements, tested different bit rates and sample rates using advanced sound settings, turned of sonic windows spatial sound, tried changing the setup to stereo, quadrophonic, 5.1, and 7.1, and disabled exclusive control mode, did not fix.


Audio Used:

RealtekR Audio - Crackle extremely prominent with this driver

Realtek High Definition Audio - Crackle noticeable with this one, rear jack has the problem and front jack does as well, but the front one is harder to notice.

High Definition Audio - The original driver I was using, in the past I did not have or did not notice the crackle

Sonic Studio Virtual Mixer - Appeared when I installed audio drivers directly from my motherboard's website downloads, uninstalled and tested if this affected it or not, did not fix or change.

TX-Hifi Type_C Audio - Used for USB connection, even as a USB and not using the front or back jacks, the audio volume crackle still existed.


Almost 100% sure none of the headsets are faulty. When I tested 5 separate ones on a different laptop the audio-volume sliding crackle was not apparent. The laptop showed RealtekR Audio when I plugged it in, meaning that driver was working on that laptop, while not on my computer.


The fact that full resets and BIOS updating did not fix the problem makes me believe that this is a hardware issue. This makes me believe my SupremeFX S1220A audio chip is failing on my motherboard even though it is only 3 months old. If I can't solve this problem my only solution would be to buy an external soundcard or get someone to replace or fix the SupremeFX S1220A chip. If an external soundcard doesn't fix the problem, then its likely a problem with the entire motherboard.


Specs:

Front Audio Jack: Coolermaster H500 ARGB

ASUS ROG STRIX B550F Gaming Wi-Fi

AMD 5700XT

AMD Ryzen 3700X

DDR4 16 2x8 GB RAM

Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVME SSD

:)

 

Audio Crackling

Recently, I've noticed that the audio with my speakers and headphones is "crackling". It doesn't seem to matter what the volume is set at, nor what program I'm running. If I'm playing a game, the audio crackles. If I'm listening to music, the audio crackles.
I've tried downloading/updating my audio drivers, but nothing seems to help.

 

Realtek Hd users - Does your sound crackle when you change the volume?

Hi, sorry you too are experiencing this. It seems like only a small number of people (myself included) are. Unfortunately, I think it's unlikely that a *recent* Windows update is the cause, because I started experiencing this issue around the time I first updated to Win10 1809 last year. Others started experiencing it even earlier.

Here are some threads on reddit where other people discuss it:

Audio Crackling and Popping : Windows10

Why is this super common audio crackling/popping issue still being ignored? : Windows10

Audio popping/crackling : Windows10

Popping/crackling sound when sudden volume changes. : Windows10

Popping sound when volume changes : techsupport

Re: The song you posted - Yes I do hear the crackling upon quickly lowering/raising the volume. I've noticed that the crackling is *very* noticeable when changing the volume during long, sustained bassy notes. For instance, skip to around 7:00 in this track and raise/lower the volume (either in the YouTube player, or Windows volume control)



For me the crackling is extreme. It's like tearing velcro, lol!

Muting the volume (either in the browser by muting the tab, muting the YouTube player, or muting Windows audio entirely) results in a very blatant pop/crackle with each mute toggle (on/off/on/off, etc)

(I should also note that repeating the volume-change behaviour *at the beginning* of the track I posted - say from 0:30 onwards - results in far less extreme crackling. Only once the sustained bassy drones emerge does the crackling really kick up a notch)

 

Realtek Hd users - Does your sound crackle when you change the volume?

I tried what you suggested ,but it did not help unfortunately(,thank you anyway.This is the video i captured ,the only slider that does not make crackling is the main windows volume slider,in all other applications ,youtube,watching films etc. it pops and crackles,i also get random pops sounds during the video/audio playback,