Audio popping issue

[Guguwu]

The recent patch hasn't fixed anything for me.
The source of my sound popping is from ambient sounds, specifically when there are wind sound effects from the weather, zone I'm in, or the "whoosh" sound from riding a mount.
Even in an empty area with ~144 FPS I encounter popping as long as ambient sounds are on. Tried changing sound sources, messing with equalizers, updating drivers, trying out the spatial audio feature, messing with listening position, etc. If ambient is off however, I get no issues whatsoever. Really frustrated and don't know what to do at this point. I've never experienced this prior to 6.0.
[3 y/o PC, kb+m, i7-8700K CPU@3.70GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti]

[Zwodrey]

I have also the stuttering sound since the last update 6.08.
Before that patch everything was perfect and I had no sound issues.
My System: M1 MacBook Pro 2020 with macOS Monterey 12.2.
Please find a hotfix, the stuttering begins directly on the starting screen and goes through the whole gameplay experience.

[Grimno]

Been playing since patch 6.08 dropped and so far I've encountered zero stuttering or popping so it's fixed fully on my end.

Have done raids, trials, hunt trains, world-bosses, PVP, indoor environments, running around Ishgard and more.

[miragedive]

the only crackling im hearing in falcons nest is the expected crackle of burning wood in the torches around the aetheryte.

I say this with all the respect in the world for you, but please bear in mind that just because you’re not dealing with an issue doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist with others. The team has already confirmed that this is an issue with how different people’s particular CPUs and PC builds interact with the sound engine and the game’s sound drivers. It’s very likely that your PC is one of the builds that were either compatible from the start or had the issue repaired in 6.08. However, this doesn’t mean that all PCs have had the issue fixed so far. Please don’t invalidate other people’s concerns based on your own experiences, as it can prevent people from realising that this is in fact an ongoing bug in the game and discourage them from filing official bug reports.

If you still have doubts about this, I should also note that my bug report about this persistent issue after 6.08 has been marked as Accepted, as well as two other similar bug reports. This is not someone’s PC overheating or someone’s settings being wrong. It’s a bug in the game that I’m sure will be addressed soon.

[Fiel_Tana]

Might have found a fix for some Mac users on this thread! Seems to have worked for me. (Edited to add: Using a 2020 M1 Macbook pro, Big Sur 11.6)

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...to-Mac-players

"Work around:
After a lot of fiddling I discovered a mitigation:
1) Launch "Audio MIDI Setup" (You can find it via Spotlight with Command Space and type Audio MIDI)
2) Select your output device on the left pane
3) Change the audio format for the device *if possible* (EG, this is not possible with HDMI sound out). I've had the following results:
- 44.1khz (default on most devices) - Produces horrendous static/popping in game
- 48khz - Sounds better, but still scratchy
- 88.2khz - Sounds fine at first, but eventually breaks down into static again. (within 30 minutes in my testing)
- 96khz - So far this holds up

Note: You must exit and re-launch the game for the changed setting to affect it."

Switching to 96Khz has worked for me but didn't work for someone else so ymmv, but it's worth a shot.

[Zwodrey]

Ok, this worked for me now. I changed the Audio MIDI Setup to 96 kHz from 44.1khz and the stuttering is gone.
Many thanks!

Might have found a fix for some Mac users on this thread! Seems to have worked for me. (Edited to add: Using a 2020 M1 Macbook pro, Big Sur 11.6)

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...to-Mac-players

"Work around:
After a lot of fiddling I discovered a mitigation:
1) Launch "Audio MIDI Setup" (You can find it via Spotlight with Command Space and type Audio MIDI)
2) Select your output device on the left pane
3) Change the audio format for the device *if possible* (EG, this is not possible with HDMI sound out). I've had the following results:
- 44.1khz (default on most devices) - Produces horrendous static/popping in game
- 48khz - Sounds better, but still scratchy
- 88.2khz - Sounds fine at first, but eventually breaks down into static again. (within 30 minutes in my testing)
- 96khz - So far this holds up

Note: You must exit and re-launch the game for the changed setting to affect it."

Switching to 96Khz has worked for me but didn't work for someone else so ymmv, but it's worth a shot.

[Vyy]

Might have found a fix for some Mac users on this thread! Seems to have worked for me. (Edited to add: Using a 2020 M1 Macbook pro, Big Sur 11.6)

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...to-Mac-players

"Work around:
After a lot of fiddling I discovered a mitigation:
1) Launch "Audio MIDI Setup" (You can find it via Spotlight with Command Space and type Audio MIDI)
2) Select your output device on the left pane
3) Change the audio format for the device *if possible* (EG, this is not possible with HDMI sound out). I've had the following results:
- 44.1khz (default on most devices) - Produces horrendous static/popping in game
- 48khz - Sounds better, but still scratchy
- 88.2khz - Sounds fine at first, but eventually breaks down into static again. (within 30 minutes in my testing)
- 96khz - So far this holds up

Note: You must exit and re-launch the game for the changed setting to affect it."

Switching to 96Khz has worked for me but didn't work for someone else so ymmv, but it's worth a shot.

I confirm its now fixed on both M1 iMac and iMac pro for now, but i also had to mute ambient, thanks a lot.

[Ashbury]

I hope this helps for our Mac brothers and sisters, I don't wish that awful audio popping on anyone.

[eforsyt2]

Might have found a fix for some Mac users on this thread! Seems to have worked for me. (Edited to add: Using a 2020 M1 Macbook pro, Big Sur 11.6)

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...to-Mac-players

"Work around:
After a lot of fiddling I discovered a mitigation:
1) Launch "Audio MIDI Setup" (You can find it via Spotlight with Command Space and type Audio MIDI)
2) Select your output device on the left pane
3) Change the audio format for the device *if possible* (EG, this is not possible with HDMI sound out). I've had the following results:
- 44.1khz (default on most devices) - Produces horrendous static/popping in game
- 48khz - Sounds better, but still scratchy
- 88.2khz - Sounds fine at first, but eventually breaks down into static again. (within 30 minutes in my testing)
- 96khz - So far this holds up

Note: You must exit and re-launch the game for the changed setting to affect it."

Switching to 96Khz has worked for me but didn't work for someone else so ymmv, but it's worth a shot.

I followed your instructions on the M1 MacMini 2020, putting it to 96khz definitely minimizes the problem but I'm still experiencing sound issues. Thanks for the help Fiel.

I downgraded my Mac OS to Big Sur, as the FFXIV website said it can support it, but not Monetery. No difference on my end, in case anybody had similar ideas.

[Scathan]

Anyone currently playing FFXIV on Apple Silicon and suffering from audio stuttering or framerate issues should visit this site: https://www.xivmac.com.

Their downloadable app will repackage the outdated, inefficient and unoptimized bottle that the macOS version of FFXIV ships out with from Square Enix with a newer, far more efficient and optimized bottle from the Crossweavers community that runs FFXIV flawlessly on Apple Silicon.

I personally experienced an increase in fps and the annoying audio stuttering is completely gone allowing me to once again enjoy my adventures in game.