I have been having this issue since Early Access opened. Any time I am in battle (and thankfully, only in battle) the sounds cracks, stutters, pops, and is generally painful to even listen to at this point.
I have found that by moving my mouse around and changing my angle, it will improve from some angles, but usually it's an angle that makes it impossible to play effectively (can't do a trial if you have to have your camera pointed away from the fight so the sound doesn't make me want to scream anymore).
I have a sneaky suspicion it's something to do with new the sound settings, but I'm no professional so don't quote me on that- kind of ironic though that this fancy new setting is added, and all of a sudden, all these people- myself included- are having sound problems when there were none before.
Please please fix this soon. I *want* to listen to this game, not feel like I have to turn the sound off completely to even try to be a productive member of a group.