Audio popping issue

[DrGirlfriend]

When Endwalker released, I experienced audio stuttering, lagging, popping for the first time. It would happen during the occasional large FATE.

After patch 6.01, the Asphodel raid fight #4 was unplayable with sound on. It sounded as if things were echoing and looping over each other, while slowed down and lagging. It was horrendous.

Estate housing music is fine, but upon entering my inn room, audio lagging, stuttering, etc. ensued.

Really disappointed that the patch not only failed to fix this issue, but appears to have made it worse.

I have tried changing all my sound settings, changing equaliser settings, changing audio output device (wired speaker, headset, etc), I have tried changing listening position. Even with only "voice" on in the Asphodel #4 raid fight, the audio issue persisted.

I really hope they can resolve this. Playing the game without sound for seemingly random encounters and instances is so disheartening.

Sound in Radz-At-Han? Estate? Ashpodel #1? Perfect, beautiful, no issues.

My apartment? Asphodel #4? Whoa buddy! This is what the game would sound like on dial-up and underwater. Oof. It is so random.

[minopoki]

Does anyone know if the JP playerbase has the audio stutter issue? We can beg and seethe in our English forum echo chamber all we want - if the JP playerbase hasn't reported the problem, it will remain unknown to the devs.

I have linked in the first post of the following thread some posts from the Japanese forums reporting this issue:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/451573

Japanese players seem to be complaining much less than we are though.

But I think that considering how big the English speaking community is in this game, I assume SE have some concern for our issues, and that ours demands will reach them eventually, although the language barrier is probably indeed an problem in this case.

[Lagunow]

I have linked in the first post of the following thread some posts from the Japanese forums reporting this issue:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/451573

Japanese players seem to be complaining much less than we are though.

But I think that considering how big the English speaking community is in this game, I assume SE have some concern for our issues, and that ours demands will reach them eventually, although the language barrier is probably indeed an problem in this case.

There's a single thread and 70% of the replies are by the same person. I do not understand japanese, but it seems the JP community is largely unaffected, which is worrying given SE's track record of poor communication with the western playerbase.

[minopoki]

There's a single thread and 70% of the replies are by the same person. I do not understand japanese, but it seems the JP community is largely unaffected, which is worrying given SE's track record of poor communication with the western playerbase.

There isn't only one.
From my limited Japanese knowledge, I could find at about 6 threads that seemed to me were reporting specifically the audio stuttering issue, and I linked all of them in the other thread.

This one is the only one I have found from after 6.01.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...85%A5%E3%82%8B

Title translates to: "Even after Patch 6.01, sound noise is happening"
The first part translates to:
"Since Endwalker early access, it has been happening, and it was said that was gonna be fixed in 6.01, but…
With no change, noise or crackling/clipping are happening."

パッチ6.01以降もサウンドにノイズが入る
暁月アーリーから発生していて、6.01で修正されたという話でしたが
変わらずノイズ・音割れが発生しています。

[Maeklos]

One other thing to consider, too, is that a far, far larger percentage of the Japanese player base play on consoles. PC gaming isn't as prevalent in Japan as it is in the Americas and EU.

[Hiromaniac]

Didn't read through all 36 pages, but throwing in my voice that I'm also having this issue. I have also tried all suggestions short of complete reinstall of the game. At first it was in most combat and especially when a large number of enemies were present. After 6.01 now I'm getting the stuttering moving around or even just standing idle. No associated performance issues outside audio stuttering and slowing.

[AeroXaia]

It has been reported by intel users as well, I wish people would stop saying it's an AMD thing. Even i7 has had it. I don't know why they're reported less, but it's not only AMD.

(And not only realtek, which some of us were previously suspecting. Sound blaster has also had it, and somebody tried buying a new sound card and had no luck.)

Edit: I tried disabling the "USB selective suspend" thing in power options, it also didn't fix it. DX9 makes it partially better but not fixed. Camera angle can definitely affect it (sometimes there's no good angle though).

[Jizu]

Kudos for everyone going all the way with trying everything to find a solution the user can use to fix the issue.

I'm sincerly in the believe now that it's nothing we can change, we have to wait for a reaction on SE's part.

I just wish I didn't, for the first time, buy a 3 Month sub in anticipation of EW...

[Orbek]

Oh yeah, this issue is really getting under my skin now.

The fact that they released a patch yesterday addressing sound problems but we still see lots and lots of posts from ppl having this issue (myself included) worries me.

Just like all the new trials, the raid fights have been bad on the sound bug, in particular the last fight which is so bad i can barely struggle to play it without sound completly desabled.

Its a massive bummer for me! I really enjoy the fights and music.

[Oakster]

I hoped against hope I would be able to find something, anything to fix this issue. I held out hope the first patch for Endwalker would iron the problem out, but it wound up being worse than before somehow.

I'd read that camera positioning has something to do with it, and having your camera "obscured" by models or particle effects exacerbates the issue. It sounded completely ridiculous, until I did a dungeon and a random particle effect spawn blocked my camera and caused the stuttering, staticy audio issues. I moved my camera out from behind it to find it relieved, then moved the camera back to find it started again.

A simple temporary workaround in theory, but in close quarters in any combat situation, especially as a tank, it's unfeasible most times to find a camera angle that stops it. I heard nothing but audio glitch for the entirety of a run of Eden last night.

At this point I'm forced to resign that this is a SquareEnix problem, and while I have no intention of demanding anyone upend their entire lives to solve it, I would love some acknowledgement that they know the issue exists and they're working on it.

Additional things I have tried to solve this problem:
-Adjusted my audio device Hz multiple times
-Muted Ambient Sounds
-Muted Performance sounds just in case that somehow worked
-Adjusted my listening position to be entirely character-focused (slider to 100)
-Muted BGM
-Played content in first person mode
-Attempted to play content from a top-down view

At best, I managed temporary reprieve through camera positioning, but not in a way that's feasible in every or even most situations.