Crackling sound while playing music in HP SPECTRE X360 Ultrabook

[Hultt]

I just purchased my Spectre x360 the other day, and finally received it yesterday.

First thing was first, to install all my most used programs, update drivers, etc.


While waiting to download Windows 10 (It came with 8.1) I had downloaded Spotify and was listening to music, with no problems. Today, after running Win10 for the past few hours, I've had numerous problems. (Wifi was extremely low, a huge memory leak, and now this audio issue)

After fixing the WiFi with a simple driver update, I moved onto the memory. I changed a few settings in Regedit, and updated a few more drivers. I've gotten the memory usage down from 50% of my 8GB down to 25%. (Better, but still not working 100% properly).


For the past few hours, I've been trying to deal with this audio crackling that is very pronounce. After a few trials, I've come up with a pretty simple solution that is working (for now)!

Here's what I did, personally: (Going off of Makka64's post on page 24)

1. Go to device manager

2. Open sound, video, and game controllers

3. Right click Realtek HW Audio Codec and disable

4. Restart your pc

5. Download both audio drivers, http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Spectre-13-4100-x360-Convertible-PC/8499273/model...

6. Install both, starting with the Conexant driver. Then reboot after being prompted

7. Once rebooted, the Realtek driver may be in a 'loop' and wanting to keep rebooting. After the first reboot, you should be okay. If prompted to reboot again, select cancel, then reboot again once more manually.

8. After the last final reboot, your freshly disabled and uninstalled Realtek driver should now be reinstalled

(And hopefully working)

[Michiel_T]

Thanks a lot. It seems like a solution for me so far. 

What I've noticed ever since I've installed this driver, is that I hear audio pops from time to time. Anybody experienced this as well? Is there a solution found for this already?

Thanks in advance for the response.

[Isaid_Archibald]

it seems like a hardware issue, i don't think updating drivers can help, i've tried so many of those "solutions", nothing works. Only when I press on the speaker from the outside the buzzing sound dissapears, as if the speaker is not attached well.  And HP troubleshooters were unable to detect any issue, its a kindergarten

[Technocrazy]

I get the random pops too

[genscher]

So it seems that this thread hasn't been updated in a while, and I'm not even sure if it's still being monitored by the OP, but as of today I'm still having this issue. It's been this way since the day after I bought the machine in August last year, in varying degrees of severity. Lately, however, its been absolutely horrendous. I started a case with HP a few minutes ago, but I just wanted to check if anyone has found a bona fide solution in the past couple of months. This is absolutely unbearable for day to day use.

[Xypleth]

I've been in contact with my local HP support, and today they announced that a new Audio driver has been released for X360 Spectre. The driver didn't fix audio "Popping" for me, but it fixed "Audio Enhancements" from turning on by themselves all the time.

"Audio Enhancements" doubled or tripled the amount of audio pops I would get, so this is a partial solution. Driver is here : http://support.hp.com/lv-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-spectre-13-4000-x360-convertible-pc/7527520/model...

(Note that to install you need to restart 2 times total as the installation software will guide you through, 1st time after removing previous driver, 2nd time after installing the new one)

After the driver is installed, make sure you go to Control Panel > DTS Audio Control Panel > Listening Experience > Turn OFF (Uncheck) Audio Enchancements

P.S. For anyone who hasn't figured, Audio Enchancements don't enchance the sound, it boosts some of the frequencies, and removes the overall depth of sound. In short, it cripples the sound.

EDIT:

I also disabled hardware acceleration for audio (Control Panel > Sound > *Playback tab* Speakers > *Advanced tab* Uncheck Hardware Acceleration) I think hardware acceleration might cause popping aswell, as the system often gets to max load.

I've yet to hear any pops after these setting options, but I'm expecting some to sneak up on me, when least expected.

Do not do this, unless you're okay with more quiet audio, the pops were truly gone, there were no pops at all, but audio was a lot more quiet. A nice solution for someone who only uses headphones or external speakers for the laptop.

But if you want to get hardware acceleration back, you have to reinstall the driver!

 For comparison using ATH-MSR7 headphones, I was able to reach satisfying levels of volume for semi-loud music listening - With HW Acceleration - 30, Withou HW Acceleration - 80. (Internal speakers of course will also be more quiet)

[Technocrazy]

Bill

Any updates on this situation?  We were all very encouraged by a response from someone at HP last November.  This is a great ultrabook except for the crackling...

Thanks!

[nassafellow]

I thought a software update solved this issue.  I haven't had any problems since the patch was released.

[genscher]

If you don't mind me asking, which patch are you referring to? The BIOS update?

[andrewiam_com]

Great news!  I just got off the phone with HP and was told that HP has given up on trying to fix the Realtek driver and will instead replace the mainboard of affected models with a mainboard that has a Conexant DAC (which doesn't have crackling issues and also keeps track of separate volumes for headphones and speakers).  I'm a bit disappointed because I know the Realtek driver could be patched to fix both of those issues if HP really wanted to, but this is a nice consolation.  Best of luck!