Genelec G Three makes slight crackling noise when I adjust the volume at source. Is this normal?

[vroad]

I have a pair of Genelec G Three speakers. Both of them make slight crackling noise when I play a sine wave and adjust its volume with volume control on Windows mixer, is this normal?
The issue occurs with certain types of sound. Pink noises, sine waves, Windows 11 notification sound (the sound that Windows make when you change the volume on Windows. I hear crackling noise if I change the volume while it's still playing), etc. Also occured with sine waves playing on Linux.

I don't hear the noise when I play music (not sine waves or pink noises) and adjust volume on Windows, or if I adjust the volume with miniDSP's volume control, or if nothing is played.

Genelec speakers are connected to a desktop PC like this:

Desktop PC -> miniDSP Flex Balanced -> 2x Genelec G Three, SVS 3000 Micro

I tried connecting one of the speakers directly to the PC. The speaker makes the same noise when I change the volume on Windows, so it's not miniDSP's problem.
Turning off -10dB switch on the back of G Three doesn't fix the crackling sound.

The speaker works fine without crackling noise if

• the sine wave is played from my Android phone via miniDSP's Bluetooth receiver, and adjust volume via Bluetooth.
• I adjust the volume with miniDSP's volume control.

 

[staticV3]

Sounds like either a Windows software volume control issue, or a miniDSP UAC2 Hardware volume control issue, not really related to the Genelec.

Trying to adjust the Windows volume while playing via ASIO will confirm whether it's a software volume control or hardware volume control issue.

If Windows volume control still functions, then it's a hardware volume control issue, likely a suboptimal implementation by miniDSP which lacks fading between steps.

 

[vroad]

@staticV3

The issue occurs even when the computer's line out is connected to G Three's RCA input. So probably not miniDSP's fault at least?

I had the same issue on

• NixOS (Linux) running pipewire, and KDE for desktop environment.
• YouTube player's volume control (I've tried playing a sine wave video on YouTube)

I've tried playing sine waves on REW, but the combinations I've tried so far has the same issue: Adjusting the windows volume causes the same crackling noise. (Realtek Audio is the device name for PC's line out)

• Java + Realtek Audio (WASAPI Exclusive)
• FlexASIO + Realtek Audio
• FlexASIO + miniDSP
• miniDSP ASIO + miniDSP
• Java + miniDSP (WASAPI Exclusive)

I've also found that changing the dBFS value on REW doesn't cause any crackling noise.

So all those implementation lacks volume fading between steps?
Even If so why only my speakers are affected? I don't think I've heard crackling like this before.

 

[vroad]

I stop hearing crackling if I play a 40Hz sine wave, power off the Genelec speakers, and only power on the SVS subwoofer.
I only hear low frequency sine wave from the subwoofer.
Does this mean that Genelec speakers are more sensitive to the noise and SVS subwoofer is not?

 

[raindance]

They have completely different bandwidth so it's probably not in the part of the audio band the subwoofer reproduces.

It's the computer. If it concerns you, find another way to adjust volume. I'm sure it doesn't harm anything.

 

[vroad]

Thanks. The speakers are probably okay like you said, I should stop worrying. They are probably just a little prone to such noises.

The noise changes depending on how fast I change the volume.

If I repeatedly click the volume slider instead of dragging, the noise sounds more like a popping noise. I've heard popping noises on other systems, such as when I stop playing a test tone suddenly, so I guess it's not that bad thing.
The noise sounds more like crackling or (even buzzing noise when the volume is loud and playing a sine wave) when changing the volume by dragging.