Playback Issues, cracking sounds

[Yirus]

Hello, I'm experiencing playback issues since last week.

When listening to any song I get constant cracking and popping sounds. It happens when listening to Local Files on Spotify as well. All of my windows playback devices are affected, and it always happens, the desktop app being affected as well as the web player. On Android or on a different computer however, everything seems to work fine. I have never experienced similar issues with any other program.

Some information about my setup:

• Spotify Premium
• Windows 10
• Realtek HD Audio Manager

Things I already tried:

• Reinstalling the newest version of Spotify (This actually made things worse. Before reinstalling, I was able to "fix" the issues by resparting the desktop app, now the noises are always present)
• Clearing the cache
• Turning hardware accelleration off/on
• Turning high quality streaming off/on
• Turning "Set the same volume level for all songs" off/on
• Logging out of all other devices that are connected to my account

Any ideas or experiences with similar issues are appreciated.

Update:

Realtek HD Audio Manager seems to have an issue with Spotify, leading to some weird interactions. If I remove and reinsert my microphone connector(sound still connected all the time), Realtek pops up to ask what was just plugged in. In the exact moment of reinsertion, all sound issues instantly disappear until I confirm that the new hardware is a mic. I'm using the newest version of Realtek. Looks like I will have to search for a new audio driver.

[buckstuff]

I struggled with this for a while, very frustrating, but I have the the issue that may or may not be specific to me.

I tried all the driver resets below, I tried uninstalling, etc. 

My sound likewise would lose quality and sometimes crack. I have a windows 10 machine that I use for work, and my JABRA headset seemed to correct it temporarily when I plugged and unplugged the USB, but only for about 10 seconds.

I found that use of the Cisco WebEx applications hijacks priority over the microphone, even when you set it up otherwise in the program, and other various driver settings.

Opening up the task manager and closing all cisco webex apps immediately returned sound quality to my headset. I tried all the solutions below and more from other forums, and this is the only thing that has worked for me.

Hope it saves someone else a bit of time.

Cheers