of reasons. You may be able to fix the problem by adjusting your audio
device settings, updating your sound driver, or pinning down another
hardware device that’s interfering. Here are some things to try.
Before you start messing with settings, it’s worth checking your
hardware itself. If a cable connection is loose, this could cause some
sound problems. Ensure all your audio cables are connected securely. If
the problem persists, here are a few potential solutions.
Change Your Audio Format
Changing the audio quality on your output device can solve some
problems. To check your audio quality, right-click the speaker icon in
the notification area next to your clock and select “Playback Devices”.
Double-click the default playback device, which has a green checkmark on its icon.
Click the “Advanced” tab and use the Default Format box to select
your sound quality level. Try setting your audio quality to “16 bit,
44100 Hz (CD Quality)”. Click “OK” afterwards and see if the crackling
or other audio problems continue. This change can fix some audio
problems.
If it’s set to CD quality and you experience problems, try changing to another audio format level and see what happens.
Disable Audio Enhancements
Some sound drivers use software “enhancements” in an attempt to
improve your sound quality. If these aren’t working properly—or if your
CPU is being taxed too heavily—these could result in sound problems.
To disable sound enhancements, use the same Properties window. Click
the “Enhancements” tab here—if you see one—and check the “Disable All
Enhancements” checkbox. Click “OK” to save your changes and then test
to see if the problems continue.
Not all software drivers perform this function, so you won’t always
see the “Enhancements” tab on all systems. There may be a similar tab
here—like one named “Sound Blaster”—where you’ll find similar effects to
disable. There may be no option to disable enhancements at all. It
depends on your sound hardware and drivers.
Disable Exclusive Mode
Some sound drivers seem to have issue with the “Exclusive Mode”
option that allows applications to take exclusive control of your sound
card. This shouldn’t normally be a problem: Blame bad sound drivers if
it’s causing issues on your system.
You’ll find this setting on the same window where the “Default
Format” option is. Disable the “Allow applications to take exclusive
control of this device” option under “Exclusive Mode”. Click “OK” and
see if this solved your problem.
This option normally isn’t a problem, so you should probably re-enable it if disabling it doesn’t solve the problem.
Update Your Sound Drivers
Some problems may be fixed in newer sound drivers. If you’re using
older sound drivers, you may need to update them to fix various bugs.
Windows 10 automatically attempts to keep your drivers up to date, but
even then it may not always offer the latest sound drivers.
To get newer sound drivers, visit your computer manufacturer’s
website, find the driver download page for your model of PC, and
download the latest sound drivers available. If you built your own PC,
check the driver download page for your motherboard manufacturer—or your
sound card manufacturer, if you use a separate sound card instead of
your motherboard’s onboard sound.
Check Your DPC Latency
This problem may also be caused by DPC latency. DPC stands for
“Deferred Procedure Call”. This is the part of Windows that handles
hardware drivers. If a driver takes too long to do something, it can
prevent other drivers—like your sound driver—from doing the work they
need to do in a timely fashion. This can lead to audio problems like
clicks, pops, dropouts, and other issues.
To check your DPC latency, download and run LatencyMon.
Click the “Start” button and let it run in the background for a while.
It will monitor your system’s hardware drivers and provide
recommendations, informing you which hardware driver seems to be the
problem. If a particular hardware driver is causing problems, you can
try updating the device’s driver, disabling the device, removing it from
your system, or replacing it.
Even if you see some latency issues here, they aren’t necessarily a
problem on a typical PC where you just need to listen to music, watch
videos, and play video games. If the tool warns you about a problem but
you can’t hear one, you don’t need to disable any hardware. This is more
important for professional use cases where you really do need real-time
audio. But, if you do hear a problem, the tool might indicate a
hardware driver at fault.