# Audio popping when fast forward/start and stop, or clicking windows sound icon



## RainingTacco (Apr 16, 2020)

Hello

I have a VERY peculiar problem. Whenever i start or stop a sound, a popping sound occurs. It happens when i click the windows audio icon in right bottom corner and then click outside it, so the sound abruptly ends. It produce a fairly loud popping sound. Same when i fast forward any audio track in either windows video player or in chrome. There's also crackling when i move sound slider in youtube in chrome, and when i move audio slider in windows[couldn't catch it on recording somehow]. This of course happens when i play sound. I don't have popping or crackling otherwise.

Here are the videos:
Windows icon:
https://streamable.com/iozb2i
Windows media player:
https://streamable.com/6yn6xv
Chrome and youtube[relive has problem capturing the video, disregard this]:
https://streamable.com/xv7lqy
Crackling when i change volume slider in youtube:
https://streamable.com/tdvg47

Audio is fine when it starts playing, no crackles and popping, but any start or stop, abrupt sound changes, like new audio starting playing can produce popping -for example this video produce popping sound whenever audio and new scene is played

I've tested this on two other PCs -laptop and stationary PC and same thing is happening! . Things that are common between these PCs are Windows 10 1909 installation, and all these PCs use SSD. Other than that, everything is completely different hardware wise-mobo, cpu, ram, gpu etc...  They use realtek integrated sound card, my main PC uses ALC 892, the other PC ALC 887, and laptop also uses HD Audio driver from Dell. What's funnier, i get the same popping when i fast forward youtube on my android phone! I've tested three headsets and they also have popping.  PCs are properly grounded[at least i know that my PC is properly grounded, im not so sure about others, i don't think this could cause issue? and what about phone?].I'm confident this is not a hardware issue.

On my main PC I've tested several scenarios:
Clean windows 10 install without internet connection: popping
Clean windows 10 with internet connection and updated with newest Microsoft drivers: popping
Clean windows install with no internet connection, updated with newest realtek drivers from my motherboard vendor site: popping
I've tried installing generic realtek drivers 2.82 but also had popping.
I've also tested without hardware acceleration and there's the same popping in chrome. I don't know how to disable acceleration in windows though.

My main pc:
Ryzen 3600
2x8GB Patriot Steel 3600 CL17
B450M Mortar Max
RX 5700 XT Gigabyte Gaming OC
Corsair RMx 850

Other PC:
i5 4670
2x4GB 1600
Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H
GTX 660
XFX 550W

Laptop is Dell Inspiron N5010
Phone is Redmi Note 7.

Headphones are:
Sound magic e10
Sennheiser HD201
Pioneer SEM521

I'm seriously at a loss here. Is this normal? Maybe im overreacting to something that other people have? Do i need external sound card/DAC? Maybe there's some EMI/unfiltered voltage on my power supply in house? Some kind of voltage jump in audio system, some kind of short circuit? But how this can happen across three systems, and my phone[which was not charging at the time]. Im thinking this could be an issue with either fading of audio or audio going into sleep abruptly.

I've noticed that even a stock windows 10 installation without internet connection has realtek drivers installed. So they are installed when installing windows itself. Maybe they are the culprit? How could i test this, because when i uninstall them i will get no audio? I would need some other driver that is not realtek and still works.

On a side note, my main PC has more static when using microphone then the rest. What could be the issue here? I thought newer motherboard would have better audio.


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## 95Viper (Apr 16, 2020)

I hear no popping in those videos.
Try the laptop on battery... if there is popping, still, then it ain't the power.
Are you using powered speakers?  Might be the speaker's amp, some other internal part, or the connection.


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## RainingTacco (Apr 16, 2020)

95Viper said:


> I hear no popping in those videos.
> Try the laptop on battery... if there is popping, still, then it ain't the power.
> Are you using powered speakers?  Might be the speaker's amp, some other internal part, or the connection.



Wait, you don't hear any popping in all of these streamable videos? Ok that's...weird. As i said i can hear them on my phone. I've checked my other phone -Samsung A40 and there's also popping.



95Viper said:


> I hear no popping in those videos.
> Try the laptop on battery... if there is popping, still, then it ain't the power.
> Are you using powered speakers?  Might be the speaker's amp, some other internal part, or the connection.




This is how it sound LIVE.
I'm playing the sound from streamable nr.1.

Here's from sound recorder
https://vocaroo.com/hcae7t7ZJHF
And here's video
https://streamable.com/8tkdzf

I have the same popping at every end of windows audio sound. Same for jumping to different parts of video on chrome, or when i switch music tracks in windows media player, or when i abruptly[ctrl alt delete] exit the program playing music.


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## 95Viper (Apr 16, 2020)

OK, I went back and cranked up my volume a little.
And, yep, there is a little pop at certain times.  It seems to be when you start and stop the audio.
Don't know really what to tell you... maybe, check that your other drivers are up to date, change some mouse settings or whatever devices are being used during the popping dis-connect them if possible.

I tested on my rig, with RealTek ALC899, or the ATI/AMD Bermuda/Ellesmere - High Definition Audio Controller, on Windows 10 Build 18362.19h1_release.190318-1202 and I do not get the pops.


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## Regeneration (Apr 16, 2020)

If more than a single PC produces popping, you should check the electricity in your room/home. Lack of grounding, fuse, or a bad device in the local grid.


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## silentbogo (Apr 16, 2020)

I think you are overreacting. I see which clicking you are talking about, and it only happens on rapid sound changes (not just in W10, but also on older versions). Many years ago it would've been lag/stuttering instead of clicking. I can reproduce it on my ALC1150, but these are very rare edge cases, unless you have ADHD or something and have an irresistible urge to kill that LMB. Under normal conditions (or if you use multimedia keys for volume adjustment), you won't hear any clicking.


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## Regeneration (Apr 16, 2020)

I'm getting the same effect in this video:










When adjusting volume from 0 to 100.


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## RainingTacco (Apr 16, 2020)

silentbogo said:


> I think you are overreacting. I see which clicking you are talking about, and it only happens on rapid sound changes (not just in W10, but also on older versions). Many years ago it would've been lag/stuttering instead of clicking. I can reproduce it on my ALC1150, but these are very rare edge cases, unless you have ADHD or something and have an irresistible urge to kill that LMB. Under normal conditions (or if you use multimedia keys for volume adjustment), you won't hear any clicking.



Of course the severity of it depends on how abruptly i end the sound, but even with normal usage, like stopping audio, changing different video part i still hear it, albeit not as loud as with that windows audio icon. Here's a video where i can hear the faint pop at 0:41-0:42








Or on this when audio changes from left to right








I can hear multiple slight popping in this video no idea if its caused by my audio[in the beginning up to 1 minute]









Moderator deleted[for marketing purposes probably] this, but it's really frigging noticeable here. There's no gore or something illegal in that url!





						Hide referrer - you are being redirected
					






					dereferer.me
				



0:32 and 0:36. Please don't delete it, i can't find better video for that  I can cut out the part if necessary.



			
				Regeneration said:
			
		

> I'm getting the same effect in this video:
> 
> 
> 
> When adjusting volume from 0 to 100.



I also get sound distortion at 2:03 in the aformentioned video, like a slight crackling/static. Maybe its the song? Sorry im really paranoid and can't trust my audio 









Do you still get it here? If i move slider fast enough i get this crackling. I think its crackling less, so it might depend on audio quality? Nertheless it shouldn't crackle.


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## Regeneration (Apr 16, 2020)

The popping sounds are in the videos themselves. Just ignore it.


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## silentbogo (Apr 16, 2020)

I'm probably the wrong person to validate this. I can barely notice popping in #1 and #2...
A bear stepped on my ear at Black Dahlia Murders concert


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## RainingTacco (Apr 16, 2020)

silentbogo said:


> I'm probably the wrong person to validate this. I can barely notice popping in #1 and #2...
> A bear stepped on my ear at Black Dahlia Murders concert



What's your audio rig? Maybe it's less noticeable because you have good setup. As i said, i only have the poor integral sound card from B450M Mortar Max paired with Sennheiser HD201. Hardly an audiophile setup, but i had Audio Technica ATH-500[only slightly better than sennheiser? Don't know it was 2,5x more expensive] before it went out and i also heard the pops.

I've also noticed that the louder the sound[or also higher pitched? or when monotone?] the more noticeable is the popping. Sometimes it doesn't pop when i stop the video, when the sound is low? Can't understand what's happening :/. Like some fade in/fade out problem.


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## silentbogo (Apr 16, 2020)

RainingTacco said:


> What's your audio rig? Maybe it's less noticeable because you have good setup.


Not really. The only difference is ALC1150 with built-in cheap-o headphone amp on my motherboard (just your typical NE5532) and beat-up HD465 with the exact same drivers as yours (tbh, HD201 sounds better, I have an old pair in the office). I think it's just a difference in habits. I change volume on my KB, I use KB in youtube and twitch most of the time, and for music I use foobar, which has a nice fading effect which prevents sound from popping on rewind or rapid volume change. Basically, I only touch my mouse when I play games.


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## RainingTacco (Apr 16, 2020)

silentbogo said:


> Not really. The only difference is ALC1150 with built-in cheap-o headphone amp on my motherboard (just your typical NE5532) and beat-up HD465 with the exact same drivers as yours (tbh, HD201 sounds better, I have an old pair in the office). I think it's just a difference in habits. I change volume on my KB, I use KB in youtube and twitch most of the time, and for music I use foobar, which has a nice fading effect which prevents sound from popping on rewind or rapid volume change. Basically, I only touch my mouse when I play games.



Found the good video to illustrate the effect. Open any youtube video on chrome, and then open this video








Before 0:13 or when the guy touches the other big knob, when you use return button to return to the earlier site, you barely get pop. But when the loud/high frequency sound comes[when the guy dial up that big knob] when you return to the earlier site, you will get pop that is much more noticeable. But i also tested various tones like 25hz[







], 150hz, 5khz and 10khz[







]. Low frequency tones produced more pop. And universally with higher system/chrome volume slider it produced larger pop. So it depends both on frequency[lower=louder pop, which make sense given that lower frequencies have higher energies when you count the amplitude in!] and system volume.


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## damix (May 28, 2020)

Hi, I have the same problem. Have you found a solution?


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## lazap (Jun 26, 2020)

Strange... I'm having the same issue on multiple computers, including a laptop. I'm starting to think it's a windows 10 problem, although I only started noticing it recently. 

It gets really annoying when editing audio and it pops at the start.


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## marsguy88 (Jul 5, 2020)

Hi, I have a new Dell Inspiron 7590 (intel i5 and Realtek Audio), same problem, I confirmed that the low frequency tones produced more pop, any solution?


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## Robert 17 (Jul 18, 2020)

marsguy88 said:


> Hi, I have a new Dell Inspiron 7590 (intel i5 and Realtek Audio), same problem, I confirmed that the low frequency tones produced more pop, any solution?


Have you managed it?tell me please if you solved this,i have the same problem and tried almost everything


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## Regeneration (Jul 18, 2020)

Check out this thread, try to update Realtek drivers manually.


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## marsguy88 (Jul 20, 2020)

Robert 17 said:


> Have you managed it?tell me please if you solved this,i have the same problem and tried almost everything


Hi, no I can't fix the issue too...



Regeneration said:


> Check out this thread, try to update Realtek drivers manually.



I tried your solutions but they didn't work, anyway thank you!


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## marsguy88 (Jul 22, 2020)

Maybe I have found a possible solution: see this post

Using regedit could be possible to disable the power management of the sound card of our computers/laptops, this solution seems to work for my Dell Inspiron 7590 for the moment.


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## marsguy88 (Jul 23, 2020)

The issue came back after reboot, so I tried this solution too: another solution
It seems to work!


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## purecain (Jul 24, 2020)

could be power related, but this in my case has usually led to the problem being with the motherboard. Good luck with it!


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## RainingTacco (Dec 4, 2020)

purecain said:


> could be power related, but this in my case has usually led to the problem being with the motherboard. Good luck with it!



You know what's interesting -i've switched to USB DAC and the problem persist! So it's either motherboard problem or my lack of proper grounding in the house[house just have two wires -neutral and live, there's no PE wire!].


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## moravja (Dec 11, 2020)

RainingTacco said:


> Hello
> 
> I have a VERY peculiar problem. Whenever i start or stop a sound, a popping sound occurs. It happens when i click the windows audio icon in right bottom corner and then click outside it, so the sound abruptly ends. It produce a fairly loud popping sound. Same when i fast forward any audio track in either windows video player or in chrome. There's also crackling when i move sound slider in youtube in chrome, and when i move audio slider in windows[couldn't catch it on recording somehow]. This of course happens when i play sound. I don't have popping or crackling otherwise.
> 
> ...



Hi I have the same problem exactly as you. There will definitely be no error in the MB. My PC is brand new. I bought another new MB, which I replaced by reinstalling windows, and the problem persists. Have you come up with a new solution?


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## xrobwx71 (Dec 11, 2020)

I experience this too and never gave it any thought as during games and or music/videos, the sound is pristine. If I have the sound way up, it sounds like when I unplug my guitar on an overdriven amplifier which is probably happening on the same principle.


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## RainingTacco (Dec 11, 2020)

xrobwx71 said:


> I experience this too and never gave it any thought as during games and or music/videos, the sound is pristine. If I have the sound way up, it sounds like when I unplug my guitar on an overdriven amplifier which is probably happening on the same principle.



Hi. The problem is that when a sound suddenly appear out of silence there's also a crack or pop even ingame. I think that's my power delivery issue in house. As i said it's a poor aluminum wiring, without a grounding wire -it's just two wires, neutral and live. I have bootleq grounding in my electric sockets[i know that's dangerous] to counter the buzzing which was happening without bootleq grounding. I think this mess around with audio equipment, cause some residue voltage or static, or else. That's the only explanation i can find. I've tried PC at other house but i forgot to make the popping tests there, only tested static in the microphone.


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## xrobwx71 (Dec 11, 2020)

RainingTacco said:


> Hi. The problem is that when a sound suddenly appear out of silence there's also a crack or pop even ingame. I think that's my power delivery issue in house. As i said it's a poor aluminum wiring, without a grounding wire -it's just two wires, neutral and live. I have bootleq grounding in my electric sockets[i know that's dangerous] to counter the buzzing which was happening without bootleq grounding. I think this mess around with audio equipment, cause some residue voltage or static, or else. That's the only explanation i can find. I've tried PC at other house but i forgot to make the popping tests there, only tested static in the microphone.


Where do you live?


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## RainingTacco (Dec 11, 2020)

xrobwx71 said:


> Where do you live?



I don't live in US


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## xrobwx71 (Dec 12, 2020)

RainingTacco said:


> I don't live in US


The reason I ask is: Sometimes those of us that live in the US (speaking for myself) take for granted the luxuries in which we live. I apologize if I came across that way. 

 I am used to an electric code and where I live, we do not experience this kind of wiring situation.


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## Missy (Jan 23, 2021)

RainingTacco said:


> Hello
> 
> I have a VERY peculiar problem. Whenever i start or stop a sound, a popping sound occurs. It happens when i click the windows audio icon in right bottom corner and then click outside it, so the sound abruptly ends. It produce a fairly loud popping sound. Same when i fast forward any audio track in either windows video player or in chrome. There's also crackling when i move sound slider in youtube in chrome, and when i move audio slider in windows[couldn't catch it on recording somehow]. This of course happens when i play sound. I don't have popping or crackling otherwise.
> 
> ...


I have just sorted this on my HP Pavilion 17 AMD laptop with Windows 10 Home. It was giving a single loud pop on starting or ending a video on YouTube and video player and I eventually DISABLED the TWO audio outputs that I WASN'T using and VOILA. Basically I use external Logitech speakers 5.1 but I've also got the onboard laptop speakers AND the TV speakers that the laptop is streaming on. So by Disabling the 2 outputs I WASN'T using has sorted it for me. Not saying it will sort yours but I ONLY created an account to post to you. I tried CCLEANER, Klite Codecs, Reinstall Graphics, Reinstall Realtek and EVEN installing the Win 8.1 AMD Catalyst graphics on Win 10 as it's an older laptop but nope. However disabling the AUDIO outputs NOT being used has sorted it. Enjoy the weekend


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 23, 2021)

i used to get popping & weird interference sounds while reloading webpages, clicking my mouse, clikcing page forward & back arrows in browsers, etc. i believe it had to do with interference on my motherboards audio, theres likely a thread here on TPU about it, but i dont recall , this was years back. what your explaining sounds identical, sadly the solution in my case was a new motherboard, & since then ive always bought boards with higher end audio isolation.


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## Therein (Mar 21, 2021)

Same problem, had a few friends test out on their PC's, same problem. This is across 3 very different sound setup, dac/combo's.

As others already described very well, sound pops kinda random on start and skips, its most noticeable using youtube for me, but the sound pop/cracle problem exist in games to.

This problem wasnt there a few years back for sure, im certain this is software related windows/drivers. I tried all sorts of things, nothing fixes it. Kinda sad to have high end sound hardware anno 2021 and the fckn sound crackles/pops like some broken beta crap.


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## Deleted member 205776 (Mar 21, 2021)

Same issue here throughout many of my builds, in different countries no less. At this point I chalked it up to a Windows issue and learned to live with it until and IF it's fixed.


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## Littlest_Shadow (Mar 29, 2021)

I'm having this issue as well and it's good to know I'm not insane. I've browsed every thread I could find that has knowledge of this issue and I've seen this specific behavior described across Reddit, LinusTechTips and here with seemingly no solution.

The weirdest part is I have been able to observe this same behavior on a Chromebook. I even disconnected the Chromebook from the outlet and let it run off of battery, testing with 3 different pairs of headphones.

I've also found songs that pop horribly if I adjust the Youtube volume slider or Windows volume slider, but when I open the same song in Spotify and only adjust using Spotify's slider there is no crackling. There must be something going on in regards to how Windows or other OSes adjust audio volume, since clearly the hardware is capable of managing it. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can figure this thing out but damn if it doesn't suck right now.


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## ThomasGER (Mar 30, 2021)

hi,

i have the same issue since 20H2 update and posted it to msforum. did you find a solution so far?

sry its german








						Windows 10 (20H2) Audio/Sound Knacken
					

Guten Tag, mein Problem bringt mich an den Rand der Verzweiflung...vielleicht kann mir jemand helfen. Ich habe mir Ende Augsut 2020 eine MSI RX 5700 Mech GP OC gekauft. Seitdem hatte ich andauernd



					answers.microsoft.com
				




i tried everything... changed all components (psu,cpu,mb,ram,case,headset,monitors) but not the gpu. viewed all the post on reddit etc. but the problem is still there.


please describe this problem in the ms forum or in the feedback-hub on your windows.


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## Deleted member 205776 (Mar 30, 2021)

ThomasGER said:


> hi,
> 
> i have the same issue since 20H2 update and posted it to msforum. did you find a solution so far?
> 
> ...


Word of advice, ignore this issue. It'll drive you insane trying to solve it.


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## ThomasGER (Mar 30, 2021)

Alexa said:


> Word of advice, ignore this issue. It'll drive you insane trying to solve it.


yes you are right. i have been trying to fix it for months. it is very tiring.

and the support tells me something like "have you already tried to uninstall the driver" they think you are stupid


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## Deleted member 205776 (Mar 30, 2021)

ThomasGER said:


> yes you are right. i have been trying to resolve it for months. it is very tiring.
> 
> and the support tells me something like "have you already tried to uninstall the driver" they think you are stupid


I've had this issue across different builds and different countries. It's a Windows 10/Realtek issue at this point.


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## ThomasGER (Mar 30, 2021)

yeah, i think its a windows problem.
i tried a clean win10 offline install without any realtek driver (also onboard audio in bios disabled) and the problem is still there. even i use sound via HDMI on GPU.

i thought about buying an external sound card, but the risk is too high for me because it still didnt work for many people


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## Littlest_Shadow (Apr 15, 2021)

I went ahead and bought a sound card that doesn't use a Realtek chip (ASUS Xonar AE). Still the exact same issue. I am officially out of ideas now and have given up on solving this.


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## Deleted member 205776 (Apr 15, 2021)

Littlest_Shadow said:


> I went ahead and bought a sound card that doesn't use a Realtek chip (ASUS Xonar AE). Still the exact same issue. I am officially out of ideas now and have given up on solving this.


Of course, it's a Windows bug. Thanks for letting me know because I was also about to buy a sound card lol.


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## Final_Fighter (Apr 15, 2021)

do you have a wireless router/cellphone around your pc? the radio interference will cause a popping. turn off all wifi and cellphones. see if this helps. if you live in an apartment it could be your neighbors devices casing interference.


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## Littlest_Shadow (Apr 15, 2021)

Final_Fighter said:


> do you have a wireless router/cellphone around your pc? the radio interference will cause a popping. turn off all wifi and cellphones. see if this helps. if you live in an apartment it could be your neighbors devices casing interference.



That's the point I'm at now, considering that maybe there is some kind of EMI going on. I have a wireless router near my PC but turning it off doesn't have any effect. As I've said earlier I can reproduce this on a Chromebook elsewhere in the house so maybe something in my house is producing EMI.

That's gonna be a hell of a rabbit hole to go down though.


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## RainingTacco (Apr 15, 2021)

Littlest_Shadow said:


> That's the point I'm at now, considering that maybe there is some kind of EMI going on. I have a wireless router near my PC but turning it off doesn't have any effect. As I've said earlier I can reproduce this on a Chromebook elsewhere in the house so maybe something in my house is producing EMI.
> 
> That's gonna be a hell of a rabbit hole to go down though.


Im officially intrigued, keep us posted. I have no idea what could be producing EMI in my house. There's nothing i can think of really. Beside how this would fit, when the problem occurs only when sound start/stop or is loud when its quiet. EMI would cause interference and popping either randomly or in some stable pattern.


Littlest_Shadow said:


> I went ahead and bought a sound card that doesn't use a Realtek chip (ASUS Xonar AE). Still the exact same issue. I am officially out of ideas now and have given up on solving this.


Try external high quality sound card and see if it helps. Also the fact that something is made by Asus doesnt mean it isnt using realtek component or chip. I dont think its realtek problem, many more people would report the problem, and thats not happening.


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