XPS 15 9500, speakers, distorted/crackling audio

Nice one, thanks a lot for sharing with us . Glad your speakers are not rattling anymore, however this would be too much of a DIY for an average user. Such a shame, Dell could have picked this us before releasing the product, and now they simply ignore the problem.

Or at least train their technicians to come to us and apply this fix...

Hey Dell People, 

You need to re-design these speakers then replace them in our laptops.  This is NOT ACCEPTABLE, and your silence is deafening.  So frustrated, wish I had never bought this laptop.  

Hi, I have a new 9500 about a week, have crackling sound, too. Do you guys know whether Precision 5550 has the same issue, does it make sense to try to swap against 5550? Crackling is annoying really, especially all the windows notifications rattle.

@Sollep  I would suggest to watch reviews for that specific model to understand if it has the same speaker problem.

I am back from the dealer, they were helpful and replaced the speakers on XPS 9500 in 20 minutes and nothing changed for better. Then they made some re-installs. Same crackling sound still present (windows system sounds, audible best if you listen to smooth jazz piano). Rattling sound, also when volume is down. They did not believe me when I told that this is not going to help but they changed the speakers anyway. 

Back to the square one, probably it is a design flaw, insufficient muffling or loose parts somewhere inside the speakers or around them. Other brand new xps 15 at the dealership had  the same problem, but not xps 13, which has different sound system. I was offered a change against something else from Dell selection they have on the spot, the question is that all those computers I fancy have the same speakers, so no point in swapping. xps 13 is otherwise nice but I already had one and the reason for buying the new xps was to get a bigger screen. 

Rattling aside, it is a very good laptop. Maybe I need to get used to the flaw and go on. Any new attempts made by someone to eliminate the problematic frequencies with some kind of virtual equalizer? Do not fancy the idea of going inside the speakers physically to fix the rattling but voiding the warranty.

I am sorry but I gave up. Had 3 hours of video calls today, got a headache from separating words from the crackling noise. Tried it all: replaced speakers, multiple versions of software and drivers, local Dell support, online support. I gave it back today to the dealer. Lost 100 EUR and 2-3 days of personal time but will now buy another laptop from another brand. Still fan of Dell design, but maybe next time, when quality is back on the level it used to be. I have 2 another Dell computers at home, older versions but still going strong.

@Sollep I have a new Precision 5550 with the same audio problem. So, it's not the XPS 15 only. 

I also have the Dell Precision 5550 with the same speaker rattling issues.  

@Naphat  Did you manage to do anything with it? I just got mine and didn't have the time to get in touch with Dell Support, but it seems that there isn't much to do.

@politropos 

Hi, 

Unfortunately, no I have not managed to do anything with it. I have been in contact with Dell ProSupport (of which I directed to this thread). They insisted that this is a driver issue and not a hardware issue. Based on what I have seen so far in this thread, nobody has managed to fix this problem without doing some DIY hacks (of which I suspect voids warranty). 

I would also like to add the "solution" on the first page in @sport_line 's post by changing to generic microsoft drivers does not actually remove the crackling from my experience. It is just switching to the generic microsoft drivers causes such a significant loss in volume and fidelity to the point that everything is significantly harder to hear. The crackling is still present, but much lower, since everything is lower. 

A thing the technician mentioned was that (translated from Norwegian):

"The only information I have says that it is caused from updating the BIOS before the sound driver. So you can attempt to flash the BIOS down to an earlier version through the F12 menu, then update it through windows again."

The Precision 5550 (business equivalent of XPS 15 9500 in case some people here are unaware) has been great to use so far, providing an astonishing user experience compared to my previous computer. The only bad thing that I have noticed is namely the speakers. I have decided to keep using it despite this flaw, but I would recommend people who interested to buy these laptops to either wait for a more reliable model or just get another laptop.