Windows 10: Having issues with crackling/popping audio on W10

Hi. So I've been having a hard time trying to resolve an issue with crackling and popping audio that's been plaguing me for quite some time now. The crackling is only present when sound/music is playing. If nothing is running or playing then there is 0 crackling or popping. When I move the volume slider up and down in Youtube or Spotify the crackling can be heard clearly. Same goes for playing and pausing a video and audio. All of which where not present until I updated to a newer version of Windows 1903. I have since updated my Windows to 2004 and the issue is still present.


I've tried all the steps listed here at https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/4520288/windows-10-fix-sound-problems. None of them have worked. I tried using different headphones and even a pair of speakers. All of them produced the same crackling. I tried testing this with a laptop that I keep with me which also happens to run the same version of Windows 10. Same crackling and popping whenever I listen to music or play games.


I'd like to provide a link to a sound file as another example of this here via a game's wiki page. Prior to these issues there was no pop. Following a series of updates beginning with Windows version 1903, a crackling/popping sound can consistently be heard at the tail end of this sound file and many, many others across different games and applications.


I've tried tweaking and reverting settings in the registry regarding settings such as "PerformanceIdleTime" with no sucess. I've also tried disabling/enabling Dynamic Tick and using DISM command prompts such as "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth" with no luck.


At this point I feel like I've exhausted all possible solutions and I'm out of ideas. I'm hoping that someone who is more knowledgeable than me might know what my problem is and help me find a solution to this rather frustrating problem. Thanks in advance.

:)

 

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?

 

Crackling audio. Skyrim + other games

No idea what either of those are.

 

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)