New HyperX Cloud 2 popping/crackling sounds

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jdk4sabres

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I just received my Cloud 2's in the mail and upon plugging them in(They are wired and USB only) I've noticed that when I'm in a game or watching a video there is a frequent popping or crackling noise. It's not too loud but it doesn't happen with my PX22 Turtle Beach headset or my actual Speakers. It also does not occur when sitting idle, or with mouse movement or anything like that.

I tried updating my Realtek Drivers, tried changing the audio quality in properties, disabling Razer Surround Pro software in case it was conflicting somehow. I'm not sure what else to do.

Update:

If I disconnect the headset from the on board driver and use them as headphones for my phone and play music or watch a youtube video then there are no popping sounds. So it's either the on board driver or my computer.

Update 2:

Hooked them up to my Brother in law's pc and they still pop, so it's not specifically my PC causing some sort of interference or software conflict. Maybe I should return them? Seems like there's an issue with the on board driver. I don't know...

Update 3:

Since the popping doesnt happen with my Turtle Beach's or my speaker system, I'm assuming it's a driver issue and while I did update my Asus realtek audio driver yesterday, that driver was from the 5th. Today I see a new one(11th) so hopefully that driver will fix it.

Update 4:
The driver didn't change anything.

Update 5:

I tried the DPC latency program and I do get one red bar indicating one of my drivers is causing the crackling issue. I hope I'm on the right track now.

Update 6:

I tried disabling drivers one at a time like the DPC latency program says to do and nothing seemed to stop it. Not sure which driver it is.

If it matter my specs are:

Asus M5a97 R2.0 motherboard(brand new)
Sapphire R9 270 Dual X OC edition(few months old)
AMD fx 6300(brand new)
8gb ram
Corsair CX600 psu
NZXT Guardian Case(brand new)
and a CM Hyper 212 evo cooler soon
 
Solution
B
They have finally fixed it. I wrote to them through technical support about the popping/crackling in my headset like the others in this thread have done and they have finally fixed it with a firmware update, the update was provided to me through a link to their website that they sent me through email.

To check the popping problem I used audiocheck's Sine Sweep - Full Spectrum sound files which very easily reveal the popping problem.

The new firmware updates from version 0003 to version 0005 and it finally solves the issues that persisted in previous versions, to get the update, just ask them through the technical support. I could also post the link they provided if anyone asks for it, but I don't know if I'm supposed to share it.
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Just received my Cloud 2 aswell today. Getting popping/crackle noise constantly, specially with music. The volume is not even that high.
Im so sad!

Fix please!
 
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Is anyone not having the static/popping problem? I also tried it on my old windows 7 laptop same problem again. Works fine on my phone.

Please change the status too unsolved.
 
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#Update/suggestion.
Found my old USB dongle from a Siberia V2 headset. Plugged the Cloud II into that, popping/crackle is 100% gone.

Problem is 100% the HyperX USB dongle, getting a new one from same batch is not gonna help anything at the moment i guess?
 
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Damm seems like 25% of the comments are about this problem on Amazon. I should have checked the comments there before buying it. I'ts just bad design by Kingston and they still didn't came up with a solution for this. I'm probably going to return them and buy some different headset.
 
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I had a slight buzzing and i fixed it by going to playback devices, right clicking the headphones and heading to properties, hit the enhancement tab and checking low frequency protection. Worked like a charm after
 
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Well, regarding "getting another dongle from the same batch", here's my quandary. There are so many rave reviews out there, even among supposed audiophile reviewers and youtube channels, none of which have mentioned any issue with the dongle (personally contacted a few as well, same story) even with review pieces. Which leads me to believe it may not be a batch issue, but rather a more frequent failure than usual. Poor Q&A maybe? Anywho, I'm just really surprised none of the reviewers have encountered this very annoying issue with the dongle. Other than that, the sound quality is top notch, so now I'm just waiting on my new dongle as well hopefully fixing the problem, 2 weeks after original purchase...
 
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Hello,

[Solution]

I contacted support and they did sent me a new USB dongle. After following some instructions to remove the old driver everything is working now.
I tested it and there is no more crackling/popping sound and static on the background is gone aswell, also when the volume is at max.
Tried using the old USB dongle and I got the crackling/popping sounds again.
I think some USB dongles just had some production error.
I suggest everyone to contact support for a new dongle because it worked for me and I'm 100% sure now that some of them are broken.

Hope you all get yours fixed
 
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Can you show me the driver version in the device manager>sound>rightclick on Hyper X headset>properties>driver tab

This is the driver version I have with the new dongle. http://imgur.com/Dd0pOHk
The Kingston support is showing their driver version. http://imgur.com/AohZekM

I'm assuming we're missing windows updates?
 
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I have the same one as you version 6.3.9600.16490 the one that is working
 
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Hi there,
I'm a Cloud II user my self here, being a headphone geek, I have several over $1k Hi-Fi grade headphones as well as DAC and Headphone amplifiers etc....
Being a person who is into Hi-Fi, I treat powers very serious too, as cleaner power gives significant improvement in sound quality wise.

I tried the Cloud II with my own computer with Corsair AXi series high end power supply + high end mother board that has independent and isolated USB 2.0 port designed for USB DACs and audio equipments with no poping issues at all.

However once I used the cloud II on standard USB 3.0 port as well as the port on my computer case, I experiences issue of the sound quality degraded.

Trying on USB hub is a even worse idea as the power supply provided with the hub are usually not good at all in the application for audio devices, which I experienced static noise when turning the volume up more than 68%.

Then I try the cloud ii on my girl friend's PC with cheap old power supply + budget mother-board, I begin to have the poping issue that some people are experiencing.

My recommendation is to use the cloud ii usb sound card on standard usb 2.0 port on your motherboard if it still has one, which alot higher end Gigabytes motherboards do have it for audio equipments, just to see if this solved your issue, or have a surge protector that has power filter on it to reduce EMI and RFI in-order to provide cleaner power.

If you do search on information about the usb 3.0 design, you will notice alot issue with audio equipments as well as Wi-Fi mouse or receivers, Mac users suffers the most on this issue ( Wi-Fi mouse on USB 3.0 hubs), there's firmware updates on the usb 3.0 control chip that solved the most issues on MAC but still not 100% completely.

Another hence is that if you look into those Hi-Fi equipments with usb connection, they still are on usb 2.0 instead of 3.0 for a good reason, although the best audio port from PC is the firewire not usb, due to jitter issues but sadly the firewire has never been popular at all.

My comment is that I enjoyed the cloud ii very much as it is one of the great gaming head set that provides entry level of Hi-Fi sound quality rather than just positioning & bass only (with my own experience on Razer Kraken and Razer Tiamat 7.1).
Kingston should learn from this issue and design a better sound card that is not so prone to power or signal issues.
But still for the price, I still think Kingston has done a really good job, perhaps they should put more budget into the usb sound card and spent less on the packing 😛
 
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I wrote a letter in support Kingston

Hello, I'm from Russia. 17/04/2015 got headphones Kingston HyperX Cloud II purchased through eBay from Taiwan.
I have a problem with popping crackling sounds when headphones are connected via a toggle. I appealed to the Russian technical support Kingston, they said that will help when the headphones are officially begin selling in Russia. Sales in Russia have begun a week ago, but the technical support is still absent toggle and do not know when they will ...
Please tell me whether it planned to send toggle headphone Kingston HyperX Cloud II in Russia? If not, can you help me in this situation?
Click to expand...

A week passed and there was no answer, please tell me why I do not answer? 🙁
 
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Just got a pair, of course I confirm the usb dongle makes these noises. Such a shame. I live in Greece and I already talked with the hardware shop I got them (e-shop.gr) so as to return them and probably get something else. I think I will give up on headsets and get simple headphones. My friends can listen to me perfectly from the webcam and I can always get a decent mic for quite cheap...

There is only one person saying that with the new dongle the problem is solved and hundreds of people over the web that state the new dongle didn't change anything.

Not solved.
 
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It will work with a new dongle, its the build in driver on the dongle that is fucking it up for people. People that got a new dongle that didn't work probably got the old version that was broken aswell. A guy I know with the same headset contacted support got a new one and it worked for him aswell.
 
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I just double checked. This driver is provided by the operating system itself.
The one you have right there is the driver that is provided by Windows 8.
The one that I have shown is provided by Windows 7 (Windows update to be precise).

Apparently the support staff have no clue about it.

I'm going to do one more try on this thing. I will be doing one final investment before returning this.
I've purchased the USB-isolator, it will arrive in a week or two. http://hifimediy.com/usb-isolator

I will update once I've tested it with USB isolator.
 
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I'm also having this problem, constant crackling when there is low frequency sounds.
I'm running win7 64 bit, is there any way to get that version of the driver for windows7?
It's so annoying when watching movies or listening to music.
You pretty much cant unplug the usp dongle either because the cable is like 60cm long or something.
 
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I've tested the headset with the USB isolator, I can still hear the static noise at low frequencies.
I went over to my friend to try it out on his pc and laptop. I couldn't hear any static noise on both of his computers.
Situations seem to be different from computer to computer, but I'm still clueless as to what is causing this static noise.
 
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