Firefox audio popping/crackling noises

[exxeca]

Hello,

I am using Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon 64-Bit with an external sound device (Focusrite Scarlett 2i4).

In general everything is fine, except with Firefox. When starting a video on Youtube for example, I can hear some popping/crackling noises. This only happens at the beginning of each video or sound clip. I don't have any problems with Chrome or Spotify though, it seems to be an issue with Firefox. Also, when playing something on Firefox, then closing it, then switching to Chrome/Spotify/whatever and playing some kind of audio, I also hear that crackling ONCE. After that, everything runs fine again (until I use Firefox again).

These kind of noises usually appear when the sound device/driver is being activated/initialized, for example when booting the system or when switching sound devices. So my guess is, everytime I play some sounds on Firefox, the audio device or service is being switched (maybe from ALSA to Pulseaudio??).

Does anybody have similar experiences? Or do you have any ideas how to solve that behaviour?

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System:    Host: xxx-mint Kernel: 4.8.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: ASUS product: All Series
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X99-A/USB 3.1 v: Rev 1.xx Bios: American Megatrends v: 2001 date: 09/30/2015
CPU:       Hexa core Intel Core i7-5820K (-HT-MCP-) cache: 15360 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 39581
           clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 1659 MHz 2: 1798 MHz 3: 3278 MHz 4: 1797 MHz 5: 1221 MHz 6: 2038 MHz
           7: 3300 MHz 8: 1779 MHz 9: 3300 MHz 10: 1995 MHz 11: 1207 MHz 12: 2158 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GM206 [GeForce GTX 960] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 2560x1440@59.95hz, 2560x1440@59.95hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 960/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.130 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA Device 0fba driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1 Sound: ALSA v: k4.8.0-53-generic
           Card-2 Intel C610/X99 series HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-3 Focusrite-Novation Scarlett 2i4 driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 003-002
Network:   Card: Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: f000 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1500.3GB (1.6% used) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: N/A size: 256.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_860 size: 250.1GB ID-3: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZRX size: 1000.2GB
           ID-4: /dev/sdc model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 250.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 215G used: 8.2G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 16.06GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:59C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 282 Uptime: 1:18 Memory: 1778.2/15946.5MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[MrEen]

Hi exxeca, and welcome to the forum.

The kernel you're using is no longer supported. You should either drop back to the most recent 4.4 kernel, or upgrade to the latest 4.15 kernel.

That alone may solve your issue. If not, we can investigate further after changing the kernel.

[exxeca]

I updated my kernel to 4.15, unfortunately the issue did not go away. Firefox still seems to change the audio driver/device.

[MrEen]

What do you have checked under Performance on the opening page of Firefox > Edit > Preferences

If Use recommended performance settings was already checked, see if this edit makes the issue disappear:

In the terminal, type gksudo xed /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and when the file opens scroll to the bottom and add this line:

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options snd_hda_intel power_save=0 power_save_controller=N

Then either reboot, or in the terminal issue:

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sudo alsa force-reload

You should also restart Firefox before testing to see if this fixed it.

Good luck.

[trytip]

if it only happens in firefox, disable the hardware acceleration in fiorefox.

[MrEen]

if it only happens in firefox, disable the hardware acceleration in fiorefox.

Yeah, it would probably be better to try that first!