Win10 / Realtek popping

Got a new Dell desktop at work.  I handle the office music so I've got a decent speaker setup with a sub.

Old Win10 machine worked great.  Brandiddy new Win10 machine does not.  Same standard on-board RealTek audio.

The new machine gives a loud transient POP if called upon to make some noise after restart, or even after a few minutes of idle audio.  So not only do I get notified every time there's an alert or an email comes in, I get startled and annoyed as a bonus - that sub gives it some bark.

Updated drivers, updated BIOS, updated Windows, nothing helps.  I've read a few fixes related to power management and tried those.  No joy.

Any suggestions form the hive?  Thanks.

How are the speakers connected?   USB?  USB on a hub/docking station?  Directly with 3.5mm jacks?

Currently 3.5mm to that Win95-tastic green output on the back. I'll try moving it to the front headphone jack and see if that helps.

I'd remove all of the realtek bloatware and try using the default windows driver from windows update.

Interesting.  My Dell Inspiron does that as well.

Duke said:

Currently 3.5mm to that Win95-tastic green output on the back.

In those days you were lucky to have the green output rather than a row of all-black ports...maybe even without tiny symbols etched next to them if you were really unlucky

Removing the Realtek package and seeing what installs from Windows Update could be worth a try.