Audio popping issue

[hasuyaki]

I've been lurking this thread for a while and this is my first post on the forums so...apologies if I mess up something..

But after having no issues until 6.0, and no change for better or worse with 6.01, I wanted to provide a possible alleviation that happened for me (not a total solution, because I still get stutters maybe 5% of the time, when it used to be like 95%...so I'll take it!)

This won't be a problem if you're one to take care of your computer properly...but I'm a gremlin...Today, I vacuumed the innards of my computer because I needed to move it and it was dusty as hell and not cleaned in years. Cleaned out the fans and used a brush to knock loose caked up dust. After I set it up again...barely any audio issues. I used to have unbearable stuttering 100% of the time in PVP and combat situations, and 70-90% of the time in dungeons, overworld, cutscenes

Now I only experienced a couple seconds of very mild stuttering during PVP. My other roulettes, overworld, and in-town went fine. I havent gotten to do any cutscenes, and have yet to try the infamous P4N raid, but I'm very glad so far (too bad I already played thru MSQ on mute half the time...)

I will note that the other change I did was changing my sound settings to surround sound since I had the speakers for it but left it on stereo mode. (no change since pre-6.0) I don't really think this made a difference but I'll just put it out there...

UPDATE: very short and mild stutter in P4N. Changing settings back to stereo resulted in no difference (I have used these speakers from 5.0 so the only thing changed was the settings. The rear speakers do not emit sound from FFXIV regardless.) which means the only difference was me cleaning the computer x_x

Here's my specs as well, from the launcher config bc I dont really understand it:
windows 10 64 bit
intel core i7 950 @ 3.07 GHz (8CPUs) ~3.1GHz
RAM 6 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

I'm also on DirectX11 because DX9 caused me to D/C too often, which was unfavorable because of queues.


TL;DR if you havent cleaned your computer in years, try vacuuming the dust out, it might help?? There's definitely still an issue on their end because I get the occasional stutter but this alleviated like 90% of the instances

[Maeklos]

I will note that the other change I did was changing my sound settings to surround sound since I had the speakers for it but left it on stereo mode. (no change since pre-6.0) I don't really think this made a difference but I'll just put it out there...

This is probably what helped for you. From what the audio experts picked apart earlier in this thread and others, it seems as if the new sound engine is built entirely around surround sound (because of that stupid third party audio plugin). Which means that anyone running in stereo because they're using stereo speakers or a headset or something other than surround sound speakers gets the bug full blast. All because SE coded the sound engine to *only* do surround spatial audio.

[hasuyaki]

is it possible to set to surround regardless of what device you have? my sound stuttered regardless if it was on speaker or earbuds (the cheap $20 kind I use for my phonecalls) , but now it works regardless of speaker or earbuds

[Maeklos]

is it possible to set to surround regardless of what device you have? my sound stuttered regardless if it was on speaker or earbuds (the cheap $20 kind I use for my phonecalls) , but now it works regardless of speaker or earbuds

That is what I was going to do when I stumbled across the Windows default Spatial Sound setting.

Setting speaker output to surround 5.1 OR 7.1 does not fix the problem.

[hasuyaki]

That is what I was going to do when I stumbled across the Windows default Spatial Sound setting.

Setting speaker output to surround 5.1 OR 7.1 does not fix the problem.

ah yeah...that's another thing, mine wasnt 5.1 or 7.1, it's quadraphonic(?) ...i should try setting it back to stereo and see what happens

[Maeklos]

ah yeah...that's another thing, mine wasnt 5.1 or 7.1, it's quadraphonic(?) ...i should try setting it back to stereo and see what happens

Sound also breaks with quadraphonic sound. Tested it just now.

It took more casts of Dyskrasia to break the sound (8), but it still broke. I've taken to logging out in the Rising Stones, just to make testing iterations easier.

[Maeklos]

I did an interesting experiment.

I went into the settings for my speakers. (Right-click speaker icon in the bottom right of Windows -> Sounds -> Playback -> Selected my speakers -> Properties)
The very last tab at the top of the properties window? Spatial Sound. I turned this on (and had to restart FF, because of course I did). When I got back in game, the sound was muted, muddy, and sounded "underwater". I normally play with FF's Master Sound at 30 and my PC sound at 40% (because my speakers get -loud-) With the Windows Spatial Sound turned on, I had to crank FF's Master Sound all the way up to 100% as well as crank my PC sound up to 70% just to get an equivalent sound level. (For comparison, before I fired FF up again, I unpaused the video I'd been watching on Hulu. The sound level was exactly the same *after* I turned on Spatial Audio as before, which indicates that the issue with spatial audio is in FF, not anywhere else.)

I went to the Rising Stones and fired off Dyskrasia. It definitely took more casts than normal (7-8 instead of 2-3) to break the sound engine. But it still broke.

What's perhaps most interesting to me is that Windows comes equipped with a Spatial Sound option that exactly mimics what people have said that the stupid third party plugin does: muted sound, muddy sound, underwater sound.

Funny that SE would push us to buy a plugin that Windows comes with for free, no? Especially if they both mess up audio in the exact same way.

[Jizu]

I did an interesting experiment.

I went into the settings for my speakers. (Right-click speaker icon in the bottom right of Windows -> Sounds -> Playback -> Selected my speakers -> Properties)
The very last tab at the top of the properties window? Spatial Sound. I turned this on (and had to restart FF, because of course I did). When I got back in game, the sound was muted, muddy, and sounded "underwater". I normally play with FF's Master Sound at 30 and my PC sound at 40% (because my speakers get -loud-) With the Windows Spatial Sound turned on, I had to crank FF's Master Sound all the way up to 100% as well as crank my PC sound up to 70% just to get an equivalent sound level. (For comparison, before I fired FF up again, I unpaused the video I'd been watching on Hulu. The sound level was exactly the same *after* I turned on Spatial Audio as before, which indicates that the issue with spatial audio is in FF, not anywhere else.)

I went to the Rising Stones and fired off Dyskrasia. It definitely took more casts than normal (7-8 instead of 2-3) to break the sound engine. But it still broke.

What's perhaps most interesting to me is that Windows comes equipped with a Spatial Sound option that exactly mimics what people have said that the stupid third party plugin does: muted sound, muddy sound, underwater sound.

Funny that SE would push us to buy a plugin that Windows comes with for free, no? Especially if they both mess up audio in the exact same way.

I figured I'd try this, bcs I'm grasping at straws. I also tried the quadraphonic sound.
In world FATEs still triggered it BAD. Once it started I even the sound menue was broken for way longer than usual. I loaded into a Trial to see how it goes with other players in a smaller instance. Ended up with Shiva (Hard) and it happend a few times. Less than usual (maybe I'm just huffing copium) but still noticably annoying. Once I loaded back into the world it stuttered again. I wasn't in combat nor next to other players.

I've not been playing for the past week+ only logging in to test someones newst idea to fix it. Not only is it that much worse since 6.01 but I have the feeling it's getting worse everyday. (Whilst I felt in the time from 6.0 to 6.01 it got better everyday.)

[Maeklos]

Ended up with Shiva (Hard) and it happend a few times. Less than usual (maybe I'm just huffing copium) but still noticably annoying. Once I loaded back into the world it stuttered again. I wasn't in combat nor next to other players.

Shiva and other ARR trials do seem to be alright (I had Shiva myself last night with no problems), so long as you aren't playing a melee class. If you're playing a healer or caster and standing at the edge of the fight, you might notice that it doesn't shutter much (if at all). I think that's because ARR trials were basically just empty arenas with next to zero visual clutter, nothing that could cause positional audio issues. Which is why I think I've had zero problems in Shiva and Ifrit, but Tsukoyomi and other post-ARR trials I've had have broken from the outset.

Now, if you're playing a melee class with abilities firing off all around you, or playing in a later trial, then the problem explodes.