[iNcontroL]

Hey everyone,

I've come across a problem that has me stumped. Lately I've been hearing distortion, crackles, jitters, or static sporadically while listening to music or any kind of audio through my headphones. This happens with youtube, spotify, or any other source. It's completely random, and again, it only happens using my headphones, doesn't matter which ones I used (HE-560, DT 1990, DT 1770).

I've also tried this with two different DACs/Amp, my Magni 3/Modi Uber stack and my Sound Blaster x7. My Emotiva Airmotiv 5 speakers have the same problem going through my Schiit Stack.

So what could it be? I doubt that all my headphones are damaged, I also doubt that both my DACs/Amps suddenly have the same problem. So I can only conclude that it's the source, my PC that's the issue. I've only started noticing this recently and the only thing I've done since then was run a Windows Update. But I don't think anything from the update should have done this.

Things I've already done/tried.

- I already had my on board audio disabled.
- I've tried switching the USB from my Modi to a different port.
- I've lowered the volume on my PC and increased the volume on my amp.
- I've increased the volume on my PC and lowered the volume on my amp.
- I've completely powered off all my devices for a few minutes before starting it back up.

I'm at a loss on what to do. Any help is really appreciated.

 

[Roseval]

Might be a DPC latency problem (assuming you are on Win)
Try this: https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

[iNcontroL]

It looks like you hit the nail on the head.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:00:16 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: GAMINGPC
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 15063 (x64)
Hardware: All Series, ASUS, ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., RAMPAGE V EXTREME
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5930K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Logical processors: 12
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32636 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 3506 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 15678.593792
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 8.832130

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 15675.381085
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 4.901509


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 42.703366
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.000938
Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.001008

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 206
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 59.233314
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.001137
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.002076

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 602
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.


Process with highest pagefault count: none

Total number of hard pagefaults 0
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 0
Number of processes hit: 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.926549
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 42.703366
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000717
CPU 0 ISR count: 116
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 59.233314
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 0.002575
CPU 0 DPC count: 424
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.334155
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 37.055619
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.001191
CPU 1 ISR count: 69
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 54.707929
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000711
CPU 1 DPC count: 104
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.141150
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 2.881917
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000026
CPU 2 ISR count: 21
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 44.344837
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000518
CPU 2 DPC count: 32
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.123093
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1.116372
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000002
CPU 3 DPC count: 2
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.128576
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 7.201654
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000007
CPU 4 DPC count: 1
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.119329
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 21.636052
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000028
CPU 5 DPC count: 6
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.121568
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 22.623788
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000073
CPU 6 DPC count: 13
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.124218
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1.126925
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000003
CPU 7 DPC count: 3
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.118797
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR count: 0
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 16.521392
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000026
CPU 8 DPC count: 6
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.120747
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR count: 0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1.175414
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000001
CPU 9 DPC count: 1
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.121975
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR count: 0
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 18.111523
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000042
CPU 10 DPC count: 10
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.126940
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR count: 0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 DPC count: 0
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Though I'm not sure how to interpret this. Nor do I know how to run LatencyMon more than 16 seconds. After 16 seconds it automatically ends the test.

 

[yage]

I wonder if this could be related to Spectre / Meltdown mitigation. I know on both of my Linux machines I needed to update the BIOS to the latest version in order for the machine to even boot properly. Might be worth a shot.

 

[Roseval]

Here is another one: http://www.thesycon.com/eng/latency_check.shtml
It is to long ago I used this tools so from my fading memory, one of them should tell you which driver is causing the problem (might be plural).
I remember having a laptop when disabling WIFi and the video driver, I got decent DPC values.
Ditched it solved the problem....
Sorry I can't be more of help