Audio cutting out - but no latency issues, new hardware, up to date

Hi, really hope you can help me - I'm slowly going mad.

Audio started cutting out (randomly, one or two secs say once a minute) after I updated windows and a ton of software a couple of months ago, after running latencymon I was seeing occasional bad latency on a few drivers. My hardware was 10+ years old, some drivers (e.g. graphics card) were very old - circa 2006 with no newer versions. So I upgraded my processor, MB and ram to pretty high spec. This was after trying to alter power settings on the processor etc - following the usual latency fixes, but all this made no difference.

Post rebuild I installed the latest drivers from the manufacturer's websites and all seemed fine. Then about a month later audio started cutting out again, slowly at first but then it's got gradually worse. Although latencymon says my system shouldn't have a problem, it does.

I don't see any pattern around the cutouts. It'll disappear then come back randomly. Regardless if I use the on board audio or my Focusrite 2i2 (connected via USB) the same issue occurs, whether I play out on chrome, musicbee, zoom or VLC.

I use the PC for work calls and music production, so this is really important to fix this and I'd really appreciate some help if possible.

Here's my latencymon stats:

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CONCLUSION
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Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:04:24 (h:mm:ss) on processors 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11.


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SYSTEM INFORMATION
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Computer name: HOME
OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19042 (x64)
Hardware: Z590 VISION D, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10850K CPU @ 3.60GHz
Logical processors: 20
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32590 MB total


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CPU SPEED
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Reported CPU speed: 360 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.


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MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
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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): 135.70
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 4.065454

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 134.10
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1.479111


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REPORTED ISRs
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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): 38.705556
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.002948
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.003113

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 28098
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED DPCs
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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): 138.247222
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.013877
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.022334

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 87269
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
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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: system

Total number of hard pagefaults 47
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 20
Number of processes hit: 5


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PER CPU DATA
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CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.649173
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 22.259444
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.008745
CPU 0 ISR count: 8896
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 138.247222
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 0.323553
CPU 0 DPC count: 50408
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CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.260745
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 1 ISR count: 0
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 53.027778
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.002598
CPU 1 DPC count: 608
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CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.443160
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR count: 0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 124.733889
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.057641
CPU 2 DPC count: 7298
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CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.233330
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): 32.898889
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000673
CPU 3 DPC count: 178
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CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.225495
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): 43.287778
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.002558
CPU 4 DPC count: 571
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CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.243801
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): 38.732778
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001317
CPU 5 DPC count: 332
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CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.200054
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): 39.670556
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000767
CPU 6 DPC count: 212
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CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.273093
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): 50.528333
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001656
CPU 7 DPC count: 449
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CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 3.706358
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 38.705556
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.156151
CPU 8 ISR count: 19202
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 119.444444
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.787076
CPU 8 DPC count: 26057
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CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.186089
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR count: 0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 61.308889
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.002282
CPU 9 DPC count: 614
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CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.218908
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR count: 0
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 61.262222
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000963
CPU 10 DPC count: 242
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CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.288515
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR count: 0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 62.6150
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001974
CPU 11 DPC count: 300
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Do you have the Gigabyte Easy Tune installed? It has been known to cause audio recording problems. I had that on my recording studio system and was having dropouts, a DAW PC builder advised me about Easy tune. I uninstalled it and drop outs were eliminated. Easy Tune may not be the only thing but a start.

I have also encountered dropouts with the Internet NIC enabled (random not everytime) so to eliminate the potential I disable Internet when doing any recording studio audio work.

I can't speak about current Google Chrome, but a couple years ago I installed it and immediately started getting dropouts. As it turned out the Google Updater, even with Internet disabled was causing it.

Run Latency Mon longer, at least 10 or 15 minutes to see if anything pops up.

Ok - ugh. It was my speakers... I've just gone and dropped £1000 on new hardware for nothing - and now I need some new speakers.

FML