New HyperX Cloud 2 popping/crackling sounds

[jdk4sabres]

I just received my Cloud 2's in the mail and upon plugging them in(They are wired and USB only) I've noticed that when I'm in a game or watching a video there is a frequent popping or crackling noise. It's not too loud but it doesn't happen with my PX22 Turtle Beach headset or my actual Speakers. It also does not occur when sitting idle, or with mouse movement or anything like that.

I tried updating my Realtek Drivers, tried changing the audio quality in properties, disabling Razer Surround Pro software in case it was conflicting somehow. I'm not sure what else to do.

Update:

If I disconnect the headset from the on board driver and use them as headphones for my phone and play music or watch a youtube video then there are no popping sounds. So it's either the on board driver or my computer.

Update 2:

Hooked them up to my Brother in law's pc and they still pop, so it's not specifically my PC causing some sort of interference or software conflict. Maybe I should return them? Seems like there's an issue with the on board driver. I don't know...

Update 3:

Since the popping doesnt happen with my Turtle Beach's or my speaker system, I'm assuming it's a driver issue and while I did update my Asus realtek audio driver yesterday, that driver was from the 5th. Today I see a new one(11th) so hopefully that driver will fix it.

Update 4:
The driver didn't change anything.

Update 5:

I tried the DPC latency program and I do get one red bar indicating one of my drivers is causing the crackling issue. I hope I'm on the right track now.

Update 6:

I tried disabling drivers one at a time like the DPC latency program says to do and nothing seemed to stop it. Not sure which driver it is.

If it matter my specs are:

Asus M5a97 R2.0 motherboard(brand new)
Sapphire R9 270 Dual X OC edition(few months old)
AMD fx 6300(brand new)
8gb ram
Corsair CX600 psu
NZXT Guardian Case(brand new)
and a CM Hyper 212 evo cooler soon

 

[kingstonhq]

Hi again,
Jewel with Kingston Technical Support here and I wanted to add some clarification. I see that some of you have chosen to return to Amazon due to a confusion about the shipping charges. While is it not our standard procedure, we take the this sound quality issue very seriously and are providing shipping labels to send in the USB dongle at no charge to you. This way we get the product in as soon as possible so we can investigate exactly what is causing the issue and resolve it as quickly as possible. Please do not hesitate to work with us directly, we urgently want to resolve this issue for everyone and appreciate all your feedback. We need to receive these directly so we can immediately investigate the issue.

Also, thank you elweros for your note about a possible driver issue. I will let our product engineer know what you have found.

Thank you all for your patience as we work through this issue.
-Jewel, Kingston US Technical Support

 

[jdk4sabres]

Replacement USB dongle did not fix the issue....

 

[jded2]

Replacement USB dongle did not fix the issue....

I'm having the same exact problem with my replacement as well.

 

[kingstonhq]

If your replacement is still having the same problem, please get back in contact with us so we can work out an alternate solution for you.

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
-Jewel, Kingston US Technical Support

 

[exsinner]

Turning off wifi fix this issue for me, I'm using laptop though. It definitely isn't the dongle fault cause I just tried my Sony Headset Wireless (PS3) with its USB dongle on my laptop and there's some crack sound too.
edit : Atheros AR5B93 is the driver, maybe someone could look into it.
edit 2 : I just updated my wifi driver and now it works like charm, no more cracking noise.

 

[drnick316]

I had a similar issue with mine. What seems to have resolved mine is I plugged my usb back in. I went to the device manager uninstalled the drivers and then used an adapter I already had to plug into my gaming keyboard. So far no pops. But I'll give it a few days and see how it goes. Then contact support again to get a new usb. Thing is it could probably be fixed with a driver update.

 

[Aamir Raza]

Hello, first time poster.

I didn't meant to necro this thread. This is one of the few threads that appeared on google when I was looking for a solution to the hissing sound.

I bought the hyper x cloud 2 headset from Alternate here in belgium. I can hear a constant hissing sound from the headphone with the usb. I connecting it to different usb ports, hissing sound still remains. The headset is installed correctly according to the manual. I got in touch with one of the technical assistant at Kingston Technology UK. He mentioned that it was indeed a known issue. He proposed me a hyper x cloud 1 and an 32gb usb drive in exchange for the hyper x cloud 2 (very kind) or I could wait for a fix for the soundcard to come out. I do not know what to do at this point. I bought 2 different headset. I returned one cause it was uncomfortable (g430). Right now im tempting to return this one exchange for hyper x cloud 1 and usb storage drive. I've contacted them again and ask them about the fix that's coming out. I'm not really in a hurry right now, but the earpads on my current headset (creative sigma 3d) are wearing off bit by bit. They've become really uncomfy for prelonged gaming sessions.

Returning the headset to the vendor was not an option, cause according to them the headset seemed to be working fine, they did not hear the hissing noise.

So my question to you (community) is: Have u seen any solution to this issue? What do you guys think of the offer from Kingston?

I hope you understand my frustration and I'm sorry for writing this wall of text.

If your replacement is still having the same problem, please get back in contact with us so we can work out an alternate solution for you.

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.
-Jewel, Kingston US Technical Support

I've contacted the technical support in the UK, they seem to know about the issue.
They told me they're working on the issue with the soundcard. I'd like to confirm with you if that is indeed true. Is there really a fix on its way ?

 

[Aamir Raza]

I had a similar issue with mine. What seems to have resolved mine is I plugged my usb back in. I went to the device manager uninstalled the drivers and then used an adapter I already had to plug into my gaming keyboard. So far no pops. But I'll give it a few days and see how it goes. Then contact support again to get a new usb. Thing is it could probably be fixed with a driver update.

Can you give us an update on your situation? Is it working fine now? What kind of adapter are you using ?

 

[vanjan]

When I called about two weeks ago they said they were working on a fix but didn't have anything to put out to customers yet. They sent me a free mousepad and splitter cable so I can use it with on-board audio until a fix is released. I'm happy for now, hopefully they find a fix in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Aamir Raza]

When I called about two weeks ago they said they were working on a fix but didn't have anything to put out to customers yet. They sent me a free mousepad and splitter cable so I can use it with on-board audio until a fix is released. I'm happy for now, hopefully they find a fix in the next couple of weeks.

I decided to keep my Hyper X Cloud 2 headset and I've got the usb drive on my way as a compensation for the issue.
They also told me they're working on an issue. I guess it's just a matter of time now.
However the techincal assistant didn't mention anything about the splitter cable.
Can you show me what kind of a splitter it is?

 

[jsbrown679]

wait is it that you need to buy a new usb thing for the headset to fix the static?

 

[Aamir Raza]

wait is it that you need to buy a new usb thing for the headset to fix the static?

From what I understand from the replies above me, the issue is caused by the USB soundcard. If you want to get rid of that you can use the audio splitter instead of the USB soundcard. The downside is that you're not benefiting from the technology provided by the USB soundcard. There's no guarantee that this will fix the static noise, unless one of us can confirm it.

I personally am waiting for the usb soundcard fix. I won't be investing in anything now.

 

[jsbrown679]

yeah. i connected it to the audio jack and everything was fine. is there a way to get 7.1 surround sound just from plugging it in to the audio jack? also, is there a place to buy a new usb soundcard?

 

[vanjan]

When I called about two weeks ago they said they were working on a fix but didn't have anything to put out to customers yet. They sent me a free mousepad and splitter cable so I can use it with on-board audio until a fix is released. I'm happy for now, hopefully they find a fix in the next couple of weeks.

I decided to keep my Hyper X Cloud 2 headset and I've got the usb drive on my way as a compensation for the issue.
They also told me they're working on an issue. I guess it's just a matter of time now.
However the techincal assistant didn't mention anything about the splitter cable.
Can you show me what kind of a splitter it is?

This is the type of adaptor I received along with an extension cable since the one coming off the headset is so short.

 

[fckw]

Hi,

I am also affected by the crackling/popping noises using Linux as my operating system.

Moreover, there are various error messages in the system log. Even thought, this messages are related to alsa (snd-usb-audio) I want to contribute them to this thread. Maybe it helps to find/fix the crackling/popping noises problem.

kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot set freq 44100 to ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot set freq 44100 to ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot set freq 44100 to ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot set freq 44100 to ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 2:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x1
kernel: usb 3-2: 2:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x1
kernel: usb 3-2: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
kernel: usb 3-2: 2:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x1
kernel: usb 3-2: 2:1: cannot set freq 44100 to ep 0x1
....
pulseaudio[698]: E: [alsa-sink-USB Audio] alsa-sink.c: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write!
pulseaudio[698]: E: [alsa-sink-USB Audio] alsa-sink.c: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver 'snd_usb_audio'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
pulseaudio[698]: E: [alsa-sink-USB Audio] alsa-sink.c: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.


PS:
- I've already reported this to the alsa project. There was no response, so far. Therefore, I don't know if there will be a fix.
- Directly after booting up, there is a delay of about 5 to 10 sec before I get sound. Apart from this, the headset works like intended.

 

[jsbrown679]

do you guys think if i replaced the usb dongle at best buy it would fix the static

 

[Kingsmith]

Yeah, I'm not impressed. I bought the HyperX Cloud 2 today, already not impressed. With the USB dongle there is a lot of cracking popping and even static on Skype (even when typing not other people's microphones there is fucking static). I would just not use it but unfortunately the microphone doesn't work then. I looked at Amazon and they want me to send them the headset for a replacement model. Crap no, I'm not going to go another 4-8 days without a headset (and I have an ear condition). If this crap isn't fixed I'm never buying a HyperX product again. I can't care how crisp the sound is if there is fucking cracks every five seconds. You know what, this is really sad. I was so excited after watching 12 reviews that were all positive. Yeah I expected the microphone to suck, but I didn't expect the actual headphones to have serious problems. I'm not going to buy a new dongle either on principle, they should quadruple check all of their products to ensure every single component is working perfectly and there is never any bad eggs since they are selling a premium product. So I guess for now I'll just keep switching between buggy dongle mode and non-dongle mode depending if I'm talking to a friend at that time (oh yeah, forget about playing games with friends WHILE listening to great audio. Skype will fuck it all up).

 

[Mach0Tac0]

I just received my Cloud 2's in the mail and upon plugging them in(They are wired and USB only) I've noticed that when I'm in a game or watching a video there is a frequent popping or crackling noise. It's not too loud but it doesn't happen with my PX22 Turtle Beach headset or my actual Speakers. It also does not occur when sitting idle, or with mouse movement or anything like that.

I tried updating my Realtek Drivers, tried changing the audio quality in properties, disabling Razer Surround Pro software in case it was conflicting somehow. I'm not sure what else to do.

Update:

If I disconnect the headset from the on board driver and use them as headphones for my phone and play music or watch a youtube video then there are no popping sounds. So it's either the on board driver or my computer.

Update 2:

Hooked them up to my Brother in law's pc and they still pop, so it's not specifically my PC causing some sort of interference or software conflict. Maybe I should return them? Seems like there's an issue with the on board driver. I don't know...

Update 3:

Since the popping doesnt happen with my Turtle Beach's or my speaker system, I'm assuming it's a driver issue and while I did update my Asus realtek audio driver yesterday, that driver was from the 5th. Today I see a new one(11th) so hopefully that driver will fix it.

Update 4:
The driver didn't change anything.

Update 5:

I tried the DPC latency program and I do get one red bar indicating one of my drivers is causing the crackling issue. I hope I'm on the right track now.

Update 6:

I tried disabling drivers one at a time like the DPC latency program says to do and nothing seemed to stop it. Not sure which driver it is.

If it matter my specs are:

Asus M5a97 R2.0 motherboard(brand new)
Sapphire R9 270 Dual X OC edition(few months old)
AMD fx 6300(brand new)
8gb ram
Corsair CX600 psu
NZXT Guardian Case(brand new)
and a CM Hyper 212 evo cooler soon

I had this same problem when I plugged into my usb 3.0 slot i switched it to 2.0 and it seems to be working now i'm not sure why, but i have had problems with this before. I know some mobo's only have 3.0 so im not sure if yours does or does not. Hopefully this helped

 

[Mach0Tac0]

after plugging into 2.0 it was fine but now the popping is back. so annoying! please fix i thought these would be really nice headphones.

 

[allisonxd]

where you plugin the headset to the thing, i don't know what it's called because im norwegian but it says 7.1 in the middle, press it and the static goes away hope it fixes it.

it might not be as good but no static