Audio Popping with External Speakers

[Bling26]

New reply from HP:

"I have this issue being analysed by our 3LS Engineering Group.

At this point this is currently on the issue reproduction status by them.

I have shared with them steps to reproduced and details about the issue.

I expect to have some insights soon, if I have a questions or require any additional information, I will let you know."

Seems to be getting traction. At least I know they are able to reproduce the issue at command.

[Monte_D]

Same issue with HP Slimline Dock and HP EliteBook x360 G6. Thanks for your continued efforts to resolve this really annoying issue!

Has there been any progress?

[Bling26]

Sorry, my last update was my last communication from HP. I will reach back out to them now and see if I can get anything out of them. The rate this is getting fixed, I will have a new computer and dock by then lol. I will report back once I hear something.

[Bling26]

Well, not good news, my latest response from HP:

Hello Randy,

Hope you are doing great.

I am reaching out to let you know that we are still engaged working on this matter.

At this point we are looking for a workaround that you agree to apply.

Reason of this is because our 3LS Specialist has informed this matter will take sometime to get a Failure Analysis.

We have tested plugging 3.5 mm external speaker directly to HP Elitebook 850 G6 audio jack and pop noise is not heard.

We have tested a USB-A to 3.5mm audio jack adapter and that does not produce the noise either.

Workarounds:

• We suggest to connect the 3.5mm speaker to HP Elitebook 850 G6.
• We could check with Account Team the option to get some USB-A to 3.5mm Audio Jack adapter and ship those to you.

To provide the adapters we will need to get amount of units that will required the adapter and Serial Number of those units.

I am open to a meeting during the week, if it is not necessary, please provide me with the workaround you want to proceed with.

3LS Specialist will provide FA once available.

Questions or concerns please let me know.

Appreciate your help and attention.

Regards,

At this point, I am sure a real fix will never happen, at least not before I end up getting a new laptop replacement due to age. I know the 3.5 jack on my laptop does not cause the issue even when docked but I just do not like plugging in a cord every time I dock and undock. I also use that port still for headphones when needed so it is just annoying. Now the USB to 3.5 has my attention. I am going to entertain that idea and I will report back my results. It appears to be about a $10 part so not bad.

More to come.

[Bling26]

Well, I have not heard back from HP since 9-9-2021 when they requested more information from me. I have sent the requested information as well as replied 3 more times afterwards... Frustrating! Sorry for the delay. Has anyone happened to try the usb audio jacks I mentioned? They were supposed to send me a few of them but I have yet to receive. Probably a shortage of those too LOL. Anyway, still waiting. I would maybe try the following:

https://www.amazon.com/DuKabel-ProSeries-Mic-Supported-Headphone-External/dp/B07RS11M1T/ref=sr_1_3?d...

I will continue to wait for HP to get off their thumbs. 🙂

[Six2Six]

Thanks for continuing to look at this! Super frustrating for sure. 

Haven't tried the USB to AUX on this end yet. I'm out of USB ports on my dock so didn't want to invest into anything more until someone else confirmed this was working. Have the AUX plugged directly in for now but at this rate I'll have a new (Non-HP) laptop to replace this one before this is ever sorted out :D. 

[Bling26]

HP just replied to my latest response and indicated they have received the USB adapters and plan to ship out to me ASAP. They said I should have this Friday. I will provide an update as soon as I can.

[Bling26]

Ok, HP has sent me the workaround USB to 3.5mm audio adapters and I have tested on one of my setups. It works as expected. I now get external audio out of my dock via that adapter with no popping noise or anything else. I know that this is a workaround but I am assuming a fix will never happen. Even if it does happen, I am sure I will have a new setup by that time. The exact adapter I received is:

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Adapter-Aluminum-Desktops/dp/B087T5H3MQ/ref=asc_df_B087T5H3MQ...

I have not yet added to my other desks but I will in time. If I have any further issues with it, I will post again however I think I am ok with this workaround. I think this is as solved as we are going to get. 

[VodnikPK]

I think I've found an easier and better solution. Let's be honest - the so called "audio adapter" is a USB connected sound card, usually very low quality one... I.e. an additional device that requires aditional drivers etc. I really don't want that.

As the popping noise only appears when there is no other sound playing, I thought: what if I play a "silent" sound file in a loop?

And it seems to work!

I've found an hour long mp3 "silence" file online and play it in a loop in the background all the time. No popping sounds anymore 🙂

Obviously you can still play any other audio source and they work fine as usual, without the need to stop the "silence" 🙂

Just don't use the default Windows Media Player to play such file - this player consumes crazy amount of processor power just to play it  (over 30%!!!). I use free VLC player, which only uses less than 0.5% CPU power to play the file in the background.

I created a simple script to run vlc minimized and play the file in a loop. And I added that script to Windows startup, so it always starts when I log in 🙂

[Six2Six]

Picked one of these up (another brand), and it seems to work! no popping audio like before and getting consistent sound quality. A little lame that it requires another piece of hardware to fill up a USB slot on the dock to fix this issue obviously caused by HP, but a kludge is a kludge!

Thanks massively for keeping up with this one @Bling26 and finding a solution! Hopefully HP fixes this in future iterations of their hardware.