XPS 17 9700, audio crackling sound

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I'm getting the same problem. audio pops just randomly though. nothing really seems to set it off in particular. When I play music it pops the most I'd say. 

This is one of the most common issues with any Dell XPS series.

I think it has something to do with the latest updates of Windows miscommunicating with your current drivers. 
If you have a brand new laptop, then probably it is the common issue.

Every time I got this issue, I just simply uninstall the audio driver from the Device Manager. Get installed the latest one from the Dell website and restart the PC. Straight couple of weeks without any Windows updates, problems does not occur anymore.

You can give it a try.

Same issue, though it's more than than just the audio -- when it happens the entire machine stutters. If I'm playing a game I'll see a framerate hitch, if I'm moving the mouse I'll see the pointer stop moving for a fraction of a second.

I have also tracked it with DPC latency exceeding 2000us, and on top of all that, updating intel management engine drivers changes how the problem manifests. For instance, before I updated with the latest drivers, I'd get an odd brief tick; now I get a longer burst of static but less frequently.

Try this as it solved my crackling sound issue on my XPS 15 9500

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9500-randomly-freezing-known-issue/td-p/7634710

I have the same issue. All audio played on my laptop speakers are crackling/hissing/static noises. My audio was fine until I restarted to install updates. Please message me with a solution.

Hey, so I solved my issue. Full system stutters are gone, DPC latency is back to normal, and I can finally listen to music without being annoyed by blips and skips.

Turns out the problem is Dell Data Vault. It appears to be installed by Dell SupportAssist; I cannot figure out how to uninstall it at the moment but I can tell you that if you disable the three services related to dell data vault the problem goes away.

I highly recommend everyone tries this to determine if the problem is this pack-in software, and then maybe Dell will try and fix it.

I am experiencing the same issue. However, I could not find any data vault option in my Support Assist. Am I doing something wrong?

@Oleh Stupakunfortunately there's no official support for this. I had to go into windows services and manually disable the data vault services.

There was a dell service guy and he replaced motherboard in my new Dell XPS 9700 and issue is still there.

Uninstalled Waves MaxxAudio Pro based on Reddit forum answer, the sound never became an issue again. 

I finally resolved a similar issue. After months of trying to figure out while my sound was crackling any time I used an external speaker through my thunderbolt docking station, I finally fixed it. No matter what speaker I connected to the dock, I had the issue. And even tried using an optical port on the dock instead of the headphone jack. The only thing that worked for me was to disable the the microphone associated with the calDigit dock. As soon as I disabled it the crackling stopped. For those that experience the crackling when they aren't connected to a dock, I'd suggest disabling the microphone on the laptop to see if that works. The microphone can be disabled via the Sound Control panel in Windows settings

Problem solution!
Hello! I have Dell XPS 17 9700 and have audio crackling included with it. Also i have solutions of problem. User Charles Randall linked this issue with DellDataVault and this true, thank him very much. But not necessary delete it, can easy turn off with help best portable program for editing register - Autoruns is official microsoft product.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns#download
In tab Everything have three items with name DDVCollectorSvc,DDVDataCollector,DDVRulesProcessor and uncheck them and reboot system. DellDataVault is part Dell SupportAssist and i tested SupportAssist after this, troubles not find.
I've never been so happy about clear soundxD

I did this and got rid of Max Audio. Still happens occasionally but 90% better.

I am having the same problem.  Can you assist me?