Audio popping issue

[Grimno]

Just why. Why ruin your game for...what, a small payday from Embody, the entity that pushed this utterly ruinous Spatial Audio on us? It was all perfect before. It didn't need any "improvement" to make Endwalker as good as it was. I'm just so lucky I was able to finish just before the patch.

If I recall, the Benchmark test doesn't even use the new audio. It's still the Shadowbringers era one.
And like... it sounded so much better! Audio was more clear, sounds from sources had more distinction, and not a single crackle or pop.
I want that audio back!
It wasn't broken. It worked fine. I never, ever, EVER saw someone go "Oh man the audio just could be so much better."
Square put a hat on a hat here. Congratulations.

[Teiren]

I do remember the benchmark sounding the same as always before Endwalker, yeah.

And looking at my post again as I updated it for Smileton: While I know it's not exactly helpful to be accusatory, it's really the only thing that makes sense to me, unfortunately. And Spatial Audio just looks so pretentious, lol. Not to mention that, no offense because this isn't a strike against the game (quite the opposite), I just don't think FFXIV is advanced enough to really take advantage of it. Even people that have legitimately used it say it's either muffled or not very good.

[EvilKiwi]

Another issue that I didn't realize until doing old duties for the first time since 6.0: The sound balance is messed up, let alone the bass and other players' volume. It's particularly noticeable with Ambient Sounds in Arm of the Father for the electrified water.

Oh my god, yeah. I see it in certain dungeons and duties. And I always have sound effects around 45 percent. Ran lvl 75 dungeon and when the statutes with the first add finish their aoe lines, the sound is ovepowering everything else. It's mind boggling!!

Speaking of when I hear it the most, for some reason its with a dps like red mage or bard. I play healer for the main story, and after the hoops i went through with the audio, I can hear the stutter only a few times thankfully, but the sacrifice is that the audio quality is frankly utter shit.

Also I finally see Square responded.... with saying it's on our end again. A'ight, bet, I'll try their ''fix'' THOROUGLY this evening. Also that is not a fix, that is putting the blame on us, yet again.

[Teiren]

I'll see what that's like if I end up doing that duty in a roulette. But yeah, having done only Endwalker stuff since release, naturally, I just plain couldn't know any better beyond hearing some oddities with my job sounds and other people's volume that I quickly got used to. But now that I'm back to doing roulettes since yesterday, I can directly compare my experience before and after Endwalker of all those duties I've done a LOT before. It's...sad.
At least I have my memories, and as I always know to be true, it could always be worse. And it IS for many people. I consider myself fortunate and certainly do not take it for granted now.

[Slendercat3]

Their patch to fix things, 6.01, is what broke it for me. Definitely cause by enemies being near me.

[paga]

I have found turning "Ambient Sounds" to 0% fixes the problem for me. Try giving it a shot and see if it helps.

I think that actually fixed the problem for me. But mine was only minor so might not help for others. Thanks.

Edit: Yes can confirm that the ambient sounds are the problem for me, its especially bad when its raining. Issue started with 6.0.1 and I have a Ryzen 7 5600x if that helps. Temporary fix is okay but I really hope they can solve it quickly, especially for the ones who have it way worse.

[Grimno]

Oh my god, yeah. I see it in certain dungeons and duties. And I always have sound effects around 45 percent. Ran lvl 75 dungeon and when the statutes with the first add finish their aoe lines, the sound is ovepowering everything else. It's mind boggling!!

Speaking of when I hear it the most, for some reason its with a dps like red mage or bard. I play healer for the main story, and after the hoops i went through with the audio, I can hear the stutter only a few times thankfully, but the sacrifice is that the audio quality is frankly utter shit.

Also I finally see Square responded.... with saying it's on our end again. A'ight, bet, I'll try their ''fix'' THOROUGLY this evening. Also that is not a fix, that is putting the blame on us, yet again.

Yeah even when it's working for me the audio just sounds... ehhhhhhh at times
Like I can hear the "spatial audio" kick in and try to muffle certain combat sounds when it's not popping and it just sounds so weird.

Maybe how like the game engine had it's 1.0 phase that needed burning down...
Now we've hit the 1.0 phase of their audio engine.

[shandreax]

I am a bit worried they are seeming to say its a non-issue on their side and blaming everyone's systems instead of making sure it was compatible. lowering sound quality was a complete joke stating it could be straining our systems (*this is not grapes made with too many pixels). The people who made this wonderful new sound engine are not willing to fix the issue since their engine is perfect.

An issue wherein certain sounds do not play correctly under certain conditions.
* We expect sound issues created after the release of Patch 6.0 to be resolved via adjustments to the sound engine. Should you continue to experience sound-related issues, we recommend the following:
Open the Windows control panel, select your default audio device, and view properties. Then, under the Advanced tab, select a lower setting for the default format. (A lower bit rate and Hz range is less system intensive.)

I am now on CD quality (my lowest setting for my speakers) for game and sounds like I threw a few bricks in a Dryer and hit max speed.(see youtube for that video) When in combat its bad now in raid with 8 peeps its beyond insane..... you did not fix it and apparently the above instructions that seem to be saying its due to our audio not able to handle the game and lower the settings so its not too intensive sounds really funny hmmm... everything was fine prior to patch for YEARS!! and now drum roll!! <<<< oh I would not be able to hear that over this NOISE!

[Elliah-Seraheart]

I think that actually fixed the problem for me. But mine was only minor so might not help for others. Thanks.

Edit: Yes can confirm that the ambient sounds are the problem for me, its especially bad when its raining. Issue started with 6.0.1 and I have a Ryzen 7 5600x if that helps. Temporary fix is okay but I really hope they can solve it quickly, especially for the ones who have it way worse.

I do not have any issues in combat or in towns etc. Cutscenes are ofc unwatchable though.
The funny thing is, whenever I MUTE the ambient, every single other audio channel freaks the fuck out indefinitely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGu2rv3gbg&t=321s

[rPilcrow]

Time to throw my hat in the ring:
I'm having audio popping issues, but it's almost exclusively in dungeons and trials, and like pretty much everyone else has only started with the release of 6.0. The 6.01 patch did absolutely nothing, and I am having no audio issues with any other game.
It was bearable until the lv89 dungeon, and then got REALLY bad during the second trial, which is extremely disappointing because it obliterated the atmosphere and made it impossible to listen to the music.
It isn't just EW content that's been affected; I've also noticed audio popping in a few other situations, Thornmarch was bad for example.