I recently started having an audio issue a few days ago, where when I have music playing (either on Spotify or Youtube) and I open the Windows Explorer to view files, open an application, hover over buttons or folders in the Explorer, or do anything on my computer, the audio sometimes pops and crackles, reacting to my mouse movements/actions. It also happens when I'm only listening to music and not moving my mouse. It will crackle maybe once every 2-3 minutes. I've gone through several websites and conducted steps to diagnose my problem, such as: updating my audio drivers (no new updates found) removing any sound effects on my playback device changing the default format on my playback device (tried most options) turning/replugging/cleaning/fiddling with the output jacks (I have a front and a rear 3.5mm jack and both of them crackle through my speakers and headphones) reviewing DPC latency/audio processing latency checks via LatencyMon (no issue, got the green light) reviewing overall CPU/memory/GPU usage (CPU and GPU are single digits and memory is around 30% because of browsers and other caches) moving any possible interfering tech out of the way (closest objects are my monitor and keyboard + mouse) "power drained" my computer (shut down, turn off PSU, unplugged everything, hold down power button for 20 seconds) The only thing I can think of that changed with my computer is that I swapped out my graphics card (from a GTX 980 TI to RTX 2080) about a month before the crackling started. I didn't touch anything around the audio jack pin connectors and the PSU supports the increase in graphics processing power. I'm out of ideas to try, so I'm hoping someone can give me some further advice.

I've had the same issue since around May 2022 (so around 1 year), Most of the people are saying it could be a Realtek issue but I have Synaptics Audio. It is most definitely a core windows issue and It really is surprising that MS hasn't addressed this at all. It's nearly at the point where its physically uncomfortable to use my laptop because of the crackling/popping, hope this gets resolved soon, though i doubt it will.

i have same issue . Using M-audio driver and issue happens when interacting with something , even when passing over an icon in the explorer etc.....

I am back, removing fast startup fixed the issue the first time round, but it has returned, roughly around the same time that I started fiddling with my memory, I just read up that motherboard voltages can be insufficient for certain memory configurations, if anyone has overclocked memory, read below and give that a try: https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/cebljn/audio_cracklingpopping_when_memory_is_overclocked/

Sure is a tricky problem. My system has been free of the issue for a while now. I am not sure what I did (if anything) that helped that. I am running an old ASUS MB BIOS as I was getting bluescreens occasionally, but I thin I have that narrowed down to an NVIDIA driver issue. Seems like there are many potential causes and the problem isn't big enough to get much attention from Microsoft of other vendors.

Yep, same issue with me, you're the first one that I saw had Synaptics Audio as well. Ran all of the tests, did all of the things, no dice.

Audio crackling/popping when I interact with Windows10

Anonymous

I recently started having an audio issue a few days ago, where when I have music playing (either on Spotify or Youtube) and I open the Windows Explorer to view files, open an application, hover over buttons or folders in the Explorer, or do anything on my computer, the audio sometimes pops and crackles, reacting to my mouse movements/actions. It also happens when I'm only listening to music and not moving my mouse. It will crackle maybe once every 2-3 minutes. I've gone through several websites and conducted steps to diagnose my problem, such as:

updating my audio drivers (no new updates found)
removing any sound effects on my playback device
changing the default format on my playback device (tried most options)
turning/replugging/cleaning/fiddling with the output jacks (I have a front and a rear 3.5mm jack and both of them crackle through my speakers and headphones)
reviewing DPC latency/audio processing latency checks via LatencyMon (no issue, got the green light)
reviewing overall CPU/memory/GPU usage (CPU and GPU are single digits and memory is around 30% because of browsers and other caches)
moving any possible interfering tech out of the way (closest objects are my monitor and keyboard + mouse)
"power drained" my computer (shut down, turn off PSU, unplugged everything, hold down power button for 20 seconds)

The only thing I can think of that changed with my computer is that I swapped out my graphics card (from a GTX 980 TI to RTX 2080) about a month before the crackling started. I didn't touch anything around the audio jack pin connectors and the PSU supports the increase in graphics processing power.

I'm out of ideas to try, so I'm hoping someone can give me some further advice.

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46 answers

Anonymous

2023-04-30T16:09:35+00:00

I've had the same issue since around May 2022 (so around 1 year), Most of the people are saying it could be a Realtek issue but I have Synaptics Audio. It is most definitely a core windows issue and It really is surprising that MS hasn't addressed this at all. It's nearly at the point where its physically uncomfortable to use my laptop because of the crackling/popping, hope this gets resolved soon, though i doubt it will.
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Anonymous

2023-05-09T06:47:56+00:00

i have same issue . Using M-audio driver and issue happens when interacting with something , even when passing over an icon in the explorer etc.....
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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Anonymous

2023-05-25T20:26:57+00:00

I am back, removing fast startup fixed the issue the first time round, but it has returned, roughly around the same time that I started fiddling with my memory, I just read up that motherboard voltages can be insufficient for certain memory configurations, if anyone has overclocked memory, read below and give that a try:

https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/cebljn/audio_cracklingpopping_when_memory_is_overclocked/
Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.

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Anonymous

2023-05-25T22:45:35+00:00

Sure is a tricky problem. My system has been free of the issue for a while now. I am not sure what I did (if anything) that helped that. I am running an old ASUS MB BIOS as I was getting bluescreens occasionally, but I thin I have that narrowed down to an NVIDIA driver issue.

Seems like there are many potential causes and the problem isn't big enough to get much attention from Microsoft of other vendors.
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Anonymous

2023-06-01T16:16:57+00:00

Yep, same issue with me, you're the first one that I saw had Synaptics Audio as well. Ran all of the tests, did all of the things, no dice.
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