Apologies for the slightly dramatic title, but this is an audio problem that seems to defy (my) comprehension. I recently purchased an ASUS Zephyrus M15 laptop (GU502LU-HN080T, i7-10750H, GTX 1660 Ti), and have been plagued with audio crackling ever since, the sort that sounds like a fireplace. The crackling is audible whether I am listening to music or playing a game, and can usually be triggered in the latter by sudden audio cues (like menu selection sounds). I listen to FLAC and sometimes SACD music using my external DAC, which would have to be set to WASAPI exclusive for the latter (DoP); and I can hear occasional crackling with that, too, though far less common (every ~5 min).
The difficulty is that the same crackling can be heard on both the external DAC and using the internal headphone jack, which eliminates hardware problems relating to the two. Furthermore, I have tested different pairs of headphones (on different cables), eliminating the headphones as a factor. I have then proceeded to do the following in a series of maddening attempts to fix the problem:
If anybody could assist me with this, you would be helping a man get to sleep at night again. Any suggestions would be absolutely welcome.
The difficulty is that the same crackling can be heard on both the external DAC and using the internal headphone jack, which eliminates hardware problems relating to the two. Furthermore, I have tested different pairs of headphones (on different cables), eliminating the headphones as a factor. I have then proceeded to do the following in a series of maddening attempts to fix the problem:
- BIOS reset to default settings;
- CPU reset to stock (no undervolting/overclocking);
- Windows high performance power plan (with Armoury Crate 'Turbo' mode);
- Windows audio sampling settings (tested 16 bit 44.1 kHz, 24 bit 48 kHz, 24 bit 96 kHz);
- Disabling Fastboot;
- LatencyMon, which reports <400 μs in Turbo mode (and in which the crackling still persists);
- Disabling all audio enhancements (a bit of a journey, I tell you):
- The laptop comes with Nahimic APO (Sonic Studio 3) preinstalled, a rather notoriously difficult to remove software. Even when you turn off all effects, the APO insists on affecting your audio (it makes it sound worse). Only by using the Windows device installation restrictions policy could I prevent Windows from reinstalling the drivers upon a restart, allowing me to delete whatever traces of Nahimic I could find, or at least prevent them from running. All Nahimic processes/services are disabled, the APO software device is deleted, and Windows no longer reports that there are any 'audio enhancements' available to turn on.
- Factory reset with OEM recovery partition;
- Factory reset with OEM recovery partition, then immediately upgrading to Windows 11;
- Ensured all audio and Intel ISST drivers were the latest OEM, as well as updating Intel & Nvidia display drivers (apparently these can cause DPC latency?);
- Moving music/games from HDD to SSD (no difference);
- Setting all available devices to Message Signalled Interrupts;
- Running TestMem5 with the 'extreme@anta777' config, and Prime95, both with no errors after 1h (the problem could still lie here, but it seems rather improbable?);
- Turning off Game Mode and hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.
If anybody could assist me with this, you would be helping a man get to sleep at night again. Any suggestions would be absolutely welcome.
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