Need some way to get seriously clean audio output.

[Fastfishy2]

I will start by describing the problem. Whenever some system sounds - and occasionally some game sounds once in a blue moon depending on how they're sampled - are suddenly stopped, various headsets I've tried can make a very subtle "pop" which annoys the hell out of me. I've got very sensitive hearing so I always notice it when it happens.

I switched from AudioTechnica M30x to HyperX cloud III's and nothing changed much in that regard. I also tried a fiio K1 DAC with both headsets as well as the included DAC with the hyperX headset, and while switching to USB DAC in general did remove the crackling while playing with the windows volume slider, other sounds still make a pop when cut off quickly, particularly lower frequency sounds.

I did some more digging and this seems to be a problem I'm not going to be able to avoid, something to do with sounds suddenly being cut while at a certain point on the sine wave will generally cause a "pop" and I was able to easily replicate it with a clip of a very low frequency sound.

Is there anything I can get for my Windows 11 desktop that has some sort of filtering or applies a tiny fade out to all audio when it stops? I don't want to hear these pops anymore, even though they're very rare. I've got more USB slots free than I care to admit, and got PCI expansion slots free as well.

Is this possible?

 

[Vayra86]

Can't say I hear pops on a proper audio system hooked up with optical, and I use this system to mix DJ sets too on a DDJ400. So hard cuts galore I also pre-listen on the same channel with headphones, no issues like that.

Try hooking up the entire audio output directly to an external amplifier, and hooking up the headphone to this amp. I think your issue will be gone. Can't use USB Headsets then - and I reckon that's also the core of your problem. You might just be cutting off the entire channel all the time instead of just not hearing audio, because its an all digital connection and saves power by turning off, whereas an open audio output to the receiver is always on.

 

[Wirko]

I did some more digging and this seems to be a problem I'm not going to be able to avoid, something to do with sounds suddenly being cut while at a certain point on the sine wave will generally cause a "pop" and I was able to easily replicate it with a clip of a very low frequency sound.

That seems to be the right explanation. My suggestion is to check the wav files with system sounds in C:\Windows\Media. Play them with a player you trust. Edit them by adding a fadeout if necessary.