Windows 10: Asrock Z390 Extreme4 Audio issues: crackling/popping and disappering sound

I have a really weird problem with my Realtek Audio on my ASRock Z390 Extreme4 mobo in Windows 10. The sound is always working perfectly after booting the system up. I am using the rear analog jack output and have my analog LG speakers connected. Then, after some time, the sound mysteriously disappears. Actually, it never happened while the system was playing sound at the moment but that might be just a coincidence. Anyway, when the sound disappears, the rear jack output simply stops working.

The weird thing is that the front panel (connected from the case to the mobo with an HD audio cable that comes with a case) is still working - when I connect headphones, I can hear the sound, but it's distorted - kinda crackling, popping noises come up. Normally, before the disappearance of the rear jack sound happens, it works perfectly (no popping sound from the front panel). More interestingly, when I disconnect my speakers from the rear jack output, crackling from the front panel disappears... When this all happens, it's absolutely impossible to make the rear output jack work again. I've tried deactivating sound controller by disabling it and re-enabling in the Device Manager, restarting Windows Sound service, scrolling the volume slider in the system tray, changing playback device (you can choose between speakers and digital audio which I do not use). Everything to no avail...

And here is the interesting part: when I restart my Windows, the sound comes back. Also - when I put the computer into sleep and then turn it on, it also comes back. So this suggests it could be a driver issue, right? But I'm not really sure if I can rule out a hardware malfunction. Please help! Attached please find detailed specs as well as all steps I've tried in order to find out why it's happening and how to fix it.

Specs:

• i9-9900K; no OC
• CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D15S
• MOBO: ASRock Z390 EXTREME4
• RAM: HyperX Predator RGB, DDR4, 16 GB, 4000MHz, CL19; no OC
• SSD Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SATA3 (for system)
• SSD Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SATA3
• SATA Seagate Constellation CS, 3.5'', 2TB, SATA/600, 7200RPM, 64MB
• Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 2GB; no OC
• Power supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro P11 650W
• Cabinet: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Compact Black; 2 fans in the cabinet
• Monitor: LG 27 UK650-W - x2
• Windows 10 Pro EN 64-bit OEM - legal; activated; all updates installed

As you can see the specs is decent - no cheap components etc.

I've found some events in the Application section of Event Viewer but they are probably meaningless and will not help much:

Code:

Faulting application name: AUDIODG.EXE, version: 10.0.17763.292
Faulting module name: unknown
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Faulting module path: unknown
More information on what I've done and checked out:

• I do not OC anything. All settings in BIOS are set to default
• CPU temps are within the range of 30 (idle) to 75 degrees when all cores have 100% load
• BIOS is updated to the latest possible version from ASRock website
• all drivers are updated to the latest possible releases from ASRock website as well
• Windows 10 is legal & activated. No viruses
• CPU has been stress-tested with Prime95, Intel Extreme Tuning stress test for 4 hours - no issues
• RAM has been tested with memtest86 for 8 hours; no issues
• sfc /scannow has been performed; no errors; the system is stable - no bluescreens and bugchecks; no unexplained entries in the Event Viewer;
• No weird software installed - in fact only a few programs on board: Visual Studio Community, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Chrome, Open Office. No bloatware of any kind
• DPC latency is perfect (<200 us for most requests, and only a few within the range of 200-500 us), tested with Latency Monitor
• rear jack port and front jack port are working properly; speakers are also working perfectly with the other computer I have
• all audio enhancements are disabled
• Realtek Audio Console shows the rear speaker port is properly connected; the impedance is detected properly; front panel detection is working (shows when I connect my headphones)

:)

 

Crackle/Popping Sound When Playing Audio + Stuttering Video Games

I just built a PC:

• ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-H GAMING
  
• Intel i7 8700k
  
• EVGA Geforce GTX 1080 FTW 8 GB
  
• Corsair RMx Series, RM750x 750w
  
• Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSD
  
• Seagate 2 TB FireCuda Gaming SSHD
  
• Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200 MHz
  
• Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
  

Not currently OC'd, default specs.

Whenever I play audio (YouTube, foobar, VLC player, video games) I can hear a popping/crackling sound whenever I start or stop it. It's like the small crackle sound you hear when you plug in headphones/speakers. This also happens during playback, although not randomly – it's usually a specific part of the audio/video file that causes the popping. I can even find the particular "pop" spot and replay it.

Additionally, whenever I'm playing a video game I get random frame skips at random intervals. This happens in all my video games – WoW, Subnautica, Fallout 4, Dark Souls 3.

Originally I had the ASUS Prime z370-A which I thought to be the issue. But I replaced it with the ROG Strix and I can still hear the popping/crackling and the frame skips still happen.

Does anyone have experience with this issue? This is my first build over $1k and I'm very distressed that I cannot find the problem. Could it be the hard drives? RAM, maybe?

 

Audio Pop/Stutter/Crackle When Stopping Audio


I've been having this issue for the past two days, and I've tried everything to no avail.
Basically this is the issue:
I get a pop/crackle when I suddenly stop audio.
What I'm running:

• Schiit Uber Stack.
• Win 10 PC.

What I've tried:

• Tried onboard audio, still get the problem.
• Tried onboard audio on both my PC and laptop, still get the problem.
• Tried my stack on both PC and laptop, still get the problem.
• Tried using a DPC latency checker, everything seems fine there.
• Tried different headphones just in case, wasn't the issue.
• Tried changing audio format, still get the problem.
• +literally tried 99 other things *Tongue

That pop is happening when I suddenly stop the sound effect. I get that pop when a Windows notification shows up. My friend's voice on Discord also pops every couple of seconds (100% sure it's not his mic).
Any help is appreciated!
(Just to clarify, I made sure it's not a hardware issue, so something within Win 10 is screwing with me)

I WILL LITERALLY PAYPAL ANYONE WHO FINDS ME A SOLUTION $10 *chuckle

(Yup, I'm losing my mind and I'm that desperate lol)

 

Crackling audio. Skyrim + other games

USB headphones have never been kind to me. They always hiss, pop and crackle. The fact that you can hear it when no audio is being played suggests it's a power /connection issue.

Do you have any 3.5mm or RCA based headphones you can try?