Audio crackling/popping when I interact with Windows10

Makes me think it's a core Windows driver issue going on?

I am pretty sure it's a core Windows driver issue. The way they set Windows up, even when you uninstall something, it just comes back the next time you restart your computer. This problem of crackling audio happens to me whether I have it coming in over my speakers or headphones. It's so irritating...the moment you try to interact with a new program, regardless of how much RAM you have or how good your GPU is, you get this audio lag/crackle. Before I saw how it was impacting everyone else, I thought it was maybe something wrong with my hardware. But lately I've noticed it happening on my Windows laptop, too, but mysteriously, not on my Mac. Now I'm hearing it happens on Windows 11, too--so there's really no escaping it, I guess, unless you want to leave Windows entirely. It's so strange to me that Microsoft hasn't officially addressed this, after all this time.

Just wanted to add my own voice to this problem, running Windows 11 with the exact same issue.

I note that for me when windows starts if I hear a pop at the start of the Windows startup, then it's a good sign that audio is going to be a problem today.

Question for everyone: Are you all using Realtek sound controllers and drivers?

Things I have tried that don't fix it:

• Disabling Fast Start (it's still off but the problem persists - I double checked after reading above that someone had this turn back on.
• Installed latest updates.
• Rolled back my ASUS MB bios to previous version (this actually helped with a sleep crashing issue, but not the audio problem).
• Updating Windows audio drivers
• Rolling back Windows audio drivers
• Updating and rolling back ASUS/Realtek drivers
• Removing all signs of Sonic Studio
• Disabling DTS
• Disabling all other audio inputs and outputs that I don't use (but another bug in Windows causes these to come back from time to time - and the defaults to change - another problem featured in other threads)
• changing how I connect to the speakers (they are powered speakers with a built in DAC) - BT, optical, analogue
• Updating Windows
• All the other things listed above and in all those articles (outside of reinstalling Windows)
• Standing on one foot and rubbing my tummy while patting my head

I was about to buy a USB audio "card" but I see that someone else tried that.

One thing I am unsure about is why there are Realtek drivers from Microsoft for the Audio inputs and outputs section in Device Manager, and Realtek drivers under Sound, video and game controllers. I wonder if this driver mismatch is part of the issue?

Going to try reaching out to Realtek to see if they can help. It's one of those problems that is annoying enough to warrant spending time trying to fix it, but small enough to feel like such a waste of time doing so with no real answers from anyone who can actually understand what is going on software and/or hardware wise (I am 99% sure it's driver related).

I went to control panel -> hardware and sound -> sound -> speakers (select your speakers) -> properties -> advanced and then I disabled:

• Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device
• Allow hardware acceleration of audio with this device
• Enable audio enhancements

It seems to be working fine for now. I don't experience any popping or buzzing anymore and I hope it will stay that way.

I hope it works for you as well.

Message to everyone here: attempt turning off "Windows Fast Startup"

The fact that my audio worked after a restart wasnt a coincidence. It turned out this garbage windows option decided to check itself on after an update and was the absolute villain responsible for the months of irritation.

Turning this off has 1000000% fixed this disgusting issue permanently and it has not made an appearance since.

Hi Greg,

Thank you so much for all the links you researched for me. I tried every link and it still wasn't cooperating, so I watched the first Youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjxzBIHrXUM)

, which showed how to install an older version of the HD audio driver from my files and that worked, until I restarted my computer.

Step by step in case someone else runs into this:

1. Go to Device Manager
2. Open "Sound, video and game controllers"
3. Right click on your audio device (Realtek High Definition Audio or might say High Definition Audio Device)
4. Click Update Driver
5. Select Browse my computer for driver software
6. Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer
7. Pick the High Definition Audio Device (if it doesn't appear, you might have to go download it from somewhere)
8. Install
9. Restart computer

The culprit seems to be the latest Windows 10 update (on the "2022-06 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2" and 21H2 update, assuming June version - I updated to try to resolve this problem but kept happening). Something about it is no longer compatible with the Realtek High Definition Audio driver. To confirm the problem, I "updated" the High Definition Audio driver to the latest Realtek one (are they even the same?) and the audio popping problem came back.

It seems like restarting my computer changes/updates something behind the scenes and the problem resurfaces.

If I could get further assistance, that would help.

Thanks,

Monet