Corsair HS1 Popping Noises

Hi, I bought a HS1 headset less than a month ago. The headset functioned perfectly. However, after upgrading my computer's operating system from Windows XP x32 to Windows 7 x64, the headsets began to make popping noises for any piece of audio. I have tried changing numerous options but none of them can stop the noises. I have read on these forums that I might need to buy a PCI card for USB ports but I would like to try to avoid that.

What can I do to stop these popping noises?

I have also tried the headset on a Windows 7 x32 laptop but the popping noises don't happen on the headset which leads me to believe it's either a problem with my USB bandwidth (which I don't think is the problem since it worked fine when my computer was on Windows XP x32) or it's a problem with the x64 drivers.

Thanks.

Actually, most people use Windows 7 x64 now. The drivers work fine for us.

Have you any hardware or software or settings effecting the USB polling rate? I know that all USB audio devices rely upon a steady 1ms poll rate. (The audio data is sent every millisecond and reconstructed. It simply cannot do any other rate.)

Actually, most people use Windows 7 x64 now. The drivers work fine for us.

 

Have you any hardware or software or settings effecting the USB polling rate? I know that all USB audio devices rely upon a steady 1ms poll rate. (The audio data is sent every millisecond and reconstructed. It simply cannot do any other rate.)

I'm not aware of anything that affects the rate. How would I go on checking the rate for the headset and increasing it if possible?

You should not have to change anything at all. If you use something that changes the polling rate it may be responsible for distortions since the device relies upon a steady 1ms heartbeat.

Honestly I would be misadvising you if I told you how to change the poll rate. I only mention it since some devices advertise superior poll rates for faster actions. These are usually things like gaming mice and such, but to date I have only ever heard of one or two that actually change the poll rate. And it badly messed everything else up while it did that.

Since you know of nothing that would change the rate, let us presume it is the correct rate. Try running DPC Latency Checker and report back if you have unusual spikes or it ever goes above 1000 us. (1000 = 1ms)

http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml

*Edit* Note that just because it exceeds 1000 for an instant every once in a while, that should not mean anything bad. If it does so regularly then your system is too taxed to run USB audio without problems.

It definitely exceeds 1000us regularly. As soon as I begin listening to something, the latency spikes to 4000us and then regularly stays at 600us when I'm keeping the mouse still. However, when I'm using my computer normally, it goes over 1000us regularly.

Also, when I turn off Dolby and go into bypass, the latency falls to 200us and stays around there most of the time. The headset also reduces it's popping noises significantly but I can still hear some once in a while.

Edit: Just tried my headset on my laptop. It runs Windows 7 x32 and has a worse CPU than my desktop. It's DPC latency is also much much worse than my desktop, yet the headset plays with no popping noises at all.

That is the problem then. As for what is causing it, I can not say. But in my system it simply never goes above ~500 or so.

You may want to try closing every last program. No, not minimizing. Actually closing them. Even kill off the things hiding in the system tray like antiviral programs. Then try again.

Presuming having no programs open fixes it, you can then start the applications and tools you use regularly one at a time until you see what causes the delay. I would almost blindly guess some garbage antiviral stuff is to blame.

I wish I could offer more help, but it all depends on what your exact situation is. Good luck.

Thanks for the DPC tool, OmniNegro.

As some of us with our HS1, I had these popping noises. But at the beginning I did not have this problem, the headset was working fine.

I read this thread, and used the DPC latency tool to check and then I remembered I modified, a long time ago, an option in the BIOS: HPET.

Try to put HPET ON in 64 bits, if it was OFF.

This solved the issue for me ! no more annoying popping noises !

Hope it helps !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Precision_Event_Timer

Thank you for this information. I hope others can benefit from it. :)