Audio intermittent pops and cracks

[cwiggins999]

I'm hoping to start a piano/vocal Twitch stream, but having one audio problem that's preventing doing so. I've isolated it so it occurs when I play an audio file back as a media source in OBS, and it happens when recording or streaming. The results has some intermittent pops and cracks that don't correspond to anything in the source audio file - high levels, etc. The audio file is a mixdown of piano/vocal tracks recorded in my DAW. (The problem also occurs if I stream audio from my DAW, using ASIO or Loopback inputs, and I've tried two different audio interfaces - an iConnectivity 4+ and Scarlett 4i4. Trial and error led me to getting things as simple as possible, thus the audio file playback in OBS.) I also notice that if I move the volume slider for that media source while the file is playing, I get similar cracking/popping, so don't know if that gives any hints. I've attached a log file. And I've been googling for similar problems but haven't hit on anything, so bringing it to the forum. Thanks!

 

[cyclemat]

update bios
update drivers over the manufacturer homepage

AMD confirms TPM issue is causing problems for some Windows 11 PCs - but the fix isn't ready yet

AMD offers a workaround for the issue on some Windows 11 PCs, but a BIOS update to fix it properly won't arrive until at least May.

www.zdnet.com

Try disable you FTMP in bios

look that you didnt have an usb bandwitch problem
downlaod this and post a screenshot of the programm

USB Device Tree Viewer

 

[cwiggins999]

I think the issue is resolved - at least my first few test cases pass with flying colors. I saw references to using Apple Core Audio as a better AAC codec. Even though I have iTunes installed and use it all the time, the Core Audio components have to be explicitly installed. And any recent iTunes installations come from the Windows Store, and are essentially impossible to scan the file directories due to some crazy security. So I found a recent iTunes download install - https://itunes-64-bits.en.uptodown.com/windows/download/2327328 12.10.8, unzipped it to get the Core Audio MSIs, installed them, and voila - clean audio!

This thread from 2015 has details on which files to install. Just be aware that none of the original links apply due to how current iTunes is installed.

OBS-Studio: Enable CoreAudio AAC encoder (Windows)

First of all, if you have iTunes or QuickTime installed, chances are you are already using the CoreAudio AAC encoder in OBS-Studio. But if you normally do not use or install any of those, there is another way to enable it. All we need is the...

obsproject.com

Who knew that the solution to a Windows audio problem would come from Apple :-)