XPS 15-9570, Audio crackling and popping

Hello Allen 

Thanks for your email and follow up.

When I play something at the beginning is good but after while the quality dropped and some noise comes behind it.

I have done several thing to solve this issue but still having same problem.

-Disabled the sound through device manager and troubleshoot it to enable it again

-Reinstall the driver

-Troubleshoot

-Dell software is up to date

-My windows is up to date

I bought this laptop a month ago for $2,000 and I'm not happy with it because of this issue.

Thanks.

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@Peter_12345jhgyu wrote:

Hello Allen 

 

Thanks for your email and follow up.

 

When I play something at the beginning is good but after while the quality dropped and some noise comes behind it.

I have done several thing to solve this issue but still having same problem.

 

-Disabled the sound through device manager and troubleshoot it to enable it again

-Reinstall the driver

-Troubleshoot

-Dell software is up to date

-My windows is up to date

I bought this laptop a month ago for $2,000 and I'm not happy with it because of this issue.

 

Thanks.

---

@Peter_12345jhgyu  can you help with some additional details please

a) What kind of noise are you hearing i.e is it a crackle, or a pop or distortion?
b) Is it heard in the same application or across all applications?
c) Is the noise heard only when audio is being played back?
d) Is this streamed audio or audio stored on the hard drive?
e) Do you get the same audio issues if you listen to the system through headphones?
f) Are you running the latest BIOS on the system?

Where did you purchase the system from, was it direct from us or via a retailer / shop?

Alan

So I have read through this entire thread and don't see any solutions.

I have crackling, distorted sound almost like my speaker is broken.  I have tried all the updates that Dell has and uninstalled the realtek audio drivers and rebooted and none of these have worked.  It happens in all my programs (the soundtest in the MaxxAudioPro actually sounds wonderful), twitch, youtube, games.

I really don't know what to do.

I don't know when it started but I know it wasn't like this when I got it.

Very disspointing for a flagship laptop.

Hi @tblockey the nature of the fault determines what course of troubleshooting to carry out, be it audio drivers or BIOS, or speaker replacement.

From the numerous responses on the thread though, what fix works for one person doesn't necessary work for another.

a) Is the crackling distorted sound only heard when audio is played back?
b) Does it make any difference whether the system has the ac adapter connected?
c) Are you running the latest BIOS on the system?
d) Have you tried manually installing Realtek's own version of the driver rather then the Dell version?

 If the above steps fail to resolve the issue you may need to carry out a clean install of the OS.

Alan

Turns out to fix my problem all I needed to do was go into my MaxxAudioPro which I never new was being used and turned down the bass down to 12.  I haven't seen the problem since.  I think MaxxAudioPro turns up the bass so much that it distorts the sound.

@tblockey thanks for advising of that. It's an interesting solution that I will add to my list of troubleshooting steps to ask when other customers are reporting this.

Alan

finaly problem solved Who ever found this, thumbs up. Disable Maxx audio worked for me

Hi Alan, 

I've been following this thread for a long time, I bought this laptop back around Christmas. My audio then would be fine for a while then suddenly start buzzing and crackling but it would go away, now I have a persistent low base sound roar and distortion and it's gotten to the point that I cannot hear what's being said. 

I assume I have the same issue that this page relates to. Sorry to be lazy but I don't want to read through 42 pages of responses, can you help me. 

@damaartenman  I had given up on reading any of this thread but after posting my own comment I read yours and it's fixed my problem entirely thank you! 

I had the problem that my XPS 15 had too much bass. Now I don't have this problem anymore - how I fixed it:

• I uninstalled Realtek Audio Drivers in System Settings ("Apps") and rechecked in Device-Manager
• Uninstall Maxx Audio in System Settings ("Apps")
• Now the sound icon should be red -> no sound
• Reboot
• Windows fixed it itself, sound is here again and without too much bass.

I don't understand Dell why the install this Maxx Audio **bleep** which sounds very bad.

I've spend 10-15 hours on this issue now. Mainboard changed twice and what not. I've been able to remove the crackle by uninstalling MaxxAudio on a previous BIOS, but this made another DSP function go crazy (autonomously behind the scenes), where it adjusts the volume up and down, depending on the music loudness. This completely removes all dynamics and distorts the signals now and then (this might be harder to notice for the "average Joe", but very clear if you work with music or similar).

I've said all the time that this is a software problem, but Dell is apparently not able to explain or make Realtek find and fix the problem.

The only thing that works 100% correctly, is to install Windows cleanly (from Microsoft media), and use the old (before 2019) High Definition Audio driver (which is provided and made by Microsoft).

This way there's no Realtek and MaxxAudio **bleep** on the drive, and the audio is fixed and sound is crisp and clear.

Only problem is that Microsoft have included a new High Definition Audio driver in 2019, and Windows 10 will sooner or later force an update to this version - which unfortunately doesn't work either (also MaxxAudio infected).

I thought I'd bought the best laptop on the market, and it probably is, if it wasn't taken down by crappy Realtek software. With all the users complaining, it is incredible that Dell is not doing more to fix it. They could start their own analysis by installing a clean Windows from Microsoft, and go from there (see when and what the system for every single update they apply).

I could of course do it myself, but I've sort of hoped that Dell would do this 4 months ago with all their engineering power.

Anyway, I will have time in October to do an in depth analysis, and I'm sure I will find the exact cause (which I'm going to share on youtube or similar). But why are big companies like Dell becomming sitting ducks when it comes to fixing simple stuff like this?

How many people have not spend hours on this? - Dell only needed to take the old Microsoft driver, re-package it, and ship it to all of us - and make it pretend it was the latest and greatest. This way we would at least have working audio, and I think we can all live without the "genuine" Realtek/MaxxAudio crapware that just waste everyone's time...

In 1995 I was as disappointed as I am now by an expensive Pioneer video grabber solution, and I haven't bought anything from them since then.

Try these settings in maxx audio. leave boost on but tone it down to a quarter and up the details to half

I purchased a refurbished (by Dell) XPS 15 9570 last year with the intention of using it only for music production. It has been nearly a year of struggling with crackling and hissing audio issues. I have tried the recommended fixes on the Dell forum, but absolutely nothing has worked. It is so bad I no longer am inspired to make music at this time. I am quite upset that nothing has been done and no updates have been pushed to users. To be honest, it's been a waste of a lot of time and money. Anything you can do would be appreciated.