Windows VM Crackling Audio

[AdmiralDerp]

I recently set up a PCI passthrough VM on Debian using Virtual Machine Manager to run Windows 10 for a few games. Everything seems to be running flawlessly except for my audio, which is giving me issues. Using ich6/ich9 there's pretty bad crackling and with AC97 it lags the VM like crazy and still crackles. I've followed the troubleshooting guide on the Arch Wiki, tried adjusting the bit-rate in Windows, as well as try the methods on this guy's site, however nothing seems to get rid of it. I'm using an external USB DAC (a Fiio E07K) and I'd like to avoid simply passing its USB bus through or buying a separate sound card if possible. Is there anything else I can try? Thanks!

 

My specs:

OS: Debian unstable x86-64

Kernel: 4.9.0-3-amd64

CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K

Motherboard: Z270X-Gaming K7

GPU1: Intel HD 630

GPU2: NVidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti

 

EDIT:

I managed to figure out the issue. It turns out it was an issue with my CPU layout and the host OS needed an extra core for audio emulation.

[DrMacintosh]

is the Audio playback set to the same on both operating systems? 

 

Example: 

 

 

[AdmiralDerp]

9 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

is the Audio playback set to the same on both operating systems? 

 

Example:

Yeah, they are both set to 16bit (the highest the VM will go) and 48KHz. I've tried changing them to 44100Hz as well but that does the same thing.

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, AdmiralDerp said:

Yeah, they are both set to 16bit (the highest the VM will go) and 48KHz. I've tried changing them to 44100Hz as well but that does the same thing.

I had a similar audio issue with In-Home Steam streaming from my PC to my Mac but changing the audio rates to match fixed it, if the issue goes further than that then I have no idea lol. 

 

Sorry. 

[AdmiralDerp]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

I had a similar audio issue with In-Home Steam streaming from my PC to my Mac but changing the audio rates to match fixed it, if the issue goes further than that then I have no idea lol. 

 

Sorry. 

No problem! Every piece of advice helps and sometimes it's good to double check (or triple check) these settings.

 

Edit:

I managed to figure out the issue. It turns out it was an issue with my CPU layout and the host OS needed an extra core for audio emulation.