Pops and click in audio grrrrr

AndyWest · 9 Jul 2016

Hi all, hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I have built a new PC myself and have Win 10 installed. The problem I have is that when listening to audio in itunes and youtube i get clicks and pops which is seriously annoying. I don't know if it's a quicktime thing or not but need a solution if there is one.

Any help really appreciated.

Thanks

strumstrum · 9 Jul 2016

is it just iTunes and Youtube? what about Windows Media Player and iPlayer?

AndyWest · 9 Jul 2016

I don't have media player or iplayer but it does it with spotify. I did an audio/speaker test from the playback device and it did it then also. It seems to be worse in you tube than anything else. I'm getting the sound from the motherboard and not a separate sound card. All sound should be generic.

If I re boot the PC it goes away but comes back after a few hours.

DeadpanDodo · 9 Jul 2016

Are you sure it isn't the connected speakers? Try another set, or headphones. If it still does it then at least you can rule that out and concentrate on the PC itself and the audio drivers.

AndyWest · 9 Jul 2016

DeadpanDodo said:
Are you sure it isn't the connected speakers? Try another set, or headphones. If it still does it then at least you can rule that out and concentrate on the PC itself and the audio drivers.

Ahhh not thought of that!!

sbowler579 · 9 Jul 2016

Sounds like the audio is clipping, does it do it at all volume levels?

ancient_mariner · 9 Jul 2016

I've had this issue sometimes with certain Linux builds and it's unrelated to volume, where the drivers or codecs weren't quite right. I'd suggest you go looking for a driver update and reinstall any codecs you have. Also check to see if any other owners of that particular mobo have had similar problems.

Failing that, it's probably worth spending a tenner on a separate sound card, assuming there's room in the case.

AndyWest · 9 Jul 2016

sbowler579 said:
Sounds like the audio is clipping, does it do it at all volume levels?

Yes it does

A new sound card may well be an option. I have no idea about codecs etc.

Thanks all for your help by the way

Deadlock · 22 Jul 2016

I've had this issue in the past.
The basics things to check are
1 - audio drivers
2 - source - is it a good quality recording without issues?
3 - change speakers/headphones
4 - remove soundcard for onboard audio or vice versa

More serious - check your audio latency.
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

My issues were simply because of windows latency issues.
I'd experienced this over several PC builds to varying degrees.
My solution was to give up on Windows and go for mac. Never had any such issues again and Windows boxes are relegated to server duty.

You could look into a sound card with ASIO drivers or try ASIO4ALL if I recall correctly. Googling this should help identify the current status.

Harriers9 · 23 Jul 2016

I don't know if this would help or would be the same problem you are facing but I used to get the same problems while trying to listen to music on my computer. All the time it was playing I could hear pops and crackles etc.

I was using Winamp at the time and I knew it was no longer being supported so couldn't update to a newer version. I eventually dumped it and installed a few others and came against the same problem so I assumed it was my soundcard all along. Luckily I had an ASUS Zonar usb soundcard for my laptop so I plugged that into my PC but still with the same results.

At my wits end I contacted the developers of the music software I had installed at the time, Music Bee, and asked them. They immediately said to try changing the settings of the card(s) to Direct Sound on the card and 32 bit Digital Output in the software. Absolute magic and now the playback is perfect. The only minor drawback is if you swap between programmes while music is playing you'll get no sounds from the other programmes but that's no problem really.

As I said it might not be your specific problem but it could be worth trying out just to discount it.

BTW Music Bee is a superb music player. Looks good and is very customisable. http://getmusicbee.com/ if you would like to try it out.

Jase · 23 Jul 2016

You haven't said what sound card you have but if it is something like a Sound Blaster they often have software/drivers that control sound fx. Look in there and make sure you have the correct speakers selected and turn off any features or audio enhancements as that quite often causes a problem.