Broken on board audio?

[Tollorn]

All the sudden lately while playing music, videos, any application that produces audio output, my headphones or speakers will produce a popping noise occasionally, very briefly and abruptly. It literally sounds like just one really loud sound wave. If I unplug my headphones my speakers will do the same thing. It never happens when no audio signal is being made. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers for my on-board Realtek audio but that didn't seem to do anything. I tried switching to a headphone amp I had in a drawer that uses a USB port to connect to the computer instead, the problem persists. So, my only conclusion is that maybe my on board audio card got partially fried somehow or something...? Will purchasing an actual sound card that plugs into a PCIe x 1 slot on my motherboard fix the issue? Thank you for any suggestions and/or solutions. 

The pop sounds like the pop in this sound byte: https://clyp.it/i0rldvow

[Slottr]

2 minutes ago, Tollorn said:

 

Try to find a super cheap sound card off craigslist or something to test it

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Slottr said:

Try to find a super cheap sound card off craigslist or something to test it

 

No.

 

If the popping is coming over a USB soundcard as well, it will affect an internal soundcard as well.

 

Best I can offer is that you follow the audio interference troubleshooting guide in my signature. It's probably caused by another piece of hardware or even software/drivers.

[Tollorn]

Okay well this is a little embarrassing, but apparently when I tried to reinstall the drivers the first time I didn't actually uninstall them before reinstalling them... A second attempt at reinstalling drivers has been successful and the popping has stopped. Still no idea how or why the drivers got screwed up though... Thank you for the suggestions and help!