Audio pops/crackles in games

[Repa24]

Hello,
I hope some of you can help me with this problem because it has been chasing me for years (end of 2014 onwards) across different PC-setups and games and, although I'd describe myself as quite tech-savvy, at this point I am just out of ideas. After all this time I am even thinking about giving out some kind of reward for anyone, who can solve this issue.

The problem:
In some games (iRacing, Assetto Corsa (+Competizione)) I get random sound crackles/sound pops. My theory is that it always happens when a sound-file loops or abruptly stops/starts.
It's not the game sound itself (engine-sound or the exhaust-crackles and bangs of cars) but it sounds more like a loose audio-jack or some sort.
Of course it could be a bug in the sound-engines itself, but...

a) ...when I did some research I could only find a handful of people talking about stuff like this (and were able to fix it with simple measures)
b) ...I cannot imagine, that a developer working on sound-engine of a game doesn't notice these things

I created a video which shows the issue:
Every time I hear the audio crackle/pop I added a text, so you can identify what I am talking about. You may need to put the video on highest quality and use proper headphones to be able to hear it. Sometimes the crackle comes form the left side, sometimes from the right, sometimes from the "middle".

 

Things I've tried so far:

Spoiler

- Changed the audio-output to onboard-audio
- Disabled onboard-audio
- Changed the audio-output to my audio-interface
- Disabled LAN-module on mainboard
- tried different USB slots for my audio-interface
- un- and reinstalled different (sound) drivers
- BIOS is up-to-date (F15), Windows is up-to-date (Ver. 19044.1889)
- installed the game(s) on SSD and on HDD
- installed Winodws on SSD and on HDD
- tested another pair of headphones (Senneheiser Momentum)
- disabled all energy-saving options
- disabled audio enhancements in the drivers
- put the windows volume at/under 60% (as recommended by the devs of iRacing)
- tried different audio format options (16/24bit, all Hz values)
- disabled/reenabled exclusive audio-modes
- deleted my iRacing/Assetto Corsa documents folder
- reinstalled iRacing/Assetto Corsa
- freshly installed Windows 10 without installing anything else but iRacing/Assetto Corsa
- temperatures of my CPU / GPU are okay
- Removed the PowerLAN-adapters from my power strip
- Plugged my PC directly into the power-outlet (default is via power strip)
- removed my router from the network
- disabled WiFi on my router

- excluded the games' files and processes from Windows Defender

- CMOS reset

- installed Win11 on another harddrive with only iRacing and necessary drivers installed

- checked for DPC via LatencyMon - nvdlmmk.sys causes spikes rarely and there is ZERO correlation between the audio-crackling and the DPC in LatencyMon

- and becuse my old PC was quite...old (still had an i5 3570k) I even got a new PC at the beginning of this year. The problem existed on my old PC and still persists on my new PC.

 

Current PC-setup (2022 - ?):
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/3L1UsszZmTlg755TbpVIkbO

• Windows 10 installed from .iso / 64 bit / fresh build
• Ryzen 5 5600X
• Palit GTX 1060 6GB (from old PC)
• Gigabyte B550M DS3H
• 16 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX LP DDR4
• Audio setup:
  • Default setup: USB -> Behringer UMC202HD Audio Interface -> 3,5mm -> Sennheiser PC360
  • Alternative setup: 3,5mm -> Senneheiser PC360
• 1x SSD 870 Evo
• 1x SSD 840 PRO (current system drive)
• LAN via PowerLineCommunications

Old PC setup (2013 - 2021):

• Original was Windows 7 from CD, then upgraded to Windows 10 (had no effect on the problem)
• i5 3570k
• Palit GTX 1060 6GB (original GPU was Asus HD7950, replaced by Sapphire HD7950 in 2015, replaced by current GPU in 2016 (GPU change had no effect on the problem)
• ASRock Z77Pro3
• 8 GB RAM (old DDR3)
• Audio setup:
  • Default setup: USB -> Behringer UMC202HD Audio Interface -> 3,5mm -> Sennheiser PC360
  • Alternative setup: 3,5mm -> Senneheiser PC360
• 1x SSD 840 PRO
• 1x HDD (was system drive)
• LAN via PowerLineCommunications

These crackling/audio pops happened on my old PC (from end of 2014 onwards) as well as on my new PC.

I hope someone is able to help me solve this issue. :)

[Fasauceome]

Having a really hard time hearing the popping sounds even with the volume fairly high.

The Sennheiser headphones are the common denominator in the audio setups you listed. Are you certain that these aren't related to the issue?

[Repa24]

It sounds like the crackling noises of a fire, or when the 3,5mm connector is not plugged in properly or when you skip around in a YT video, those kind of crackles.

I just tried it with an old Logitech G35 - same issue.

 

Btw, here are two videos of the same game, same car but no audio crackles