Audio cracking whenever I’m inside a Discord call (only happens on the wireless headset)

audiodriversheadset

I'm having a problem with Discord – everytime I join a call, any audio that's playing gets cracking noises. It doesn't matter where the audio is coming from – Discord or not, cracking noises are heard. Even when I'm deafened in Discord, or mute it with volume mixer, the cracking is heard on any other audio source. It only happens with my wireless headset – there's no cracking when I use the laptop's speakers.

Headset: Steelseries H Wireless connected through USB-A (It's a pretty old model, for some reason I can't find it in google, but it there are videos on youtube about it like this one by LinusTechTips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-6uYPrWbQ)

I've tried this on another computer, showing no problems at all. It seems to happen only to my laptop. I was thinking that it's probably caused by me resetting windows 3 days ago (while keeping my personal files). However, I remembered that I used Discord after resetting, and it was completely fine (I estimate this to be no more than 24 hours after resetting). That was the last time I remember discord working properly.

Things I've tried to no avail:

  • Using Discord for Web browsers instead
  • Reinstalling Discord multiple times
  • Turning off any audio enhancements in Discord settings
  • Trying other USB ports
  • Reinstalling audio drivers (Realtek and Dolby Atmos)
  • Reinstalling my headset in device manager (I can't find drivers for for this headset online since it's pretty old – it's a 2015 model: )
  • Running Bitdefender system scan, "sfc /scannow" and "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth" in cmd
    • ALL of these did not fix the problem after running these, but WHILE running these. It's really weird – running these scripts take time for them to complete, and while they're in progress, that's when the problem is gone. When they're done though (at 100%), the cracking is back. Pretty dang annoying.
    • The first time I ran these scripts however, it was able to fix some corrupt files, but didn't solve my problem.

Things I did that eliminated the problem BUT introduced more problems:

  • Changing my power plan to Power Saver (under Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options, NOT by moving the slider to the left after clicking the battery icon in the taskbar while in Balanced mode)
    • My problem here is I want to continue using the Ultimate Performance power plan so I can run games using full power. That's why I use Discord, to communicate while playing games (like most people do).

System specs (Razer Blade 15 (2019) Advanced):

  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630
  • CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H
  • RAM: 18GB

Best Answer

Have you tried plugging into another port? If you're on a USB3 try a USB2 since they are handled differently by windows. Can your headset be plugged directly into the audio jacks? Try moving the receiver to a different location, maybe there is interference.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

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