If you're having trouble with audio popping/clicking sounds, I have a possible solution for you!!!

[imaref]

I've been battling popping sounds on my HP Envy (Conexant ISST audio with Bang & Olufsen) for a year. I thought I had it narrowed down to a conflict between the audio drivers and the Intel display audio, then I thought I had to use only HP drivers instead of the most recent graphics drivers from Intel, but I was wrong.

I stumbled on to the answer that I'm sure will help out so many of you that have posted here with audio pops/clicks/noises when starting to play an audio/video file, when changing the volume, or when skipping ahead to a spot later on in a video (such as Youtube videos).

IT'S A POWER MANGEMENT ISSUE. When audio hasn't been playing at all for a few seconds, the speakers automatically get turned off, and there is no way to change this setting. Then, the next time you try to play audio/video, there is a "pop" or a "click" sound as the audio starts to play (which is annoying as heck).

There is no way to change this power management setting, but I stumbled upon a way to trick your speakers into thinking that they are in use (so they never turn off) and this completely gets rid of the popping and clicking noises!!!

Here's what to do (note that I have Conexant, but this should also work for Realtek):

RIGHT click on the volume icon and choose "recording devices".

Click on the microphone (on my system it's listed as Microphone Array) so that it is highlighted, then click on "Properties".

In the windows that pops up, click on the "Listen" tab. Place a check in the box "Listen to this device", and from the dropdown menu choose "Speakers (Conexant ISST Audio)". Under Power Management, make sure to choose "Continue running when on battery power". Click "Apply".

Next, click on the "Levels" tab. Set the microphone volume to "5". Choose "apply" (if necessary), then click "OK". Click "OK" again to close the Microphone window.

Now try your sound. The pops and clicks that used to come from the speakers when starting audio/video files should be gone. Basically what we're doing is tricking the speakers into thinking that they are always in use, so they never power down.

Because we have the microphone turned down really low and playing through the speakers, we're tricking the speakers into thinking that the microphone is continuously playing something through the speakers (but since we have the volume down so low, we're not hearing anything from the microphone through the speakers).

I sure hope this works for any of you that were having similar problems. I left these settings as I described above, rebooted, and everything is still good. If you normally use the microphone, you'll need to change it's settings in order to use it, then change it back to what I described above when you're finished using the microphone. Since I rarely use the microphone, it won't be a problem for me.

Power management is usually a good thing, but when users are unable to change the settings it can be problematic.

[Jakob812]

Genious! I love you. Registered just to tell you that. Finally some silence whith this stupid machine.

xoxo

[Puddintane]

Thanks!

I was having a similar problem with my HP Envy x360 15. It would take two seconds for the audio to start up, though mine didn't crackle when it started up. Instead, mine would do it when I tried to listen to music and do something else at the same time. It would even make my PC lag. After doing this, I have no problems with lagging or crackling.

I also found it neccesary to mute the mic entirely, but, otherwise, I had no problem with your solution.

Much appreciated. 

[ksoli]

Exact same issue, and your solution worked!  Truly Brilliant!