I didn't notice this issue until I was farming FATES in Il Mheg last weekend. I had to shut off all sound to make it bearable. Got boring without sound...

Now though, I'm working on MSQ and am in the house at The Great Work and the steam machines seem to be causing the popping sound issue for me now. I'm not sure if it's the instance I'm in or what but I've never had sound problems with MSQ before either.

I think the update made it worse... because until that update, I was fine.

Like many others, I have Realtek too.