• zabu
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Topic: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

Hello,

I've moved my hardware to another location in my room, therefore I unplugged all cables, moved the hardware to ne new location and re-pluigged everything in. Since that moment I have random "click"-sounds when listening to music, or working in my DAW... which is pretty annoying because it occurs randomly also during recordings...

My system:

Intel i7-4790K
Asus Z97 deluxe
KKmoon Firewire Erweiterungskarte (PCIe)
Palit GTX 980Ti Super Jetstream
500GB SSD (Win10)

KKmoon Firewire extension card (PCIe) -> RME Fireface 400 -> Behringer Control2Usb -> Yamaha HS8S -> Yamaha HS8

I've set my BIOS/UEFI settings to default.

The crackling / clicking noise is not appearing when I disconnect the firewire connection from the PC->Fireface and connect an external music player to the input of my Fireface. So in standalone mode, the Fireface is working without any issues which is a good sign that there is no hardware damage on the fireface.

...so it seems that the problem occurs somewhere between the PC and the Fireface.

Usually my Fireface is powered with the external power supply, but the problem remains when using bus-powered firewire.

The most recent version of firmware and drivers / totalmix are installed.

Fireface settings: https://imgur.com/a/9HBUeUh


I've already disconnected all my other USB devices, only the hardware required to run the PC is connected.

  • ramses
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

But you said yourself that you did not only moved the hardware "as is",
you also mentioned that you set your BIOS settings to default.

Its pretty clear that this brings back all "power saving" features of your CPU/mainboard which increases DPC / latency inside of your system. Bring it back to previous state and then it should be fine..
Deactivate in the BIOS: any C-/T-/P-States, C1E. Usually you can keep EIST and Turbo mode, in nasty cases disable also these.
Deactivate in the PC: CPU core parking (Bitsum: parkcontrol)
Ensure that you use the proper energy profile in Windows: Highest Performance (otherwise higher DPC and audio loss...)
Check that the Windows scheduler has been set to priotize background applications. The name is a misnomer, in fact it does some more / other beneficial things, so my blog: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … es-or-not/

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • ramses
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

In many BIOS you disable C-States by setting it to "C0/C1".
Some other values like P-/T- States have only an "enable/disable" toggle.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

4 Reply by zabu (edited by zabu 2020-05-01 16:24:59)

  • zabu
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

Hi ramses, thank you for your reply!

sorry I didn't make it clear: I've reset the BIOS because of the problem - afterwards -  to check if the the problem still exists... and it still did.

So I am pretty sure that the BIOS-Settings are fine - but I will disable the C-States to test if anything changes.

  • zabu
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

Hi again,

I've tried to completely deactivate C, P States and set the CPU on constant 4.00GHz on all cores.
Also setting Windows in performance mode didn't help.

Is there anything else I can do to fix that issue?

  • ramses
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

This Firewire card has a VIA chip, try a Firewire card with a good TI chip (avoid XIO2200A based TI cards).
I had no issues with this card.
https://geizhals.de/exsys-ex-16415-a375938.html

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • ramses
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Re: RME Fireface 400 clicks and crackling sounds on Windows 10

However, it is a mystery to me that simply dismantling and rebuilding (plugging cables) "all at once" should have caused these problems. Somehow there must be more behind it. Maybe a Windows update ?
But it's generally not a bad idea to replace the VIA based card with a "good" TI card.

You could also try another PCIe socket in your motherboard. Be careful that your GPU performance does not drop from x16 to x8 bandwidth if you are using a PCIe x16 socket. With some boards there are just not enough PCIe lanes, then inserting a card from x16 leads to 2x8 operation in the two GPU slots.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13