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Topic: ALC883 crackling on seek/volume change/fade (Read 2635 times) previous topic - next topic
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ALC883 crackling on seek/volume change/fade

Whenever I seek in a file, start another file while one is already playing, change the volume, or set a fade-in/fade-out for pause/stop/e.g. I hear an annoying crackling sound.
This problem is driving me nuts and I'm quite sure this wasn't the case some months ago. Something must have changed.

I'm using a ALC883 with newest drivers (2.56) under Windows XP. Audioplayer is f2k, but I also tried VLC and MPlayer.
Tested both Direct Sound as well as Kernel Streaming, Audio is resampled to 48 KHz, though the problem persists without it.
Changing the Buffer Length does not make any difference.
Not using fade results in a sharp "bump" when pausing or seeking, though of course this doesn't apply to volume changes.

I use Creative EP-630 Headphones, but I also tested some cheap Creative Stereo Speakers and another cheap pair of headphones (no brand).
I can't hear the sound at all using the Stereo Speakers, even at a very high volume. On the other hand, I hear them using both headphones even at extremely low volumes, though the Creative ones produce it much clearer.
My first thought was, must be the headphones. Have to use them at very low volume settings anyway, kinda sensitive.

But browsing trough my library I stumbled upon files that don't result in crackling, or at least only in a very very subtle crackling. So far, mostly FLAC encoded files result in that damn noise, but not all of them. I also have some MP3s that do, both VBR and CBR.
So my second thought was, maybe it's the way seeking works with those formats, but seeing that not all my FLAC encoded files have that problem, I'm puzzled.
All files are 44,1 KHz, 16-Bit.
It does not occur on completely silent passages, but doesn't change in volume depending on the volume of the passage.

Here is a recording via stereomix of me pausing and unpausing every few seconds. The combined background noise is crazy enough. I can record the noise, so it can't be the fault of everything behind the soundchips output?!
[edit] No link for now. How can I post files? I wanted to use megaupload but that's not allowed. Appending is not possible either.

And the same part of the original FLAC (sorry for recoding it, shouldn't make a difference though).
[edit] See above.

I know both the Headphones and the Onboard Chip suck, especially the latter, but this can't be normal. The background noise is not that great as well, but it's bearable as I don't listen at high volumes anyway. I had to mute the output of the dvd drive as that amplified the noise a lot. 

What could be wrong?

ALC883 crackling on seek/volume change/fade

Reply #1 –
My guess is that it's motherboard related. Seems like with "heavy" harddisk reading (like with flac files or filling the buffer when a song starts) you get crackling sound.

The cause of these kind of problems are often hard to find, not to mention hard to fix.
You might wanna take a look which IRQ sound soundcard is using, and if that same IRQ is used by another device. Go to Device manager > View > Resources by Type.

ALC883 crackling on seek/volume change/fade

Reply #2 –
While that makes sense, it also happens when I change the volume which should be completely unrelated to any buffering.
Just playing the song does not result in any unwanted noise at all, even if I heavily use the hard drive.
No IRQ is listed. (because it's an onboard soundchip?)

[edit]Why doesn't this forum allow any share hosters? Can't even find the rule disallowing them.
I'm sorry if posting it this way is not allowed, but I don't see any other way of providing an example.
The recording with noise, pausing and unpausing every few seconds, fade set to 200ms. http://www.megoupload.com/?d=K3KGR8BT
And a part of the original track. http://www.megoupload.com/?d=GHNBZI7P
Change mego to mega.

ALC883 crackling on seek/volume change/fade

Reply #3 –
I have the same on my ALC888 and it seems to be stronger on low frequencies. But since it's only on abrupt volume changes and not normal fades in the music, I never bothered to find it's cause.