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?

[Prezidentas]

Is it actually audio or just the trackpads vibrating?

[Aranath]

Definitely the audio. I don't use the trackpads and specifically have them turned off in my games. You can definitely hear it come through on heaphones.

[Prezidentas]

Probably pulseaudio being crap. No idea why Valve still used it in the Deck. The pulseaudio delay in source games is present too

[ko]

I know what you mean. I've definitely had some intermittent crackling. Nothing serious, but I've noticed it a few times, mostly in the Steam UI.

[Gandi]

I'm getting periodic audio crackles too while playing hollow knight.
Now it might be placebo but I think it only starts after having put the system to sleep at least once after a reboot. Even if you restart the game it will crackle every so often until a fresh reboot of the whole system.

E: Yeah just placebo. After a reboot it will be okay for some time but crackles start after a while as well.

[DETOX]

i even have crackling audio on the ui (30fps cap enabled)
doesnt matter if via speakers or headphone
several samples playing seems to trigger it randomly
some games are more affected (ats maybe bc its linux native)

[t3nch0]

This seems to happen after putting the system to sleep and then waking it up. It sometimes goes away after you sleep and wake it up a few times and sometimes it also needs a full reboot. Pretty annoying after testing a bit I'm pretty sure its an audio driver issue of some sort and not the actual steam deck.

[Kris]

Got the same crackling after wake-up And on top of that the spoken dialog in game (Assassins Creed Odyssey) doubles in speed.

[Ravenesque]

I have the same issue! Mostly with the Steam Deck UI. It is most noticeable when navigating menus really fast or like you said the opening jingle. In game I have yet to notice it.

[christofin]

This happens to me too. Something about specifically when it happens makes me think that it's software rather than a hardware fault.

[DarkEmpire]

Do you stil have this probleem?
I think i know what it is. ohwell support seems to know.
Got this same stuff.

[76561198870432598]

We have identified the issue with crackling audio coming out of suspend, and are working on implementing the fix into a future OS build. In the meantime suspending and resuming again can often fix the issue.

[christofin]

引用自 Significant Otter：

We have identified the issue with crackling audio coming out of suspend, and are working on implementing the fix into a future OS build. In the meantime suspending and resuming again can often fix the issue.

Yay! Can't wait for the fix. It happens a lot in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but normally only after I've put the Deck to sleep 4-6 times without restarting the game.

[Aranath]

The problem for me is - I don't really use the suspend function. I generally quit out of games and then put the Deck to sleep. When I come back, I reload the game from scratch and I still get audio crackling issues. The most recent offender was Red Dead Redemption 2. Just got crackling all over the place. Elden Ring does it occasionally as well. Again, I don't suspend either of those.

So I really don't know what's causing the issue for me.

[PaladinGeorge]

Any further updates on this? It is still happening to me in both games and in the menu. Typically I am forced to do a full system restart to fix it.