Pausing/unpausing/scrubbing audio creates static crackles/pops

[glenjj]

I found this is far from uncommon relating to that specific driver

I also found if I run the latency test without chrome open it doesn't seem to have issues :/

 

[fireberd]

Although Chrome is popular, I won't have it on any of my PC's. As previously mentioned it caused audio problems for my recording studio system (even if it wasn't being used).

Ask yourself, "do I really need it", since you have found it does cause problems. Have to eliminate problems, sometimes one at a time.

 

[glenjj]

Although Chrome is popular, I won't have it on any of my PC's. As previously mentioned it caused audio problems for my recording studio system (even if it wasn't being used).

Ask yourself, "do I really need it", since you have found it does cause problems. Have to eliminate problems, sometimes one at a time.

Well I didnt say it got rid of all the problems, it made the latency program no longer find issues, but the popping sounds on audio still occur with or without chrome

 

[fireberd]

Chrome may not be the problem, but its a good potential. As I noted, I tried it (on Win 7) with the desktop that I was using at the time for my recording studio and it caused audio dropouts. I uninstalled Chrome, but the Google updater was still installed. I had to also uninstall the updater (and it was a mess with all the registry entries) before the dropouts stopped.

Ultimately you may have to do a new "clean" install. Only install Windows and drivers. See if the audio works OK. If its OK, start, one at a time adding your applications and test it each time. This is a hassle but in some (severe) cases is what is required. The pops/crackles, etc problems have been hard to nail down. There is no "one fix" for the problems.

FWIW, I do not have any of the ASUS optional software that was on the ASUS CD installed, including ASUS AI. I only installed the drivers when I built my system.

 

[glenjj]

Chrome may not be the problem, but its a good potential. As I noted, I tried it (on Win 7) with the desktop that I was using at the time for my recording studio and it caused audio dropouts. I uninstalled Chrome, but the Google updater was still installed. I had to also uninstall the updater (and it was a mess with all the registry entries) before the dropouts stopped.

Ultimately you may have to do a new "clean" install. Only install Windows and drivers. See if the audio works OK. If its OK, start, one at a time adding your applications and test it each time. This is a hassle but in some (severe) cases is what is required. The pops/crackles, etc problems have been hard to nail down. There is no "one fix" for the problems.

FWIW, I do not have any of the ASUS optional software that was on the ASUS CD installed, including ASUS AI. I only installed the drivers when I built my system.

I can see that a clean install would be a great way to test one by one to find the culprit, but I have so many programs installed and set up specifically for work that that would a major headache to do.

And as others told me that when they listened to the audio clip that gave me pops that they too get pops on it, so if they dont have bad latency but still get the pops then cleaning my PC still might not solve my issue either

 

[fireberd]

Well its up to you Pops and clicks, as mentioned, is a reported problem (for some but not most) but it can be corrected. However, its not the same fix for everyone but is "fixable". I have generally the same hardware you have and do not have the problem.

I would say, get or use a separate drive and try the clean install route as mentioned - install Windows and drivers only. See if has the problem, if not then install programs one at a time and try it again. May show up and may never show up again on the new install. May be a good time to install/try Win 10. The hardware you have, although will work on Win 7 was really designed for newer Windows (Win 10).

 

[glenjj]

Well its up to you Pops and clicks, as mentioned, is a reported problem (for some but not most) but it can be corrected. However, its not the same fix for everyone but is "fixable". I have generally the same hardware you have and do not have the problem.

I would say, get or use a separate drive and try the clean install route as mentioned - install Windows and drivers only. See if has the problem, if not then install programs one at a time and try it again. May show up and may never show up again on the new install. May be a good time to install/try Win 10. The hardware you have, although will work on Win 7 was really designed for newer Windows (Win 10).

yeah I'll see if I can work in an upgrade or a clean install at some point to tackle this, ill update here when I do
I really appreciate all the help! cheers

 

[Zethus]

Sounds like the same issue I have. I have even built a new PC with all new hardware besides the case and PSU, I even swapped back to Windows 7 from Windows 10 and it's still the same crap. Default Windows audio drivers lessened the popping a tiny bit, but it was still there.

Does the audio pop in everyday activities like gaming, YouTube, Twitch or just listening to music? Are the pops non-random? Like can you rewind an audio track over and over again and here the same pops at that specific point? Like the Forest Ambience you posted, those audio pops happen every time?

I want to thank fireberd and crew for trying to find a path for me in trying to resolve my audio issue, sadly I got much too frustrated and dipped out of my thread I created on the tenforums. I am here because I know the OP has the same exact issue as me and it's not the standard audio issue many have that a simple driver update can fix. I am pretty sure certain mobos (MSI and ASRock mainly) are either just garbage or they have a lot of compatibility issues with Windows. I still feel there is SOME solution.... there has to be.

Here is a small part of the video the OP posted I recorded through audacity and uploaded to YouTube: test - YouTube any chance fireberd can hear the pops? You mentioned you cannot hear them through the link, but what about if recorded from a PC with these issues?

 

[glenjj]

Sounds like the same issue I have. I have even built a new PC with all new hardware besides the case and PSU, I even swapped back to Windows 7 from Windows 10 and it's still the same crap. Default Windows audio drivers lessened the popping a tiny bit, but it was still there.

Does the audio pop in everyday activities like gaming, YouTube, Twitch or just listening to music? Are the pops non-random? Like can you rewind an audio track over and over again and here the same pops at that specific point? Like the Forest Ambience you posted, those audio pops happen every time?

I want to thank fireberd and crew for trying to find a path for me in trying to resolve my audio issue, sadly I got much too frustrated and dipped out of my thread I created on the tenforums. I am here because I know the OP has the same exact issue as me and it's not the standard audio issue many have that a simple driver update can fix. I am pretty sure certain mobos (MSI and ASRock mainly) are either just garbage or they have a lot of compatibility issues with Windows. I still feel there is SOME solution.... there has to be.

Here is a small part of the video the OP posted I recorded through audacity and uploaded to YouTube: test - YouTube any chance fireberd can hear the pops? You mentioned you cannot hear them through the link, but what about if recorded from a PC with these issues?

From what I can tell through testing, the static pop will happen with any audio playing that goes suddenly from loud to stopping (or vice versa), the more bass in it seems to make it worse but it's hard to tell.

If audio is just continuously playing the popping doesn't happen, only on start/stop points of a great volume difference.
So replaying the same part where I heard a pop doesn't play it again, unless I pause again. Or unless it's actually part of that audio, which in the case of that youtube video you shared, I can hear clicks at the start.

As it doesn't really affect much that I do regularly I just have to live with it for now, this PC is for work so I dont have the freedom to reinstall windows to test (which ive read others did but it didn't solve this issue) and have to reinstall at least 50 programs/games all over again... that'd be a nightmare.

I attached a screenshot of audacity recording me pausing/unpausing some loud audio, the popping is caused by those sudden valleys.

 

[fireberd]

I thought I heard it the first time I played the clip. But, I played it several times after that and it was "clean". Its not a specific motherboard brand problem, I've seen posts of "pops and clicks" on the Dell forum (not recently) and they use proprietary motherboards. I've seen posts from HP's and other brand names. I had an ASRock, when on Win 7 and early Win 10 and did not have the Problem. However, I had the problem in my recording studio with a Gigabyte Z77 motherboard that turned out to be the Gigabyte "EasyTune" program that was provided to monitor and tweak the motherboard. Uninstalling EasyTune (V6 in my case) eliminated the problems. If you do a search in this forum section, especially older posts, you will see a lot of posts about this

One of the causes (and there have been many) is that sound is always on a shared IRQ (Interrupt) with a higher priority device and that is one potential cause. Windows treats sound as a low priority device but as sound has become more important over the years Microsoft has never changed it to a high priority device. Sometimes (if possible) switching sound to a different IRQ can help with the problem.

Pops at starting or stopping can be poor design in the motherboard. I've seen descriptions of motherboards that highlight what they do with audio and one of the points is about pops at start or end of sound. The ASUS "ROG" motherboard I have details the upgraded audio on the board. On the other hand the shared IRQ can also cause that.

Some of the problems appear more often in Win 7 systems. There are fewer reports of the problem, that I've seen, in Win 10. I work the Dell forums and its been quite a while since I've seen a report there and that was a hot topic back a couple of years ago.

 

[Zethus]

Strange, I thought those pops would surely pick up in my quick YouTube video recording... matter of fact I am a bit shocked fireberd didn't hear them. I work with audio and am always worried people would hear the excessive pops and static I spend hours editing audio tracks removing them! I am still a bit unsure if this is 100% proof they won't hear them.

Does anything look out of place? Why do I have multiples of the same thing? I got several High Definition Audio Controller, many things are sharing the same IRQ.. I haven't seen this before so I am not sure how to interpret it.

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 16 PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
IRQ 16 Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller OK
IRQ 16 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 17 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 17 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 17 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 18 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 19 Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller OK
IRQ 25 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 52 PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
IRQ 52 PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK

IRQ 81-190 Microsoft ACPI -Compliant System

IRQ 4294967294 Radeon (TM) RX 470 Graphics OK <--- this can't be normal?

 

[fireberd]

IRQ16 stands out. Not that its wrong, but audio and NIC on same IRQ and that could spell trouble. Networking (mainly Wi-Fi) can cause the problems. There are some nice recording gear that uses Ethernet but I avoid them, not that they will have problems, but due to the potential for problems.

For testing, disable the NIC and see if that makes a difference for the audio.

You can have a High Definition Audio Controller for regular PC sound and another for HDMI audio.

I have HDMI audio disabled so there is only one High Definition Audio for my system. Its different as I have Win 10. Note the 4 devices on the same IRQ (with audio), but not a NIC.

 

[Zethus]

Disabling didn't do anything sadly. I am fine with hearing it myself, I just hope no one else are able to pick up my audio issues in my videos, I edit most of them out in case, and sometimes I have to trash entire videos before because the audio pops, crackles and static are so bad it's impossible to clean the audio up manually. So frustrating.