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Sound crackling is driving me insane.
Based on my research, I appear to be another victim of windows 7 sound glitches. My specific problem seems to only happen when playing music. Or, at least, I have yet to truly notice it while playing a game or watching video. I've been trying to find a solution for a couple of weeks, including reading several posts on this forum, and I have only just now found a potential solution (though not an ideal solution, in my opinion).
First, the basics. I just built a new PC using almost entirely new parts. My old set up used windows 7 32 bit, but almost entirely the same software otherwise. I never had this problem before. Here's what I have now:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
AMD Phenom 965 Deneb 3.4 ghz
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1gb
4 gigs of ram
ASUS M4N75TD with integrated VIA VT1708S
A few other details can be found in my profile, but that's probably the important stuff for now.
I have been using this Mp3 to test this out (you can download it for free), because for some reason I seem to notice it on this song more than others: Camphor - Enjoy The Struggle | RCRD LBL | Free MP3 Downloads . I'm certain it's not that song, however, as I often notice it on anything else that I play, and never noticed it on that song until recently.
I also have a sound blaster audigy 2 zs, which I installed after first noticing the problem (I was originally intending to just leave it in my old pc). I tried it with the latest drivers from creative, as well as the audigy series support pack, found on this forum, using the cleanest installs and uninstalls that I know how to do. Neither worked, and the card annoys me (Seriously, no front jacks on any creative cards? Silliness), so I decided to just keep using my integrated card.
I've tried disabling as many background processes as I can. I've disabled microsoft security essentials. I watch audiodg.exe in the resource manager, but it never uses more than 12mb of ram, and even when doing typical web surfing and listening, my CPU usage rarely seems to go over 50%, and usually idles much lower.
One post suggested that windows 7 prioritizes network processes over audio processes. This could potentially be my issue. I'm using an outdated linksys wireless adapter, Linksys by Cisco - WUSB54G Support , which I unfortunately discovered does not work with 64 bit windows. (I assumed I would have no issues since it worked so well in win 7 32 bit). It is currently working for me thanks to this driver: Linksys WUSB54G V4 Driver Download for Windows 7 x64 bit & Vista | Social Web, Small Business Marketing & IBM . All networking seems to be working fine.
To attempt to rule this out, I disconnected the adapter, rebooted, and listened. It didn't help. I know it doesn't completely rule it out, but I can't quite think of any other way to test this without too much fiddling and uninstalling. I would personally prefer not to have to buy a new adapter, unless I absolutely have to.
Now, I did say that I have found a potential solution. My preferred player is Winamp, but to troubleshoot, I tried everything I have installed that can play music. Windows Media Player has glitches... but Media Player Classic does not seem to. At all. I recently installed AIMP 2 as suggested on another site, and playback seems to be fine in this program, too. I just... don't like the program. I like winamp . I suppose I might be willing to give up winamp, which I have been using for YEARS, if that is the only solution. However, I was hoping the lovely people of this forum could help me figure out a more preferred solution. Sorry to go on for so long :).