[Brimstone]

I don't listen to music on my laptop very often because the quality is so bad.  To add to that, it started having snaps and crackles during playback of any audio source.  I assumed this was the sound card, but I have hooked up two different usb DACs and I still get the same issue.  This has really confused me because I thought the usb DAC was taking a pure digital signal and converting it.  The only thing I can think is that it is a power supply issue and is the result of small power spikes.  Does this sound reasonable or does anyone have an idea of what the problem might be? 

 

[EliteGeek91]

Is the mic volume enabled?

Disable mic, and if still happens, update audio drivers (RealTek I guess?).

 

[Brimstone]

Is the mic volume enabled?

Disable mic, and if still happens, update audio drivers (RealTek I guess?).

This seems to have worked. I just listened to a couple of songs with no problems. So it was a feedback issue?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Brimstone]

I seem to have spoken too soon.  I must have just had a good run last night.  After disabling the mic I no longer get the pop and crackle, but I am still getting intermittent playback where the sound gets "choppy" during the sound cutting in and out ever so briefly.

 

[Digiti]

What operating system are you using and what playback software? It may be a latency issue of some kind with a driver;download this software:  
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

[Brimstone]

Quote:

What operating system are you using and what playback software? It may be a latency issue of some kind with a driver;download this software:  
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

That program was great.  It told me that I had a driver issue, but couldn't tell me which driver.  I ended up going through and turning off devices, but couldn't get it worked out.  Then I downloaded a program called Driver max and it scanned my drivers.  I ended up letting that program replace 22 drivers and now everything is working great.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[Digiti]

I am glad you got it sorted out. That DriverMax program helped me with my audio problems in the past. It turned out to be a SATA controller driver that needed updating in my case.

 

[Brimstone]

My laptop is less than a year old.  I hadn't even thought about updating drivers.