Audio rips on Windows 10 when PC is on wireless network

Question

I have a PC that I built some years back. Like a champ, it ran Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Then I upgraded to Windows 10.

Immediately, I began experiencing ripped sound playback, regardless of sound source: VLC, Windows Media Player, Flash in Firefox, etc. behave identically: every few seconds there's either a "rip" or a momentary dropout of sound. Sometimes, bizarrely, the music actually slows down by a few BPM for a few seconds.

I noticed that this problem occurs only when the PC is associated with my wireless network (which uses a rock-solid router and I haven't touched in over a year). As soon as I disconnect from the network, sound works perfectly.

Figuring that the NIC is old and probably isn't compatible with Windows 10, I switched to a modern NIC (ASUS PCE-N15), yet the problem remains unabated.

Windows 10 does not find any improved drivers for any of my hardware. I set the Wireless Adapter's Power Options for "Maximum Performance", and changed PCI Express -> Link State Power Management to "Off". No improvement.

What else can I try? I'd hate to downgrade back to Windows 8.1.

Answer 1

I get the feeling a few people may be having similar issues, as Microsoft posted a number of videos about troubleshooting audio recently:

• How To: Run the Audio Troubleshooter in Windows 10
• How to: Troubleshoot Basic Sound Issues in Windows 10
• How To: Change the Default Playback Format in Windows 10
• How To: Change the Default Playback Device in Windows 10
• How To: Use Device Manager to Look for Audio Issues in Windows 10
• How To: Turn Off Sound Enhancements in Windows 10

First thing to try, is run the audio troubleshooter.

1. Open the Start Menu and type 'Trouble' and select Troubleshooting
2. Under 'Hardware and Sound' click Troubleshoot audio playback and follow the prompts.

Second thing to try is turning off 'Sound Enhancements'

1. Open the Start Menu and type 'Sound' and select the Sound Control Panel item.
2. right click on you playback device, and select the Enhancements tab.
3. Tick Disable all sound effects

Also try going to your manufacturer's webpage to see if they have any drivers (for both the WiFi and Soundcard) available. as they may have been released but not supplied via Microsoft Update yet.