Windows 10: Continuous Audio Crackles and Pops, Using a DAC

Hi Community,


I am having some persistent audio issues on a recent computer build, and I am getting nowhere with it. The issue has been going on for two months. I use a digital audio converter to run my audio through. It is a 1st gen Focusrite 6i6. I produce music using Ableton Live. This build was specifically for music production. The popping and clicking happen during normal useage, like watching online videos, but it is worst of all when I am using Ableton Live. If I am using Spotify, the audio tends to be clear, with maybe an occasional pop or click. If I open Ableton while Spotify is playing, the popping and clicking increases a lot. I have another audio program for production, called Bitwig. This program has occasional pops and clicks, but again, it is not as bad as Live is. I have changed USB cables, tried multiple DACs, including another brand entirely, optimized my PC for audio, tried multiple drivers, and I have had Ableton and Focusrite troubleshoot with me. It seems like this is an issue with something in Windows, but I cannot pinpoint where the trouble lies. I have run a program called LatencyMon. At first, my sata drivers were causing issues. I have disabled those, and not LatencyMon says my PC appears to be capable of handling real-time audio. The highest latency that LatencyMon is showing is usually Kernal Mode Framework. I have had a couple blue screens appear when I am running my audio programs and the error is usuallly IRQ_Not_Less_Or_Equal. Changing the buffer size on the DAC produces no differences in the audio issues. I am sure more information is going to be needed, so can anyone guide me on what to provide, with instructions, so that I could get to the bottom of this? I am wondering if this is due to Windows not working with a computer component properly or something like that, but whatever the issue is, I really want to get to the bottom of this, so I appreciate any help.

Here is my computer hardware setup:

mb: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master

cpu: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

gpu: Sapphire radeon Pulse RX 5700 XT

ssd: One 1TB and one 2TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe PCle M.2 2280 Internal SSD

ram: 64 GB - 4x16GB G.Skillz Trident Z 288-pin 3600MHz

monitor: Samsung CHG90 49-inch 4k ultrawide

DAC: Focusrite 6i6 1st gen


I am happy to provide any information or run any tests, with some guidance. Again, I appreciate any help with this. It's been 2 months since I've been able to produce and mix any music, and it's driving me crazy. Thank you

:)

 

Audio Pops and Crackling Since May Update 1903

Back to 1809 on this particular machine and everything is fine now. The NT kernel doesn's spike. XLR-USB, 6,3mm, 3,5mm all work correctly without any audio pops. I will not mark this as resolved until this issue is addressed by Microsoft, or until we have a solid explanation to this issue. I will keep my eyes close to the release notes for the cumulative updates for 1903 from here on.

The driver used is both delivered and signed by Microsoft when I checked. I did search for an updated driver using device manager, and after through Windows Update, but I didn't run the troubleshooter though. It had a contemporary date to it if I remember correctly. I don't really have other options for audio drivers. I have always used the driver from Microsoft for pre-amps or DACs in the past without any issues.

@fireberd Did you link your hits to ntoskrln.exe aswell? 1903 seems like it's not even usable if you do audio recording and production. I went back to 1809 and the abnormal spikes are gone. No pops or crackles.

 

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?