Sound microstutter and popping

[Dialerman]

MAINBOARD: ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-F
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

GPU: Asus Rog Strix RX 480 8GB (from old PC)
RAM: Corsair Vengance RGB 32GB 6000MHz CL30

SSD1: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB
SSD2: Corsair MP600 PRO XT 2 TB

PSU: MSI A850G
PC-CASE: BeQuiet Silent Base 802
HEADSET: Logitech Pro X (with cable)

 

 

Hello. I am new to this stuff and can't articulate myself like I'd like to, so I beg your pardon in advance and hope you can help me nonetheless.

 

I bought a brand new computer and while I listen to music on Spotify and Youtube i get random sound popping and/or microstutter. On my old PC I never had such problems. Sometimes when I listen music on Spotify I get randomly some kind of microstutter (sound dropout) for just like a millisecond on my USB Headset. And if I play the same part again it's not reapearing again. I tried a lot of solutions like deactivating USB ports I don't use, updating all drivers I have, try out every USB port I have on my PC (mainboard and PC Case) and USB Headsets of other manufactures. When I listen with some AUX Headphones I don't get such problems. So my question is if I got a problem with my Mainboard, if it's a problem with a driver of the manufacturer or even something I never thought about til now.?

Thanks in advance                                                 

[SImoHayha]

Turn off HPET and see if it works. Helped with stutters a long time ago for me it's simple and easy don't forget to reset the PC

 

https://www.minitool.com/news/disable-hpet.html

 

 

[Kisai]

3 minutes ago, SImoHayha said:

Turn off HPET and see if it works. Helped with stutters a long time ago for me it's simple and easy don't forget to reset the PC

 

https://www.minitool.com/news/disable-hpet.html

 

 

I doubt this is HPET. Even games use HPET, and all disabling it does is result in a loss of timing precision (eg from 1/100000000 to like 1/100.) The only reason to disable HPET is on a buggy CPU/BIOS. Linux kernels often blacklist the HPET on laptops because it causes clock drift when aggressive PCIe power management is used.

 

The user can try it and see if it fixes it, but it's more likely it's easier to just set the computer to "performance" mode in the Windows power management first and see if that fixes it.

 

[SImoHayha]

6 minutes ago, Kisai said:

I doubt this is HPET. Even games use HPET, and all disabling it does is result in a loss of timing precision (eg from 1/100000000 to like 1/100.) The only reason to disable HPET is on a buggy CPU/BIOS. Linux kernels often blacklist the HPET on laptops because it causes clock drift when aggressive PCIe power management is used.

 

The user can try it and see if it fixes it, but it's more likely it's easier to just set the computer to "performance" mode in the Windows power management first and see if that fixes it.

 

Probably. But long time ago, had same issues and disabling it worked out just fine for me. That or reinstalling windows, helped with also other things in games with high end equipment and just random stutters occurring left and right.  And turning off HPET worked. It's really easy to implement and redo even if it doesn't work.

[Mojo-Jojo]

Since you mention that the analog port works fine, I think you're looking at an issue with your USB ports in general or the headset in particular. Most PC's share USB ports on a single or maybe two controllers. You said you've tried different ports, but they may all be sharing the single controller.

 

Once that controller is busy with something else (internal Bluetooth or WiFi maybe?) it might not communicate in time with your headset resulting in audio problems.

 

What you could try is buying a dedicated PCIe to USB add-in card, effectively dedicating an extra USB controller to your headset. I'm not certain it would fix things, but if you buy at a store with a good return policy, it shouldn't hurt to try.

[Dialerman]

On 1/18/2024 at 9:14 PM, SImoHayha said:

Turn off HPET and see if it works. Helped with stutters a long time ago for me it's simple and easy don't forget to reset the PC

 

https://www.minitool.com/news/disable-hpet.html

 

Unfortunately this method did't work for me. I will try to reinstall Windows 10 Professional and see if it helped.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Dialerman]

On 1/18/2024 at 9:31 PM, Kisai said:

I doubt this is HPET. Even games use HPET, and all disabling it does is result in a loss of timing precision (eg from 1/100000000 to like 1/100.) The only reason to disable HPET is on a buggy CPU/BIOS. Linux kernels often blacklist the HPET on laptops because it causes clock drift when aggressive PCIe power management is used.

 

The user can try it and see if it fixes it, but it's more likely it's easier to just set the computer to "performance" mode in the Windows power management first and see if that fixes it.

 

Already set the power option to "Performance Mode" but that did not help either.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Dialerman]

By Mojo-Jojo:

 

"Since you mention that the analog port works fine, I think you're looking at an issue with your USB ports in general or the headset in particular. Most PC's share USB ports on a single or maybe two controllers. You said you've tried different ports, but they may all be sharing the single controller.

 

Once that controller is busy with something else (internal Bluetooth or WiFi maybe?) it might not communicate in time with your headset resulting in audio problems.

 

What you could try is buying a dedicated PCIe to USB add-in card, effectively dedicating an extra USB controller to your headset. I'm not certain it would fix things, but if you buy at a store with a good return policy, it shouldn't hurt to try."

 

 

I could give it a try, they're not even that expensive.

 

Thanks for your help!