XPS 15Z Audio issue

New thread for audio issues over wireless below. FatMonk, I've added a disclaimer at the top of the new thread regarding the different audio problems and linked to your new thread for ethernet related issues, if you wouldn't mind, would you link to my new thread for any wireless audio issues:

en.community.dell.com/.../20041337.aspx

Thanks!

Hi Terry B,I download and installed then, the same problem.

Just to add to the list of frustrations:

I got my laptop on 9/21.  Day one out of the box it did the crackling thing reported here.  I don't use sound enough to care that much so ignored it for a while. I had nuked the computer day one because of the issue and then lived with it after the fact.

Whenever I did use sound - it would either be crackly and often would hard-power my computer (as another user had reported).    

I finally last week asked Dell to look into it.  They (via the web) tried redoing some drivers and some other things to no avail.  They then sent a tech to replace speakers - even though I had objected that it happens on external speakers as well.

When the tech came to the house to replace speakers - after replacing and it didn't fix (surprise) he heard the sound for himself and got Dell to send a new motherboard and a small daughterboard where the speakers and the headphone/mic jack plug into the motherboard.

This seemingly made it worse.   So I decided 'well... nothing left to replace.. maybe it is just a driver issue'

So I took to image my laptop and install Windows base by itself and slowly add things to see how it worked.   After a full reinstall - everything worked seemingly "ok".  a slight crackle only under most extreme conditions (almost warranted).   The last thing I installed which seemed to take it off the deepend again was the Cisco VPN client.    I've had several instances where this in the past has lead to extreme poor audio and video experiences on other Dell laptops and desktops.    

So - not sure to blame the VPN client or if it just points to an underlying nic issue - but after I installed the VPN client it was pretty noticable.   However, I have to have it for work.    Another note - I did simply disable the physical nic and everything has been perfect after that (even with Cisco vpn client over wireless).     So here's another "I'll blame the physical nic like 5-6 other people in this thread".

-Sam

Yes, the VPN software is not to blame. The reason why you get the crackling is because the VPN software will be generating a fair bit of network traffic which will cause latency spikes on the wireless card. You can actually observe the underlying cause in the form of a latency graph here:

en.community.dell.com/.../19434026.aspx

And ShonkyCH is right, we still can't be sure if its a Hardware/Driver problem. Dell needs to acknowledge it so we can actually find out the answer to that question.

A modern machine should be easily capable of maxing out its network connection and still be able to play basic audio. I would not say any crackling is "warranted" at all.

I would not place blame on the VPN software necessarily and this is not the case for the rest of us of course.

Also just because all the hardware is replaced does not mean it's a driver problem. There could be a design issue with how the hardware is inter-connected.

As an FYI - I had a friend buy the 14z and it does not have the same issue.  I didn't catch which physical nic it was using - but definately that it was enabled and playing audio without problem.

Dell has called me 2-3 times while I was out of cell range saying they think they may have a registry fix but just left voice mail.

Try changing roaming agressiveness.... worked for me

Mine was set to medium. Roaming aggressiveness of low and high made no noticeable difference. Still lots of red bars in DPC latency checker many off the scale.

Hi folks, I posted a solution on another thread about the "audio crackeling" here.

en.community.dell.com/.../20088945.aspx

your link doesn't even work. 
Next time I will buy a mac again and use bootcamp - much better sound and stronger chassis. I filled my XPS15z with everything you got, still I want to sell it. It is like a plastic toy and the sound resonance is wining in the chassis due to its low quality. 
-even hibernate doesn't work in this xps15z/ssd. 

Thank you for answering, I am certainly not doing anything wrong since this xps15z came preinstalled, I have just charged it, opened it and turned it on. Hibernate issue could not be figured out by Dell, so I turned it off, they could not even tell me how to do that, but I knew how to, just tested the employees knowledge and grade it to : Take out the battery, put the battery in again”    …Hopeless!

The issue with the loudspeaker isn’t  is so annoying when listening to Bloomberg videos that I have to use headset. After searching I have not found a fix for the sound, but there are thousands of comments, as you probably know, in relation to crackling sound quality. Some says it has to do with and a bunch of other types  of guessing. They might be correct, but doing research on wifi in relation to sound quality is the producers task.

I understand the price difference, but you don’t buy a laptop every day, and sound is very important. The sound in my Macbook Pro 17” from 2005 is fantastic, rich, clean, no cracling when using wifi.
 Wish I could have tested this laptop in a store before I ordered it, I would then not have bought it.

I run Macbook Pro with Bootcamp, it works fine, but the keyboard is an issue for me since I frequently connects to datacenters for virtual servers. It works, but you must know your keyboard well, that is the only issue with the mac.

Sure the XPS 15z is fast, but I don’t play games with headset or render heavy graphic, I use it to surfe the internet and watch film clips, and it doesn’t do that job well – unless you carry around with your headset.

So if it is WIFI that is casuing sound the problem, Dell must give us a fix, or live with it or sell it. I will buy a Mac and keep this on as a spare part. 
This is the last from energy from me and the last time I buy a laptop without testing it in the store, needless to say, it want be another Dell.
 

For your sound issues, try this thread:

en.community.dell.com/.../20158326.aspx

Myself and a handful of community members compiled the information for it and have found a workable solution after several months of investigation and trial and error.

Please follow this thread...

I updated My BIOS, SEAGATE HD FIRMWARE, Wireless Adapter Drivers, and Graphic Card Drivers as suggested by Dell Support Software.

After when i tune up to play something on youtube, there is that crackling sound coming, so i plan to update my Audio driver as well.

As you suggested to download the drivers R306067.exe which is 

===================================================================

Title      : Audio:Realtek ALC269 HD Audio, ALC269Q-GR Audio, ALC272 Audio Driver
Version    : A03
OEM Name   : Realtek
OEM Ver    : 6.0.1.6383
Computers  : XPS Notebook - XPS L511z
Oses       : Windows 7 64-bit Home Basic, Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium, Windows 7 64-bit ProfessionalWindows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Languages  : Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese-S, Chinese-T, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, 

English, English (UK), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, 

Pan-Euro, Polish, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

=========================================================================

My audio went away and it showed me that the device is working fine in the "Device Manager", So i thought there is problem with the configuration and i ran

a audio troubleshooter from the microsoft which somehow fixed it but the crackling sounds still exist.

My question is that is there any problem with Dell's hardware which is causing this issue? or is it just a driver thing ?

I am sure there must be something which Dell would do to resolve this issue because i never faced any such issues using other laptop. I really like Laptop for

Dells but this is my first experience with Dell's machine that i am facing this issue. 

Please elaborate me on this, i will be very grateful to you...