Audio stutters when doing large group content

I'm not sure if this is just a me issue but I've noticed since the release of Dawntrail that I will experience strange audio stutters whenever I'm participating in large group content like frontlines, zadnor or alliance raids. It's especially noticeable when I play frontlines as when everyone groups up and fighting each other the battle effects become very choppy, like I can hear the very beginning sound of an ability but then it cuts off before finishing the sound. Super annoying and I've tried reinstalling the game, updating audio drivers, changing audio formats/channels and have even tried disabling Icue since I use an hs80 corsair headset and I guess it can cause issues with some games? But sadly nothing have stopped the audio stutters.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of audio issue? If so let me know what you've tried to do to help fix it because I'm out of ideas!

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

There are a few situations that may be causing the error you are describing. Please try the following troubleshooting methods in order to resolve the issue:

- Check if your audio is playing to the audio device(s) connected and playing to the audio device(s) that you prefer such as speakers or headphones.
- Run the audio troubleshooter, in the search box on the taskbar please search and run the audio troubleshooter.
- Update your Windows Operating System using Windows Update. Make sure to install any optional updates as these aren't installed automatically.
- Update the device drivers (including graphics and sound), if the drivers are up to date please uninstall and reinstall the drivers instead.
- If possible, please try using different earphones, headphones, and/or speakers
- You may want to try plugging the audio output into different ports (both front and back) to see if one of them recognizes the speaker/headphones/earphones and allows you to use it within the game.
- Disable all programs/overlays running in the background (including Discord).
- Change the Equalizer Mode to Standard rather than custom.
- Try running FINAL FANTASY XIV as an administrator, if you use Steam this would mean running Steam as admin.
- Change 'Listening Position' to 100. Navigate to the 'System Configuration' in-game, select 'Sound Settings', towards the top select the previously mentioned setting.
- Disable all other device drivers, leaving the mouse, keyboard, and audio device as the only devices active.
- Please try switching between Fullscreen mode and Borderless Windowed mode, if you are currently using one please try switching to the other.
- Cap FPS, if the FPS in-game is not yet capped please try capping it.
- Reset System Settings, also in the config section of the FINAL FANTASY XIV launcher, there should be an option for 'Reset System Settings', please try resetting the settings.
- Also if possible, please try using a different console and/or device (this will let you know if it is specifically a settings/hardware issue or just the FINAL FANTASY XIV program issue)
- Remove any mods or injectors from the game or system (Reshade, Nvidia Freestyle, etc.). Also, remove any custom configurations made using driver-level programs (Nvidia Control Panel, Radeon Crimson).
- Perform a clean boot by doing the following: Open the Task Manager and select the 'Start Up' Tab. disable everything here and restart the PC.

Should the issue still persist after attempting all the listed troubleshooting, we advise that you reinstall the game (make sure to remove or rename the 'Final Fantasy XIV' folder in the 'My Documents' > 'My Games' folder).

We recommend that the game be installed on the C: drive, as installing it on any drive that is not the default may cause more problems.

Thank you once again for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums!

I've tried everything above and more including an entire reset of my pc with no luck. I've searched these forums, reddit, youtube and everything I could find on this particular issue but haven't seen anyone mention this exact problem so it looks like it isn't a common one or people haven't noticed it happening to them. Through the few days of troubleshooting and testing other things I realized it's actually more of a condensed issue where I only experience it in frontline pvp. I kind of just assumed it would be experienced in all kinds of group content such as alliance raids, hunt trains, world fate bosses, zadnor etc. because of how those are all large group content with many combat animations going but I seem to only experience this problem when I start up a frontline match. I've ran several alliance raids, world boss fates and hunts and have yet to run into this problem with any of that content so I can confirm it only happens within the pvp large group content. Once I found that out, I started to mess with all of the audio channels to see what was specifically the sound that was causing this to happen and found that it is absolutely the "Sound effects" option because I tried everything else like the "bgm", "ambience", and the "voices" setting etc. and only the battle sounds cut out. The voices of people as they attacked came through fine, the bgm never cut out, and the ambience never gave me issues either. I have looked at my system sound settings as well, changed audio format channel frequency and even other headsets other than my corsair hs80 but the problem still persisted. I eventually tried a complete reinstall of FFXIV and eventually after that didn't work out, a complete reinstall of windows. Sadly after getting everything set up again on a fresh FFXIV install, I checked today and running my daily frontline roulette, I still have this sound effect audio issue. I'm out of ideas for real this time so now I'm just hoping some miracle patch will come through one day and fix this issue I'm having lol

I'm having similar issues every so often the sound just says no for 15 to 20 seconds. It seems like every now and then the audio controller just "runs out of memory" freezes up and then comes back. I can tell you, with certainty, that it is not my headphones as one time I was talking with a friend during a "mute-out" and I could still hear him talking clearly. I haven't paid enough attention to remember if it happens during particularly busy times, but I'm pretty sure it has happened while I'm just riding around by myself.

This is the first forum post I've found from recent enough, and similar enough to my situation, to be relevant. I hope something comes of this; while this isn't game breaking it is very annoying.