Crackling audio at random times

[Aranath]

I've had an issue with getting random crackling noise from my Deck. It first happened literally when I turned it on for the first time and the initial opening jingle came out all crackly.

It seems to happen randomly but particularly when playing Elden Ring, although I have noticed in other games too. My initial thought was that the speakers were defective but it happens when I have headphones connected to it too.

I've tried searching to see if other people are having a similar issue but I'm not finding much, which makes me wonder if my unit is defective and needs to get RMA'd.

Any thoughts?

[get apy]

SIIISIIIIII

[NooBEmu]

Got the same issue often in GTA4 after using sleep mode. Voice dialogue seems to be faster than usual today I installed Shadow of Tomb Raider and even without going to sleep mode the issue appeared as well. Closing and starting the game again seems to fix the issue until it starts again..

[Tycho]

I have this problem too. It does seem to be associated with framerate fluctuations. It seems not unlike a DPC issue on windows.

[FAILINATOR5000]

Still have the same issue. It has happened in every game I've played at some point, albeit rare. I suspect it is tied to random frame pacing issues too. The graph shows some dips that corresponds with the audio crackle. Eventually everything stabilizes and the crackling goes away. It can be anything from a little blip to the music crackling for a good 10-20 seconds until it stabilizes.

[magpie]

Getting crackling during Graveyard Keeper even with the volume all the way down. Accompanied by a short and pretty quiet (i.e. "whoosh") of what sounds like fan burst, which is audible from a foot or so away and clearer with my ear against either speaker and lasts about a second or so. Crackling + whoosh occurs at fairly regular intervals and seems to be in-game context independent, but I haven't crosschecked with the performance overlay yet. Tonight is the first night I'm noticing this and I've had my deck (512GB) for maybe 2 weeks.

Edit: Sleep/wake does not fix; exiting game and reopening does not fix; restarting Deck and then relaunching game—seems to fix? did not stay long enough to test more fully and difficult to tell if other crackling was occuring, will test more later (didn't see anything that looked odd in overlay though)

[FAILINATOR5000]

I've noticed that the crackling audio and framepacing issues are heavily reduced when playing games in desktop mode. Does gamescope have some kind of additional overhead?

[WetBread]

Originalmente postado por Significant Otter:

We're continually looking into these types of issues, if you could reply with the specific games that you tend to experience this with that will help. For the titles without suspending first, can you turn on performance overlay and see if the audio crackle lines up with any CPU/GPU clock lowering?

I have been getting the random crackling sounds in the Skywalker saga. It happens every time I enter a new area and randomly during attacks.

[danny1145]

Alright, I want to post an update on this, since I've been talking on and off with Steam Support about this for a month and a half now. On my first Steam Deck, it was recommended to re-image the device. After re-imaging it, the speaker crackling would still occur. I RMA'd the first Steam Deck, and received a 2nd. The 2nd had the same crackling along with a faulty L2 button, so I RMA'd that one as well. I have now received my 3rd Steam Deck, and it has the audio crackling as well, but no defects. Take from this what you will, but this seems to me like a software bug, and not a speaker defect like I initially believed. Steam Support still tells me that there are no known audio bugs like this.

edit: just found out the 3rd one has a faulty power button, rip

[Tycho]

Originalmente postado por danny1145:

Alright, I want to post an update on this, since I've been talking on and off with Steam Support about this for a month and a half now. On my first Steam Deck, it was recommended to re-image the device. After re-imaging it, the speaker crackling would still occur. I RMA'd the first Steam Deck, and received a 2nd. The 2nd had the same crackling along with a faulty L2 button, so I RMA'd that one as well. I have now received my 3rd Steam Deck, and it has the audio crackling as well, but no defects. Take from this what you will, but this seems to me like a software bug, and not a speaker defect like I initially believed. Steam Support still tells me that there are no known audio bugs like this.

I thought it wasn’t a hardware issue, but a software issue. If it was a hardware issue, it would be specific frequencies and would be easy to reproduce (much less random). I think it’s a driver issue.

[skyrimer]

Well I'm having this too, and it's very random. It started happening with Yuzu and then even Steam UI sounds, then after a reset it stopped in that game, but if I boot a RPCS3 game the cracking sound starts again, very annoying. I've tried switching the beta branch, still there.

[TheRealDealReece]

Have noticed this for the first time today while playing griftlands docked using the official steam deck dock over hdmi (I have an LG C1 not sure if this could be related to the other LG specific issues)

Griftlands sounds fine when played normally on the steam deck and I haven't observed this with any other game docked or undocked, but when docked this happens maybe once every 30-40 mins, the audio cuts out for a second and sometimes after the audio returns there is a crackle.

[RPG Gamer Man]

This happens on some games with me when i mess around with the fps and settings like this. It does not happen with every game, but these settings do cause crackling and sound issues apparently.

[TheRealDealReece]

Originalmente postado por TheRealDealReece:

Have noticed this for the first time today while playing griftlands docked using the official steam deck dock over hdmi (I have an LG C1 not sure if this could be related to the other LG specific issues)

Griftlands sounds fine when played normally on the steam deck and I haven't observed this with any other game docked or undocked, but when docked this happens maybe once every 30-40 mins, the audio cuts out for a second and sometimes after the audio returns there is a crackle.

After forcing griftlands to use an older version of proton in the compatability settings (6.3-8) I am seemingly no longer experiencing this issue when docked. It may be worth people trying different versions of proton for different games and seeeing if there is any improvement.

[Sarge the Comfy Gaming Doggo]

Originalmente postado por TheRealDealReece:

Have noticed this for the first time today while playing griftlands docked using the official steam deck dock over hdmi (I have an LG C1 not sure if this could be related to the other LG specific issues)

Griftlands sounds fine when played normally on the steam deck and I haven't observed this with any other game docked or undocked, but when docked this happens maybe once every 30-40 mins, the audio cuts out for a second and sometimes after the audio returns there is a crackle.

This has been happening to me in Temtem, Shovel Knight, katamari damacy reroll, even dinky games like Super Puzzle Platformer.

Just when its docked too. I never noticed a single audio issue before I got this dock.

It's KILLING my OCD to the maximum.

I can't even replicate the issue either because it happens entirely randomly, sometimes it never happens if I restart the deck and unplug the dock but to have to go thru that every single time is just an outrageous annoyance.

I really hope its just an audio software issue they patch cause this is depressing.

[Tycho]

Originalmente postado por Sarge the Spooky Scary Skeleton:

I can't even replicate the issue either because it happens entirely randomly, sometimes it never happens if I restart the deck and unplug the dock but to have to go thru that every single time is just an outrageous annoyance.

I really hope its just an audio software issue they patch cause this is depressing.

The randomness is why I think its a software/driver issue.

If it was hardware, there should be a way to reproduce it on demand.