Soundblaster Z crackling sound

[spectatorx]

Just a question : Why does people still buy sound cards when the onboard ones are really good now? We are not in the 90's anymore.

Few weeks ago to check something i had to take out my x-fi and use integrated soundcard for few hours.... just anything i tried i instantly heard a difference for worse. Also from time to time when i come back to f.e.a.r. (the only good f.e.a.r. which is the first one) or to crysis 1 i want to have EAX effects as they make huuuuge difference. I'm really afraid that one day this wonderful card will break because of age but for now i'm extremely happy using it and enjoy its sound quality and options it offers.

BTW: what sound card anyone would suggest at the moment which wouldn't be a downgrade from x-fi titanium and wouldn't cost more than 300 euros. I'm asking out of curiosity, not because of actual need to replace titanium as this one still works good.


Also: trend for headsets with their horrible audio processors and software post-effects to emulate 7.1 is laughable to me.

 

[Salty_sandwich]

I had that card same thing loads of issues with sound quality crackling which got me quit angry back then I was like "WTF I thought these are supposed to have grate sound?" lol

drivers were always the issue with windwoes and sound performance of the card, from my time with it (odd thing was sometimes it worked grate) and a couple of other creative sound cards … ya think ya would learn ... but I always been the type to give a chance (at my own peril) lol

still always liked having an issue with something or I was bored back in me younger days lol

 

[lexluthermiester]

Ok with new soundblaster Z its a little better with the crackling. i only get crackling now when i stream something, videos and music when the connection is not perfect. So using a slow VPN makes it next to impossible to use the soundcard. most times with spotify and youtube without vpn i have no problems.

Based on this, gonna have go back to my original thoughts on this being a software problem. And if it's only happening while streaming on VPN, it's gotta be a connection issue.

 

[Salty_sandwich]

Based on this, gonna have go back to my original thoughts on this being a software problem. And if it's only happening while streaming on VPN, it's gotta be a connection issue.

good luck with getting it to stay working lol like I said it'll be working grate 1 min, next time the poxy crackles are back ! just after ya finally thought its fixed and tried god know how many drivers even the 3rd party ones
which supposed to make it better, only made it worse! spent gawd know how long trying to resolve it, moded drivers, you name it, wasted me time, ended up using the onboard sound of the Hero VI which wasn't to bad really.

I think it was to with the chip and drivers and distorting the ress something along those lines, I never found a real fix, funny how in the reviews for the card they never ever mention the crackle issue you will end up with! loads of people have had issues with crackling distortion type sound and creative cards.

BTW make sure its not ya cables or the connections into card that's what I though my probs was, but it wasn't lol
but when they work the sound is bloody good, if you have half decent speaker system for how much they cost

 

[speedy77]

good luck with getting it to stay working lol like I said it'll be working grate 1 min, next time the poxy crackles are back ! just after ya finally thought its fixed and tried god know how many drivers even the 3rd party ones
which supposed to make it better, only made it worse! spent gawd know how long trying to resolve it, moded drivers, you name it, wasted me time, ended up using the onboard sound of the Hero VI which wasn't to bad really.

I think it was to with the chip and drivers and distorting the ress something along those lines, I never found a real fix, funny how in the reviews for the card they never ever mention the crackle issue you will end up with! loads of people have had issues with crackling distortion type sound and creative cards.

BTW make sure its not ya cables or the connections into card that's what I though my probs was, but it wasn't lol
but when they work the sound is bloody good, if you have half decent speaker system for how much they cost

Have you tried to end the process "audiodg.exe" in the "Details" section of the task manager? This will cause it to reset and removes all problems for me temporarily. I’d be curious to see if this is true across all systems, if so it’s most definitely a problem with the OS handling the sound card.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Have you tried to end the process "audiodg.exe" in the "Details" section of the task manager? This will cause it to reset and removes all problems for me temporarily. I’d be curious to see if this is true across all systems, if so it’s most definitely a problem with the OS handling the sound card.

That might work. Worth a try for those having problems.

 

[Laurijan]

Even with new 1809 build of windows i get crackling with slow VPN service and streaming. Not as bad crackling as before but still.

 

[Athlonite]

Has everyone here made complaints to both MS and Creative about this problem as it seems these are the companies that are going to be to sort it out

 

[spectatorx]

Has everyone here made complaints to both MS and Creative about this problem as it seems these are the companies that are going to be to sort it out

One problem with creative is they closed down their forums completely after some security breach.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Sb-z is a cracking good soundcard though

 

[Athlonite]

One problem with creative is they closed down their forums completely after some security breach.

try here instead https://us.creative.com/contactus

 

[speedy77]

Whelp, seemed to have found the fix for my situation! (and it's relatively embarrassing I didn't think of it sooner)

It seems to be something with the power delivery to the card. Of course upon all of my subsequent reinstalls of WIndows, I never bothered to switch my power plan to "high performance" or turn off fast startup. Changing these two options in the power setting fixed the issue for me! If anyone else is having these issues, make sure you try that out first.

[EDIT:] Totally lied, problems came back shortly after posting this, but problems definitely improved when I switched this setting

 

[eidairaman1]

Because good onboard sound is “good enough” for basic use, but not as good as it can be.

Also onboard can crap out

 

[Boombastik]

I noticed a little crackle when CVE-2018-3639 [speculative store bypass] is enabled at system wide enabled level.
Microsoft default has it disabled

 

[Laurijan]

Hi again! I had this crackling sound all the time now since i posted first post. Now i try to have my sound as dolby digital and not DTS. So far with dolby digital the crackling did not return. Have not tested for long though...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hi again! I had this crackling sound all the time now since i posted first post. Now i try to have my sound as dolby digital and not DTS. So far with dolby digital the crackling did not return. Have not tested for long though...

Join time to join the AV Receiver Master Race or grab a set of Logitech Z906's

 

[Laurijan]

@FreedomEclipse I got me a set of Z906 speakers couple of month ago. the ancient speaker set i had before that had DD and DTS i sold for like 40e

 

[FreedomEclipse]

@FreedomEclipse I got me a set of Z906 speakers couple of month ago. the ancient speaker set i had before that had DD and DTS i sold for like 40e

were they z5500's?

 

[Laurijan]

were they z5500's?

Was Z5400 i think

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi again! I had this crackling sound all the time now since i posted first post. Now i try to have my sound as dolby digital and not DTS. So far with dolby digital the crackling did not return. Have not tested for long though...

So this whole time it was the DTS codec? Weird..

 

[Laurijan]

So this whole time it was the DTS codec? Weird..

I didnt even try DD since DTS sounded somehow better imho. No crackling with DD since yesterday!

 

[lexluthermiester]

I didnt even try DD since DTS sounded somehow better imho. No crackling with DD since yesterday!

That's a good thing. If it's working for you stay with it!

 

[Laurijan]

That's a good thing. If it's working for you stay with it!

Yeah i stay with DD. I returned one soundblaster Z already and got a new one. Bought new speakers. I dont wanna lose my mind in fighting for better drivers or get refunds and such.

 

[speedy77]

Hey guys!

Don’t mean to update this old thread but figured it may help some of you who (like me) found this thread searching for these issues. Mine are now fixed after hours with Creative and Asus support.

The problem was a BIOS update on my z170-ar motherboard. I had updated to the most recent version for me at the time (3801) when I began to have the issues. Because I was also using a new install of Windows I assumed this was the issue, but in fact it was the BIOS update. However now I was having a new issue, once I updated to the new BIOS I could not go back and downgrade.

Upon explaining my thoughts to the ASUS rep and having literally dozens of messages between us trying to get this issue resolved, I found that Asus will NOT help you with flashing an old BIOS, or even admit it could be an issue. I decided to take matters into my own hands and use an online guide to flash an older BIOS. I was able to successfully flash the version 2202 BIOS to my system, and all problems have ceased.

Long story short, if you have the same issues I have, consider trying a new (or old) BIOS version!

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

I have a Creative Sound laster Z and Logitech z906 and windows 10 1809 (latest) and Everything works fine.

Edit: my phone derped. Glad to see you fixed it though.