Windows 10 Audio Popping on Every Audio Output Device

Aug 30, 2018
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Hello everyone,

I've recently encountered a problem that's driving me crazy. To put it simple, the audio pops whenever there is sound coming out. It's very similar to those "audio crackling" problems but still quite different.

What's special about my case is that the popping of audio happens across all audio devices including realtek audio, a USB sound device(HiFiMan DOCK), and Bluetooth headphones(Sony MDR-1000X, Taotronics BH16). So I think it has to be a problem on Windows' side.

Searching on the Internet, I found that many people are having this problem with only a specific audio device.

At this point, I have tried:

(1) Changing Windows power option to "High Performance"

(2) Running the DPC checking software

(3) Disabling and re-enabling each audio device

(4) Running Windows Troubleshooter

(5) Changing USB port

(6) Disabling Fastboot

(7) Tweaking audio output device settings(lowering sampling rate, disabling all enhancements, disabling exclusive mode)

(8) Updating/Manually changing drivers

(9) System restore(it worked once but the problem came back one week later, then reverting the system back no longer fix the problem)

About system restore, my Intel Optane Memory module is messing around with it. I disabled it every time before restoring windows, but the process failed many times with multiple restore point. When I finally managed to successfully restore Windows back to the restore point I created, the problem persisted.

The last solution would be reinstalling Windows, but that would be a lot of hassles so I'd like to keep it for now.

Here are the specs:

Asus ROG Maximus X Formula Z370 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-8086K CPU(8700K rebrand)

Corsair Dominator 3000MHz Memory 4x4GB

Intel Optane Memory 32GB

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SATA SSD(OS drive)

EVGA GTX 1080Ti FTW3 11GB GPU

EVGA SuperNOVA 850G2 PSU

Asus ROG Strix XG32VQ Monitor

Corsair K70 RGB Rapidfire Keyboard

Mad Catz R.A.T. Pro. X Mouse

Audio devices:

USB via USB cable: HiFiMan DOCK(shown as an SPDIF Interface in Windows)

USB via USB cable: Blue Snowball USB Microphone

Bluetooth: Sony MDR-1000X headphones, Taotronics BH-16 earbuds

Integrated audio: Realtek High Definition Audio, NVIDIA High Definition Audio

I mainly use the HiFiMan DOCK as audio output, never use integrated audio.

I really tried my best looking for solutions online but had no choice but post my problems here. Please let me know if you have ANY clue, I really appreciate your help!

Harry


Update: I just ran sfc and it turned out that I have some corrupted system files. The log is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1toYoQrvjIqwwyoUMy8wZFlDAfvUoE3G-/view?usp=sharing
 
Solution
I just managed to solve the problem. It was the USB hub I was using. It needs external power to work, but the power supply doesn't have a ground pin. Excessive electric current had no where to go and interfered with my USB sound device's USB cable, making those popping noises. Now I'm plugging the USB cable directly to my chassis(I have a huge one, the Corsair Obsidian 1000D, so I had to find an extension cable), the audio is crystal clear.
Aug 30, 2018
2
0
20
I just managed to solve the problem. It was the USB hub I was using. It needs external power to work, but the power supply doesn't have a ground pin. Excessive electric current had no where to go and interfered with my USB sound device's USB cable, making those popping noises. Now I'm plugging the USB cable directly to my chassis(I have a huge one, the Corsair Obsidian 1000D, so I had to find an extension cable), the audio is crystal clear.
 
Solution