Asrock Z370 Taichi audio driver sound issue please help!

[Ryan Reynolds]

I am not sure that this is the best place for this question, but I have an ASrock Z370 Taichi mobo and I have downloaded the newest audio drivers and I am getting crackling and popping when I use my headphones (audio technical ath50x) on my motherboards front audio output not the rear. It only does it at certain volumes (its fine below like 10 in windows 10) anything above it crackles and pops like crazy. The newest driver is the “Realtek High Definition Audio Driver ver:8496_UAD_WHQL” and the one that I was using previously and am using at the moment since it worked just fine is the is the “ver:8210”. I have read online that there are people who are having issues with the Z370 asrock motherboards audio and this one is no exception. There nothing wrong with the rear audio as I have said so I am thinking that it is just a driver issue since the previous one that I am using right now didn’t have any problems. I think it could also be the isolation on the Cooler Master Maker 5 case, however before I have used an Asus Crosshair 6 hero and an Aorus x470 gaming 7 motherboards (I am done with amd ryzen that chipset is very unstable for me and that asus motherboard is one of worst motherboards I have used in my life, not the point of this post) and the front audio worked absolutely fine on it so I don’t think it is the main issue. I have changed the bit rates and nothing has changed. I do NOT want to move my motherboard out of my case to see if it is the case. I have thought about getting a sound card as that would solve the sound issue but it isn’t something that I really want to do at the moment. Any help is appreciated!

Here is a full list of my specs
Intel i7 8700k No OC
ASrock Z370 Taichi
Asus strix GTX 1080 advanced edition
Fractal design Celsius S24 aio cooler
Corsair vengeance led red 32gb 2x16 3000 mhz
Samsung 960 evo ssd pcie nvme 250gb
Wd blue 1tb
Seagate barracuda 3tb
Seasonic prime titanium 850w (I know overkill)
Cooler master maker 5 case

 

[BringerOfTea]

Hi there Ryan, Ive alwaysed used rear connectors. The front panels are often prone to interference.
The cable should be long enough on the athm50X... guessing you missed out the M

 

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hi there Ryan, Ive alwaysed used rear connectors. The front panels are often prone to interference.
The cable should be long enough on the athm50X... guessing you missed out the M

Thanks for the reply. With the old audio drivers from realtek the front audio works flawlessly. The newer ones have crackling and popping sounds.

 

[BringerOfTea]

"NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier for Front Panel Audio Connector," maybe there is something wrong with the amp listed in the specs?

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z370%20Taichi/index.asp#Specification