Crackling sound while playing music in HP SPECTRE X360 Ultrabook

[TedSteel]

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@daxliniere wrote:

I'm a record producer and mix engineer. I planned to use this laptop for running remote recording sessions...

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Quick thread hijack. I checked out your website. Pretty slick.

[eded1122]

I downloaded a few Windows 10 updates today and the sound issues seem to have been fixed.  Running both Youtube and iTunes, which usually caused the crackling and it's gone.....

Anyone else see this?

[TedSteel]

Do you know what the downloads were?

I saw this post then noticed in the bottom right corner on my machine, "Restart required for updates."  Would be nice to know what was updated.

Even though I have "notifiy me for updates" or whatever it is, Windows 10 seems to ignore my preference and reset it from time to time. SO ANNOYING. What the @#$& is the sense of having a preference?!

EDIT: found it: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3118754)

Whatever "cumulative updates" are...

[eded1122]

Yes.  This seems to be the update that fixed my sound problem:

Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3118754)

[BinaryJay]

You need Windows 10 Professional to actually have control over deferring updates from eventually being automatically applied, though you can reschedule the restart if you keep an eye on the update page.  It will only restart during long periods of being idle anyway.

As for the new update, KB3118754 contains a few file updates that could be promising:
Audiodg.exe Audioendpointbuilder.dll Audioeng.dll Audiokse.dll Audioses.dll Audiosrv.dll   Remoteaudioendpoint.dll

[TedSteel]

Yeah, I went back and looked at the preferences. You're correct - can only defer the automatic restart. I could have sworn you can control downloads, but must be thinking of my Win 7 machine that I refuse to update until these sound issues are figured out (using it almost specifically as a media server for audio files).

Regarding the update, I just heard a pop. I have iHeart radio streaming  as it seems to be the best app for causing the issues.

No dice.

[eded1122]

Two days in now and I think I'm out of the woods.  I have tried a combinatin of online streaming and players--no more crackling or drop outs.  

[TedSteel]

In 2 days of streaming for about 3-4 hours each, I have yet to hear the crackle or distorted sound. I am still experiencing the pops, but it's significantly lessened in frequency since the latest updates. Today I've heard it maybe 2 instances in the ~4 hours of streaming iHeart Radio. That's a huge improvement.

Next up, I'm going to stream from my NAS. I haven't tried that yet with the updates.

[JayPS]

I get the crackling after listening to streaming or music ripped to the computer after a while which is one problem.  I also notice crackling and distortion on certain songs all the time which seems more related to the DTS non-sense but who knows at this point.  I've checked my windows updates and it says the computer is current with the last updates on 11/11.  I haven't gotten KB3118754 which was supposed be made available on 11/18.  Does it take a while to before it's automatically installed?  This is getting harder to deal with and I'm getting frustrated with the sound. 

Jay

[daxliniere]

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@goldflame09 wrote:

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@daxliniere wrote:

**bleep**.

DPS is averaging 1500 microseconds... my studio PC is 1000 microseconds

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What were you hoping it was going to be?

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1000 microseconds or under. The laptop is also newer.