Audio Glitches During Playback

[DarkAngelBA]

Playback constantly glitches or 'micro-cuts'... 

I use a Scarlett2i2 USB Sound device. I've tried with WinAmp or Youtube but glitches are only in the Windows 10 Spotify App. 

CPU/Memory usage seems to be normal, but when other apps take resources the issue gets worse.

Windows 10 version 1709 on a Vaio i7

I pay the premium account for more than 2 years...

Any help? Anyone else has the same issue?

 

[Sebasty]

Hey @DarkAngelBA

I also have the same Scarlett and an older version of VAIO, cool!

About the audio glitching - there is a number of things that can cause this.
I recommend reinstalling Spotify to see if it helps.

Make sure that Spotify is whitelisted in your third party antivirus app (if you're using it). Avast for example has a firewall app that scans all traffic.

Windows Defender has something similar too. Try this:

Windows 10, opened start menu, typed "defender" to open the Windows Defender Security Center.  Went to "App & Browser control" , Scrolled to bottom and clicked "Exploit protection settings", At top changed to "Program Settings", Hit "Add program to customize", Add program by name "Spotify.exe", and in the window that pops up (Or scroll down to your new addition) Check the box for every item....to Override the system settings, and turn them all to off.  Rebooted spotify, and the crackling is much better for me at least.

You can try out turning Spotify's hardware acceleration off (Three dot menu - View - Hardware acceleration).

If your VAIO is also a laptop, try enambling high performance power plan.

When did this crackling start happening, after some specific event?

Let me know how it goes! 🙂

[tenbrink]

Ignore what I previously wrote in this now edited message. Glitches do not only happen in Spotify so it's something else.

I maybe should still include that I also have a Scarlett, 2i4 gen 1. Have you checked if glitches happen when playing audio in other apps?

[tenbrink]

If you have another DAC available e.g. the internal soundcard on your vaio, see if glitches happens while using it too. I did and it was my Scarlett that was wonky. I re-installed the driver and now glitches are gone.

First remove everything Focusrite related in the Device manager. Disconnect the Scarlett, and then to be 100% sure, glick on "view" and enable "show hidden devices", then find everything named Focusrite something something, right click and select "uninstall device". If you can tick "delete the driver software for this device" or something similar, do that as well. Reboot PC. Install Focusrite driver.