Sound is very garbled

Question

my audio is garbled and not good listening experience.

Answer 1

Hi! Let me help you.

Please hover your mouse over the sound icon in the lower-right corner, then right-click it and select Troubleshoot Sound. Let the troubleshooter finish its task, then this should either resolve the problem or display an error message.If that doesn't work, we need to remove the Audio driver from the Device Manager and restart the PC to reinstall it.

Here are the steps to completely remove a Device from your computer.

Step 1. Use the Windows key + X shortcut.

Step 2. Select Device Manager.

Step 3. Expand the entry Sound, Video, and Game Controllers. Right-click the problematic device, which is either Realtek Audio, or AMD High-definition Audio, or High-Definition Audio, depending on the audio device installed in your PC, and select Uninstall device.

Step 4. You need to check the option Delete the driver software for this device and then click the Uninstall button.

Step 5. Reboot the computer.

After the reboot, please see if the problem is fixed.

If that still does not work, please visit the support website of your laptop or desktop and then download and install the latest Audio driver, then restart the PC.

Answer 2

For garbled, distorted, or crackling audio in Windows 11, try these steps in order:

1. Turn off audio enhancements:
   • Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
   • Under Output, select the audio device in use.
   • Select Audio enhancements.
   • Turn enhancements off, then test the audio.
2. Change the default audio format:
   • Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
   • Under Output, select the audio device.
   • Select Advanced.
   • Under Default format, choose a different format.
   • Test the audio again.
3. Update or reinstall the audio driver:
   • Select Start, search for Device Manager, and open it.
   • Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • Right-click the audio device and select Update driver.
   • Restart the PC.
   • If the issue continues, uninstall the audio driver and reinstall the latest version from the device manufacturer’s website.
4. Restart Windows audio services:
   • Select Start, type services.msc, and press Enter.
   • Right-click Windows Audio and select Restart.
   • Right-click Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and select Restart.
   • Test the audio.

If the problem is only with one recording or one app, test the same audio on a different device to check whether the source audio itself is poor.

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References:

• Fix distorted or crackling audio in Windows
• Surface sound, volume, and audio accessories