Audio crackling issue

Hi, since the latest patch drop for 7.5, I've been having crackling in my audio while playing the game. My entire sound experience has changed within the game itself too. The loading screen is the worst, with the whole sound byte having cracking sounds within it. It happens when idling, battling, anything. I've not changed any of my in-game settings since I started playing, and the cracking only happens within FFXIV so I know it's not my headset or my computer. It happened right after the patch downloaded, I played about 4 days after the patch dropped, and then noticed the sound change.

Anybody know how to fix this? It's making playing extremely unpleasant.

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

We highly appreciate you letting us know about the audio issue you have been experiencing. Please provide us with the following information for us to better understand what might be causing the issue:
Are you using any audio enhancement softwares?
Did the windows audio drivers update at the same time as the 7.5 patch?
Does lowering the volume reduce the crackling?
What steps have you taken to resolve the issue so far?

Please do get back to us with the information for us to try to resolve the audio issue and do not hesitate to contact us if you run into any other issues moving forward.

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