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- HP Community
- Desktops
- Desktop Audio
- Bluetooth audio crackling/clipping

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03-18-2021 03:51 PM
Dear community,
I have a HP Pavilion Desktop (TP01-0317ng) with a Realtek RTL8821CE WiFi/Bluetooth card inside. The OS of choice is Windows 10 Home 64-bit 20H2.
Ever since I bought this computer a few months ago I have the following issue:
Music over Bluetooth has noticeable amount of crackling noise. Simply put the signal is clipping all the time. Of course it is especially noticeable on complex/loud passages of songs.
It is not the source files as they are FLAC's properly ripped from original CD's. Moreover the same files play just fine over the analogue output of the said PC and over Bluetooth form other devices (line my OnePlus 5 phone). It is not the headphones/Bluetooth adapter either. I have the same issue with a pair of OnePlus Wireless Z and with an EarStudio ES100 connected to some BeyerDynamic Custom Studio headphones. The same BeyerDynaminc headphones sound just fine over the analogue output of the PC.
These are the things that I have tried in order to fix the issue:
- Turn off spatial sound or any other sound processing setting that Windows shows
- Disable Exclusive Mode
- Adjust the volume
- Reinstall the Bluetooth adapter and make sure the latest drivers are installed (from Windows' Device Manager)
- Re-pair the Bluetooth headphones (delete them from the Bluetooth device and do the pairing again)
- Make sure I am using the stereo headphones device and not the headset
- Run the Bluetooth troubleshooter
- Tried the headphones with other devices (phone and work computer) to make sure they are working OK
- Tried the analogue output of the PC and everything sounds normal.
- Tried various drivers for the RTL8821CE , both from HP site (https://support.hp.com/lt-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-desktop-pc-tp01-0000i/29014367/model/32... and from Realtek (https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/rtl8821ce-software) (excluding the one Windows installs by default) but it makes no difference
- I booted a Fedora 33 Live CD and played the same FLAC songs and everything sounds OK.
- I tried using my work laptop as an audio source and everything sounded OK (I'll later add the Windows version and adapter model)
Now at this point I don't know what else to try, but to the best of my knowledge, I suspect either some weird processing done by Windows or some issues with the drivers.
Any hint or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
03-21-2021 06:29 AM
Welcome to HP Community
I have gone through your Post and would like to help
I suggest you download and run the HP Support Assistant from this Link: https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html?jumpid=va_r602_us/en/any/psg/p...
HPSA will automatically search for all the latest drivers for your Notebook
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Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.
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Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.
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Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.
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Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.
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Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.
Also ensure Windows is up to date.
Select the Start button, and then go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update , and select Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, you have all the updates that are currently available
Keep me posted how it goes
Thank you and have a wonderful day 😊
If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.
KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee
03-21-2021 02:00 PM
@KrazyToad
Just as I was suspecting, the Support Assistant only updated the drivers to the lastest version, the ones I already had from the HP.com support site... So the issue is still present.
Thanks for the effort though.
I welcome any other suggestion.
03-22-2021 07:19 AM - edited 03-22-2021 07:19 AM
I suggest you try reinstalling the Bluetooth and Audio Driver from Device Manager
- Select the Start button, type Device Manager, and select it from the list of results.
- Look for Wireless Adapters and expand the List
- Look for Bluetooth driver then right-click it, and select Update Driver.
- Select Search automatically for updated driver software.
- If these steps don't work, try reinstalling the driver: Open Device Manager, right-click the Bluetooth driver and select Uninstall. Restart your PC and Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver.
Do the same for the Audio Driver
KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee
03-23-2021 10:49 AM
As a last resort I would suggest you perform a Reset
Link: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04742289
KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee
03-24-2021 02:34 PM - edited 03-24-2021 02:37 PM
Thank you for the suggestion, but at this moment I am not confident enough that this would solve the issue to risk having to waste 1-2 days reinstalling everything from scratch.
And the fact that under Linux everything works fine only puts Windows 10 in a very bad light.
Thanks for the effort though....
PS: I am deeply surprised that, as an HP employee, you didn't give me any more deeper debugging suggestions.
03-26-2021 11:56 PM
Since it works fine on Linux, the issue is mostly likely due to the OS
You could try the Reset or you can also contact HP Support in your region and our support engineer should be able to remote into your Notebook and sort this out
1) Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/
2) Select your product type below.
3) Enter the serial of your device.
4) Select the country from the drop-down.
5) Select the chat or get phone number options based on your preferences.
6) Fill the web-form and proceed further.
Thank you
KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee