Crackling audio over 3.5 and USB, fine over HDMI and in Ubuntu

Hey there!
I've been having issues with noticeably crackling audio on my desktop PC for a while now, but it's only really become an actual issue recently (since I need to use headphones more frequently now), and after trying out multiple solutions I found online with none of them working, I decided to ask here.

My desktop has an ASUS Z170-A motherboard, and I'm using the integrated sound card (it should be the Realtek ALC892). If I plug in any audio output (speakers or headphones, doesn't matter) into either the rear or the front 3.5 mm audio jacks, I can hear noticeable crackling in the audio. The crackling seems to improve slightly the longer I'm listening to uninterrupted audio, but it never goes away completely.

I've reinstalled Windows since the first time I noticed the issue, but it persisted even after the reinstall. However, I can't seem to replicate the issue when I boot into Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro, for that matter) from a flash drive.

I bought a pair of SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless headphones recently, which use a 2.4 GHz wireless transmitter to receive audio. The transmitter itself is connected to the PC via USB, and even then, I'm still hearing the crackling. What I did notice though, is that if I enable Dolby Atmos for Headphones, the issue improves slightly, but still doesn't go away completely.

My main speaker is connected via a 3.5 mm jack to my monitor, not directly to my PC, and the monitor is connected to my GTX 1080 via HDMI (I have a reason not to use DisplayPort, but that's not the point there). I hear no crackling through my speaker with this setup. I can also confirm that the crackling can't be heard if I connect Bluetooth headphones to the PC, and if needed, I have the means of testing whether the crackling is audible if I use Optical, as both the motherboard and the SteelSeries transmitter have an Optical audio port.

I am not too keen on getting the issue fixed - I still use the speaker primarily, and I can just ignore the crackling when I use the headphones if I really want to, and just get the issue fixed by replacing the motherboard whenever I decide it's time for an upgrade, but any suggestions are appreciated.

I have a similar ASUS Z170 (ROG Maximus VIII Hero) and i7 6700K, Samsung SSD, Corsair Memory. I am not having the crackling problems. I use my system for my recording studio so it has to be clean.

The crackling (and other things such as stuttering, popping, etc) are not a "one fix" thing, except Wi-Fi is a known cause.

Run the free Resplendence Latency Mon as a first step. It may show what is causing the problem.

dalchina said:

If you think back to when the crackle/stutter wasn't present, do you know if that was with a particular build of Win 10, or has it been present with every build of Win 10 installed?

I don't think that the crackling (there's actually no stutter, just crackling) is tied to Windows builds, because if I recall correctly, it just started nowhere near any build updates. In fact, if I remember correctly, I think the issue started after I moved houses. That's why I am slightly suspecting that it might somehow be a hardware issue - something may have gotten damaged (even though I don't see any sort of physical damage on the MB when I inspect it) during the move.

dalchina said:

Note that crackle/stutter can be a software issue, not necessarily just a hardware one.

I know, but looking around on Google, I found that other people seem to be having the same issue with the exact same MB...

fireberd said:

The crackling (and other things such as stuttering, popping, etc) are not a "one fix" thing, except Wi-Fi is a known cause.

I do have a WiFi card installed in this PC - it's the Gigabyte WB867D-I (rev 4.2). In my old place, I didn't have the option of using Ethernet, so I had to get a WiFi card in order to even be able to connect to the Internet. However, in my current place, I'm using a wired connection, and the WLAN card is actually disabled in Device Manager (only the networking functionality of it though, I still need the Bluetooth).

fireberd said:

Run the free Resplendence Latency Mon as a first step. It may show what is causing the problem.

I remember running Latency Mon the first time I was trying to deal with the issue, and there definitely were latency problems, but none of the solutions I found anywhere online seemed to improve the latency...

I have run Latency Mon again for 10 minutes, and indeed, the latency issues seem to have actually gotten worse since the last time (last time, the bars were only about half-full). I have attached both the screenshot and the textual report from Latency Mon. It's also worth noting that I have no CPU throttling options enabled either in Windows (the minimum power state of the CPU is set to 100% in Power Settings), nor in BIOS, at least to my awareness. And as I already mentioned, the WLAN card is disabled too.

I'm going to try updating the BIOS just in case, and just to sate my own curiosity, I'm going to see if the crackling can be heard over Optical, because if it can't, then the problem will essentially be solved - what the ears don't hear the heart won't hurt

Code:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates. 
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:10:19  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        NEXUS
OS version:                                           Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 17763 (x64)
Hardware:                                             ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., Z170-A
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
Logical processors:                                   8
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  16321 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   4008 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature. 



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   30151,70
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   2,275277

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       30080,50
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       0,800534


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              3136,333832
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0,018131
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0,034704

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   202944
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              2
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              24687,966317
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0,013690
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 417.35 , NVIDIA Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0,041748

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   1199203
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs):                9
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              3
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 ekrn.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       892
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          464
Number of processes hit:                              16


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       9,536654
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                3136,333832
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   1,716744
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      202065
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                24687,966317
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   1,955053
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      1162109
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1,478867
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                81,960828
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,001585
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      868
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                157,596557
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,025808
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      3694
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,168936
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                78,569611
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,000195
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      13
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                76,890469
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,011703
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      5375
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,197134
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                79,539172
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,025086
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      10335
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,235926
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 4 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs):                145,594311
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,01910
CPU 4 DPC count:                                      8068
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,230439
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 5 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs):                77,173653
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,004786
CPU 5 DPC count:                                      1665
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,265978
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 6 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs):                94,537675
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,012498
CPU 6 DPC count:                                      4231
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,279156
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 7 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs):                139,469062
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,013323
CPU 7 DPC count:                                      3739
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two things noted from the Latency Mon. First you are still on an old version of Windows 10. I would update to latest version.
Second, NVIDIA. I've had Latency problems with every PC that had an NVIDIA video card. All of those I encountered also had the Intel CPU video. Disabling NVIDIA and using the Intel Video eliminated the NVIDA caused latency problems and actually gave me "clean" systems.

dalchina said:

try high power setting- no CPU restriction- in your power scheme.

I have the High Performance option selected in Power Options, and I actually have that power plan locked in Group Policy Editor, as I noticed that if I just switched it to High Perfromance, Windows would revert it back to Balanced on its own whenever I restarted the PC.

dalchina said:

if you have this problem and have messed with drivers, power settings, BIOS flashes, etc.... try just overclocking the computer slightly.

I have the CPU OC'd to 4.4 GHz. I know other people have managed higher OCs with this CPU, but I must have lost the silicon lottery, because that's the highest OC I managed to achieve without the system crashing under load. I'll attempt raising the BCLK slightly like the thread suggests to see if that helps with anything...

fireberd said:

Two things noted from the Latency Mon. First you are still on an old version of Windows 10. I would update to latest version.

That's strange... When I look into the About section of the Settings app, it says I'm running build 1809, and I also have access to the dark theme of File Explorer, which was only added in the October 2018 update. There are also no updates available in Windows Update, with the last update that was successfully installed being the 2019-02 Cumulative Update (KB4487044). I'm not running an Insider build, and the PC is not part of the Insider program either. The Windows 10 Update Assistant also reports that I have the latest version installed.

fireberd said:

Second, NVIDIA. I've had Latency problems with every PC that had an NVIDIA video card. All of those I encountered also had the Intel CPU video. Disabling NVIDIA and using the Intel Video eliminated the NVIDA caused latency problems and actually gave me "clean" systems.

Unfortunately, I cannot do that. I need the GPU for gaming, and as I said, the speaker that's not crackling is also connected via the GPU.

dalchina said:

If you can use a means other than analogue audio so it's not a problem, could be an option.

I tested the Optical connection and what do you know - no crackling.

I updated the BIOS as Latency Mon suggested, but that didn't fix the issue. However, since the Optical connection works flawlessly, the problem is essentially solved. I'll keep the thread open however and I won't mark it as solved, as the problem is technically not solved and I'm open to other suggestions.

For Testing remove the video card and use the Intel Video and connect the speakers to the motherboard (Green) speaker jack or just use the headset, to see if you still get crackling and/or if Latency Mon shows any problems. I know this is a hassle but a good test.

It looks like a bug in Latency Mon, reporting the OS version. Mine shows "Win 8" as it was originally upgraded from Win 8.1 to Win 10 (initial Win 10 production version).

Update on Latency Mon. There is a new version, V6.70 and it fixes the reported OS Version bug.

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon