For about a week, my Windows 11 PC has occasionally frozen for roughly a second while producing a loud pop through my USB-connected Razer Kraken Ultimate headset, then returned to normal. It happens more often during demanding games such as Baldur's Gate 3, but it has also occurred while watching YouTube and even shortly after startup. Minimizing a Firefox tab playing audio used to cause a smaller pop, which stopped after disabling audio enhancements, but the main stutter continues. On a few occasions, the headset appeared to disconnect and had to be selected again in Windows and Discord. I have reinstalled the audio drivers, updated the headset software and graphics drivers, and tried different audio sample rates. My system has a Ryzen 7 2700X, RTX 3070, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, an ASUS ROG STRIX X370-F Gaming motherboard, and a Seasonic Focus+ Gold PSU. I also use a Razer mouse, so I'm wondering whether the Razer software or USB devices could be involved. Any ideas for diagnosing or fixing this?
2 Answers
Try lowering the audio bitrate and sample rate in Windows Sound settings. A brief pop and hitch can sometimes come from the audio device or its driver struggling with the current format, especially under CPU load.
The system specifications are important here, since this could involve the CPU, USB controller, audio driver, or headset software rather than just the headphones. The fact that the headset sometimes disconnects makes the USB connection or its software worth investigating as well.
I’ve already tried lowering the bitrate and sample rate, unless you mean a different setting. The issue is still happening.