Opening certain sites leads to crackling on audio

[exxonin]

When I open certain sites, crackling on audio starts. I do have to close the browser and reopen it to solve the problem. Why is this?
Now it even happens on the linux mint site! I did close a tab on my browser where I was watching video, and now the crackling on my headphones has stopped!

So, I was watching video, no crackling, but opening certain sites on another tab at the same time might cause crackling.

[gibbs1984]

Wow, didn't think I'd see someone else with this issue, I have it too but I just thought it was my extremely old speakers playing up, will be getting some new ones soon but maybe it's not the speakers and this issue will persist with new speakers.

Sorry, don't know how to fix the issue apart from restarting the browser but hopefully someone will know.

Let's try to narrow it down.

I use Firefox when this happens.
Seems to happen either on Facebook or YouTube, might be other apps though.
Using Mint 19.1 Cinnamon 64bit.

[exxonin]

It is the combination of running video, and simultaneously opening certain sites on other tabs. This triggers the crackling on, when shutting down the video or closing the tab it is active on, the irritating tingling stops! I did try many headphones, but that is not it! If I unplug the headphones, the rustling is also present over the laptop speakers!

[MrEen]

Hi gibbs1984 and exxonin.

I have a somewhat usual fix for crackling audio but I am not certain it will help in your cases. This fix is normally for those with crackling audio at all times, but your cases are unique. It's entirely reversible so we should try it anyway.

In the terminal enter xed admin:///etc/pulse/default.pa (if using Mint 18.x or 17.x use gksudo xed /etc/pulse/default.pa instead.)

Find the line that says load-module module-udev-detect and change it to load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

Save the file, then run pulseaudio -k in the terminal and test your sound.

Let me know if that stops the issue from happening.

[exxonin]

Thus far MrEen your solution works fine! Thank you so much!

[MrEen]

You're quite welcome, exxonin.

[gibbs1984]

Thanks MrEen,

I've done what you've said, the crackling sound was only random (at least once a week though) so I'll keep this thread updated with whether it happens again or not within a few weeks.

[MrEen]

Sound good, gibbs1984. Good luck.

[gibbs1984]

Been nearly 2 weeks now and I haven't had the crackling noise once since doing this fix.

[MrEen]

That's great, gibbs1984!

So glad that fix worked for both of you.

[Norbert]

Wow, didn't think I'd see someone else with this issue, [...]

Hm, I've actually had this problem with Linux (Mint) for years...
It's one of those things where I'm wondering why it still hasn't been fixed.
I'll try the fix/workaround mentioned in this thread, and I'll add it to my list of things to run after (re)installing the OS.

[MrEen]

Hi Norbert.

Some years ago pulseaudio switched from interrupt based scheduling to timer based scheduling. Some systems just don't work well with this newer setting, so that modification is necessary. I honestly don't know if computer age has anything to do with the likelihood of needing the modification.

Hope it resolves your issue as well. Good luck.

[PaganDegree]

@MrEen
Had I just done a little more and better google searching, I would have found this instead of buying a USB SoundBlaster for my PC. This whole time I thought my NUC had a faulty audio port, and it was this. Just wow. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. I found this today because I built myself a new Linux Mint workstation and was shocked to experiencing audio crackling issues from the start.

[MrEen]

You're welcome PaganDegree. And welcome to the forum.

And yeah, it sucks such a little thing like this can cause issues, and can be a bear to figure out the cause.

[PaganDegree]

@MrEen
Incidently, this is still an issue on these platforms:
Nuc8i7HVK (realtek ??) - Mint 19.3
Nuc8i7HVK (realtek ??) - Mint 20.1
ASROCK Z490M Pro4 (Realtek ALC1200 Audio Codec) - Mint 20.1

Just wanted to add details for clarity and your fix appears so far to work on all of them. Maybe Realtek audio has the biggest problem?

[MrEen]

Maybe Realtek audio has the biggest problem?

Don't get me started on Realtek!

A new sound fix for many people is to actually blacklist the realtek module. There's a built-in generic parser in Linux that can do the main lifting instead of the codec specific parser. They may miss out on some options that would have previously been there, but at least it works!

Thanks to another user here (hglee) I discovered this recently and it's helped dozens of people with all manner of sound issues already.

To be fair, this could be more of an Ubuntu problem than a Realtek problem. It is Ubuntu that issues "fixes" that may have created this mess. I have no idea if they get input from Realtek before implementing them.

[PaganDegree]

@MrEen
If there is anything I can help you with while working on this issue let me know. Happy to support the Mint community if I can.

[MrEen]

@MrEen
If there is anything I can help you with while working on this issue let me know. Happy to support the Mint community if I can.

There isn't really anything we can do. A bug report at Ubuntu would be the proper place to report it, but I don't believe it would lead anywhere. When Mint 21 comes out next year, there will be a new version of PulseAudio that might fix this. A bug report at PulseAudio might be even better. I just don't know if any developers care about this. I think as far as they're concerned, adding the tsched=0 is the fix.

That ALC1200 codec has been an issue mentioned here recently. Or was it 1220? I'm not sure at the moment. But one of those had a few people fixed by blacklisting the realtek module (which indicates an issue in the kernel, not PulseAudio) but some didn't get fixed with it. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which systems get fixed with which hacks. Frankly, this is starting to wear on me. But I've gone through these feelings a few times now, and I usually bounce back after venting some similar to what I've done here (though not always in such a family-friendly way) so I expect the same to happen again.

But I do thank you for the offer! If you wanted to persue this, you could follow either of the above links and see if it leads anywhere. I've always figured Ubuntu has such a huge user base that there wasn't much point in suggesting people go there to report these things, as there must be plenty of Ubuntu users affected similarly who would then use their channels to report this stuff. We just have to wait for the fixes to get implemented and sent down the chain.

And while I'm venting, I'll just mention that if any of your systems have Radeon HDMI audio, you can expect that to periodically break. Again, by the time Mint 21 rolls around, I'm hoping that stops happening. We've been going through some big changes in the entire audio subsystem from the past year and change, with more coming, so there are still some teething pains.