Crackling sound while playing music in HP SPECTRE X360 Ultrabook

[kevpa990]

I haven't had a problem since the most recent update but worst case scenario I'll just go back to using my Bose Bluetooth to listen but at least in my case it seems to be resolved and I've listened to a lot since the update but I also never had or at least never noticed the popping to begin with just the crackling hoping it stays this way!

@carlyh21893 I think we've all seen significant improvement since the last update just go to settings and make sure you update everything then cross your fingers

[JR_NJ1]

I just took a look at my audio settings again and when I went into the driver properties I saw the following:

Does anyone know what I might need to do now?

Jeff

[Technocrazy]

Another update this one not so good.  Was streaming a Ultraviolet movie last night with VUDU to Go and it started crackling bad almost immediately. Stopped after about 30 seconds since it was unbearable.  Tried it again today after downloading the HDX version and still the major crackling. 

@carlyh21893 did you purchase the B&O version of the Spectre? 

Anyone else - do you have the original or the B&O version?  Does the problem occur on both versions?

Thanks

Paul

[carlyh21893]

I was fed up with the crackling and went to the live support chat on the HP website. Got connected with someone and explained the problem, then let them take control of my laptop. It looks like he went into Device Manager and uninstalled a driver and reinstalled it, or something along the lines. I'm not very good with computers, so I'm not entirely sure what was done. However, that happened last night around 8:00pm central time. I watched Netflix for about 2 hours last night and didn't hear the crackling, and did the same today. So far so good, no crackling. 

I haven't had much time besides about 4 hours, but within these 4 hours of sound, I haven't heard it. So as of right now, it seems fixed. 

I also received an email from HP this morning, regarding the issue:

"Hi Carly,

This is the technician (Indrajit) from the HP Chat Support Team following up on our recent interaction. Since the chat got disconnected before I could provide you the resolution for your issue, hence I am sending you the web link from where you can perform the troubleshooting steps for the issue concerned.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00833257
>>>

If the issue persists, please get back to us with the results and we will be glad to assist you further.
We are available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week to serve you."

@Technocrazy I have the original, not the B&O.

[andrewiam_com]

Keep in mind there are 4 different kinds of audio chipsets for the Spectre: Realtek and Conexant, with and without Bang & Oulfsen sound.  The B&O sound uses the same driver as the other models, so I guess it must be in the audiochips or speakers themselves.  Or maybe it's manually activated in each driver.  Or maybe HP just paid B&O for the rights to add their logo to the laptops. 

@JR_NJ1 I have the same message in my SST driver events.  There are no standalone drivers for Smart Sound, so as far as I know there is no way to fix it. 

[kevpa990]

Conexant doesn't show in mine why is that?

[andrewiam_com]

Perhaps you have a Realtek DAC instead?

[BinaryJay]

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@carlyh21893 wrote:

I was fed up with the crackling and went to the live support chat on the HP website. Got connected with someone and explained the problem, then let them take control of my laptop. It looks like he went into Device Manager and uninstalled a driver and reinstalled it, or something along the lines. I'm not very good with computers, so I'm not entirely sure what was done. However, that happened last night around 8:00pm central time. I watched Netflix for about 2 hours last night and didn't hear the crackling, and did the same today. So far so good, no crackling. 

I haven't had much time besides about 4 hours, but within these 4 hours of sound, I haven't heard it. So as of right now, it seems fixed. 

I also received an email from HP this morning, regarding the issue:

"Hi Carly,

This is the technician (Indrajit) from the HP Chat Support Team following up on our recent interaction. Since the chat got disconnected before I could provide you the resolution for your issue, hence I am sending you the web link from where you can perform the troubleshooting steps for the issue concerned.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00833257
>>>

If the issue persists, please get back to us with the results and we will be glad to assist you further.
We are available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week to serve you."

@Technocrazy I have the original, not the B&O.

---

A useless solution and you would have got the same results from disabling and re-enabling the audio device or just restarting the PC.  The old "reinstall the drivers" fix is getting so tiring, it does absolutely nothing... and RARELY is it ever a fix for just about ANYTHING.

[eded1122]

I thought that the latest Windows 10 update had solved the crackling audio problem.  It has not.  I was playing an embedded video this morning and the crackling returned.

I'll try HP support soon--I bought the machine through a Microsoft store, so I may be setting up a service call with the store next week.

I really like this laptop, but this problem annoying!

[BinaryJay]

Yup got the old cracking friend back again tonight when I was seeking back and forth to different points of a video I was streaming from my NAS.