Cyberpunk 2077 Sound Crackling
Zareen Zapata
I recently bought an Alienware m17 R3(About a week ago), the type with all the upgrades and best hardware in it, and I just noticed I'm having issues with my left speaker. I usually use headphones so I didn't notice it until I was watching some youtube videos in bed without my headphones and started hearing a crackling/popping sound from my left speaker. I looked online if other people were having similar issues and I can see there are some people with the same issue. I tried a bunch of the tips everyone else has received but it continues to persist, including...
I have managed to make it stop (or make it unnoticeable if it's still technically happening) by forcing to use the standard, non-Realtek audio driver, but I'm not sure if this is really a good, permanent solution for my problem. I can confirm that I do not hear these pops from my headphones and my right speaker, It's only from my left one. I had also a few days before noticing this updated windows 10.
Hi, I don't know if you're still experiencing issues with this problem or not, but I recently bought a "Dell Gaming G3 15" and had a similar issue to the one you're describing. I tried many of the fixes you described above. I tried; using generic drivers, manually updating drivers, changing power management options, several different registry edits, disabled enhancements, disabled exclusive mode, disabled hdmi audio...
Some of it made the problem less common but I'd still get frequent random audio glitches (every 5-30 minutes or so). Ultimately I got things to a point where the glitches were uncommon enough that I committed to just living with it. Completely unrelated to this problem I decided to start optimizing my system by disabling services that weren't essential to my usage needs, and while I was doing this I noticed a service called Nahimic. It completely lacked a description so I disabled it (along with several other things).
Due to the nature of these audio glitches I didn't immediately notice, but my audio problems COMPLETELY disappeared. Long story short I eventually isolated the problem to Nahimic. Anyway long story short, I'm still not exactly sure what Nahimic does, supposedly it's some type of 'gaming' audio software that I assume has something to do with directional sound processing... but it's also commonly held in low regard and is apparently know to cause conflicts with Realtek drivers.
^TL;DR:
1. Run "Services.msc"
2. Disable "Nahimic Service"
I haven't seen this solution offered elsewhere but it worked like a miracle for me. If it exists on your laptop I recommend trying it.
Bernasaurus says: type services in Search, select and right click the app and run as administrator, in services scroll down to Nahimic and right click for properties, change startup type to disabled, stop the service. Keep an eye on this every time Dell pushes updates, as may be upgraded and enabled again.
Many fans were disappointed to find bugs, glitches, and other technical difficulties with Cyberpunk 2077. The controversy this has caused has allowed Cyberpunk 2077 to unseat The Last of Us Part II as the most divisive game of 2020 and has even prompted developer CD Projekt Red to issue an apology and refunds to console players. Though some of the bugs and glitches vary based on the player's playstyle and platform, a few are affecting players across the board. One of these is an audio crackling or popping issue. There are points during the game where the audio begins to sound as though it were recorded on a broken microphone. While some audio effects are intentional and meant to sound tinny or rough, players who hear sustained crackling and popping are likely experiencing this audio glitch. It can be a nuisance while playing and can even be painful on the ears and make it difficult to hear key dialogue.
Depending on the platform a player is using, there are a few different ways to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately, no one way has been proven to be 100% effective, and players are likely only going to be able to lessen the effect rather than get rid of it outright. Instead, the bug will likely need to be addressed in a patch, which may take time given the long list of major issues with the game. Here are a few ways to improve audio quality in Cyberpunk 2077 and lessen the crackling on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
There are a few ways to address the audio crackling problem in Cyberpunk 2077 for PC. Players can start by adjusting their system sound settings and effectively lowering their audio quality. To do this, they will need to close out of the game or minimize the window and either search for Sound Settings in the Windows menu or right-clicking the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the taskbar.
The audio crackling bug in Cyberpunk 2077 is more difficult to address in console, and what will work seems to vary between consoles and audio output devices. Players have a few possible options to address this issue.
Players should enter Cyberpunk 2077's settings menu and disable Virtual Surround Sound, provided their headset supports it. It can sometimes lead to audio issues. Players should also switch their Audio setting to Stereo rather than Surround in this menu.
If that doesn't work, players can reload their saved game or restart the entire system or just restart Cyberpunk 2077. This can sometimes temporarily address the audio crackling, though it is likely to come back later and will need to be addressed again.
I've installed pavucontrol, and fiddled with configuration tab, specifically Internal Audio Profile. That seemed to help, although sometimes after logging into X, the sound is crackling for a first few seconds. Then it plays fine.
As I'm not sure if this issue concern Armoury Crate or simply Asus audio drivers, I also want to post this here:
There is something wrong going on with how all ROG audio USB devices a process their audio. It sound like a driver issue but I can't find the culprit: Every ROG sounds devices are producing random poping/crackling noise (Tested a ROG Delta S Animate/Wireless/ ROG Throne Qi).
This kind of crackling noise are happening only when a sound is produced (watching video, playing...)
This crackling are way more noticeable and going really insane when using Elgato Wave Link and while routing a game or a browser to the game chanel and using their low latency mode. This crackling occurs every 45mins ish and the only way I find to stop them is to unplug/replug OR dissable/enable device from Control Panel>Sound of one of the Headsets or Rog Throne, even though their are not in use.
Here is an example of crackling that can be heard captured using nvidia replay feature:
Crackling happens @14s , I made them stop @35s by simply dissabling my Delta S wireless even though my Delta S Animate is the one in use (not showing on the video capture): the crackling usually come back after 30-45min.
I also want to add that this is also happening with only one ROG audio devices connected, meaning that I have to unplug and replug the audio device in use to stop the crackling.
I tried to see with Elgato Support but this crackling happen even when Wave link is not installed. This kind of extreme crackling only happen with the Low latency mode on ROG devices, It doesn't happen when an Headset is plugged to inboard audio OR at the back of an Wave XLR.
So far yes, the problem only occur on ROG Headphones connected via USB. Like i've said I've tested a Delta S Animate, two pair of Delta S Wireless and a ROG Throne using the jack 3.5mm output. So far the problem didn't occurs with the Jack 3.5mm output from an Elgato Wave XLR, from an astro A50 Gen 1 or from my motherboard audio outputs. I also want to point out that I've teste a Delta core to all the 3.5mm plug mentioned earlier and did not see the problem occur either, confirming that it only happens on USB.
All devices have been set to 48Khz (except the Delta Wireless that is limited to 44100Hz) no differences.
Here are the screenshots of the heaphone settings but I want to mention that even with stock settings or all settings turned off, the crackling also happen:
I don't really know for sure when the problem start occurring or rather when I noticed it in the first place. Those crackling are really rare (1 maybe every 2-3hours). The heavy crackling that can be heard in the video capture on OP is an extreme case that so far only occurs when using Wave Link and turning Low Latency Mode on a Game channel. This extreme crackling once again only happens on ROG USB audio devices and Wave link Low latency Mode is the only way I've find to highlight this audio issue.
I'm using a custom PC, I had a X570 Dark Hero, but I'm currently using a B550 F-Gaming to try if it change anything but it didn't. I also tried two different 5800x3D to no avail. Aslo tried different ram kit, with and without DOCP, no difference. Had an oportunity to try and change my 2080TI for a 4090 (the video capture was made with the 4090) and stil no differences.
Here is my current config:
B550 F-Gaming
32Gb corsair dominator ram at 3600 CL16
2080Ti Strix
WD SN850X 1Tb
Thor PII 1000W
Ryujin 360
I also want to mention that no matter the game, heavy or light, the browser or the programs, the crackling will occurs. It doesn't seems to be a ressources problem and look, at least to me , like a driver issue since that all ROG USB audio seems to use the same one.
Hey, buddy. Yeah, I got the same problem. I thought it was something wrong with my motherboard, but when I wanted to do some research, I read what you wrote. I have the same problem. Even one day when I was playing a game, the buzzing sound got too loud and 2 of my USBs stopped working. After 2 days my USBs started working again. I think there is a software problem. When I checked my computer, I noticed that a sound device called AI noise cancelling was installed. I have disabled it for now. I will use it this way and share my experiences again.
I use ROG Delta S