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onn core 8.1 2026 problems
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- youtube1
Audio Crackle
- The Audio crackle issues are fixed with the patch below
2026-08-09 Firmware Update
- Android System Update
- New SW version: TTA.37
- Update size: 21.85 MB
- A new software update is available.
- This update improves audio playback bugs and reduces sound crackling.
I can confirm the audio problems are fixed with this patch.
Audio Crackle
I had audio problems in Retroarch, Dolphin, and SMB Remake.
Retroarch
- Some days it's bad other's it not. Random.
- Retroarch today was bad on every core.
- Changing audio KHz output from 48000Khz to 44100 Khz fixed it.
- Problem came back cuz Retroarch went back to 48 KHZ.
- Can I make audio output stick?.
- Other things I tried that did not fix it
- Android Display Refresh to 60 Hz from 90 Hz
- In Retroarch Audio Timing skew to .2 from 0.05 did not help
- Turned off VSync
- VSync to Auto from 1
Audio Crackle 2
- Because I did not want to have to mess with audio setting in other apps
- I asked gemini AI for more ideas and these new ones seem to have worked as well.
- I noticed this device says it has DTSX audio. My thinking was perhaps if we disable that it will be fine?
- I could not find anyway to disable under media but #2 below apparently should disable it.
- UPDATE: PROBLEM Came right back after phone reboot so NO none of this worked
Under Developer Options
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Adjust Logger Buffer Sizes (Fixes Processor Bottlenecks)When the Snapdragon 685 chip runs low on memory allocation, the digital audio stream lags, causing a physical crackling sound.Scroll through Developer Options until you find the Debugging section.Tap on Logger buffer sizes.By default, it is usually set to 256K. Tap it and change it to 4M or 16M.Why this helps: This expands the data stream pipeline, giving the system more breathing room to process audio data smoothly without stuttering or clipping.
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Disable Hardware/Media Audio Offloading (Bypasses Glitchy Sound Drivers)This directly tells Android to stop routing audio processing through custom, hidden software frameworks and handle it directly via standard hardware decoding.Scroll down further to the Media or Networking section.Look for the toggle labeled Disable USB audio routing or Disable media audio offloading.Turn this toggle On.Why this helps: This forces the tablet to drop any background audio post-processing, spatial enhancements, or virtual equalizers that are malfunctioning.
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Increase Per-CPU Buffer Size (Optional Performance Boost)If you still notice minor crackles during intensive app usage, you can change the hardware tracking buffer:In Developer Options, look for System Tracking.Tap on Per-CPU buffer size.Increase it to a higher bracket (like 16384 KB or 32768 KB depending on the options shown) to dedicate more memory space to real-time system tasks.Once you make these adjustments,
restart your tablet to force the Android system to load the new audio buffer configurations cleanly.Let me know if changing these buffer sizes made a difference, or if the options look slightly different under your System settings!
I could not do Option 3. But I did 1 and 2 and problem persisted until a restart.
Seems OK for now.
Somtimes a restart just fixed it anyway.
OK I did another restart and problem came back
Dolphin
- In Dolphin Audio problem seems worse with Open GL VS Vulkan Drivers.
- Sleep Mode always causes problem in Dolphin
- Start emulation sounds is OK
- Press power button to black out screen
- Wake device backup audio is total crap every time
- Only way to fix now is quit emulation and restart
SMB Remake
So the problems came back in this. I asked gemini in Android Studio and here is what it said
Android Studio
The audio distortion you're hearing is coming from a real-time scheduling failure in the Android audio system, likely triggered by the Audio HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer).
Based on the system diagnostics I ran on the device, here is what's happening:
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HAL Stalls & Buffer Overruns: The audio_flinger diagnostics show that the FastMixer thread is experiencing a massive number of overruns (over 11,000). This means the system is generating audio data faster than the "driver" (HAL) can process it.
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DTS "Eagle Pipeline" Overhead: I found a specific thread in the audio service (android.hardware.audio.service_64) named effect (TID 6313) that is running a DTS "Eagle Pipeline" post-processor. This thread is consuming significant CPU (~50% of a core) and appears to be the bottleneck.
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Real-time Deadline Misses: The audio mixer is designed to run in 3ms cycles, but it's currently lagging, with some cycles taking as long as 23ms. This 20ms gap is exactly what causes the distorted, "glitchy," or crackling sound you're hearing.
After this I tired to disable DTS. There is no option in settings to turn it off.
I was able to run, adb shell settings put system dts_state 0 from the PC.
Running this successfully from Android itself is impossible becuase of security issues.
My APP shows that it stayed at 0 after a reboot which surprised me.
It seemed to fix it but who knows, I always think it gets fixed for a day then it comes back.