Crackling, popping or slightly delayed audio is one of the most common Snes9x annoyances — and one of the most fixable. The Windows build gives you a dedicated Sound Settings dialog with several controls that directly affect how audio is generated and buffered, and the official readme that ships with Snes9x 1.63 lists a specific order of things to try. This page follows that advice and explains what each setting actually does, so you can stop guessing. If you are setting Snes9x up from scratch, start with our download page and the troubleshooting hub.
First, rule out the simple causes
Before changing emulator settings, check the basics the official readme calls out. If you hear no sound at all, another Windows application may be holding exclusive access to your sound device — close media players, streaming apps and other emulators, then restart Snes9x. Check that the Windows volume mixer is not muting Snes9x specifically, and that your output device in Windows is the one you are actually listening to (a classic trap after plugging in a USB headset or an HDMI monitor). If sound plays but crackles, move on to the Sound Settings dialog.
Fix 1 — Enable “Synchronize with sound core”
Open the Sound Settings dialog and make sure “Synchronize with sound core” is enabled. On a real SNES, the audio processor runs in lockstep with the rest of the machine; enabling this option keeps Snes9x’s emulation paced by the sound hardware, which is the single most effective step against crackling for most users. If it is off, the emulator can drift ahead of or behind the audio stream, and the gaps are exactly what you hear as pops and stutters.
Fix 2 — Increase the sound buffer
Still in Sound Settings, raise the buffer size. A larger buffer gives the audio more headroom: brief hiccups in emulation speed get absorbed instead of turning into audible gaps. The trade-off is latency — a bigger buffer means sound reaches your ears slightly later, which matters if you are chasing the lowest possible input lag. Raise the buffer in small steps until the crackling stops, rather than jumping straight to the maximum, so you keep the delay as small as your system allows.
Fix 3 — Switch the sound driver (XAudio2 or WaveOut)
The readme’s next suggestion is to switch the sound driver — if you are on WaveOut, try XAudio2, and vice versa. Both are standard Windows sound output paths offered in the Sound Settings dialog, but they interact differently with your audio hardware and drivers. XAudio2 is the more modern path and is the better default on current Windows versions; WaveOut sometimes behaves better on older or unusual audio devices. There is no universally right answer here — if crackling appears with one, the other is worth a two-minute test.
Fix 4 — Adjust the input rate
Snes9x generates audio at a rate it negotiates with your system, and a mismatch shows up as persistent crackle. The readme’s advice: if the “Automatic Input Rate” option is disabled, enable it. If it is already enabled and you still hear crackling, disable it and lower the “Input Rate” value in steps of 10 until the crackling goes away. Small steps matter — overshooting can trade crackle for a subtle pitch or pacing problem.
Fix 5 — Enable Dynamic Rate Control and use 48000 Hz playback
Two more Sound Settings options round out the official checklist. Dynamic Rate Control lets Snes9x nudge the audio rate continuously to stay in sync, which smooths out the slow drift that causes periodic popping. And set the Playback Rate to 48000 Hz: since Windows Vista, the Windows sound server that mixes application audio typically runs at 48000 Hz, so matching it means Windows does not have to resample Snes9x’s output — resampling is another quiet source of artefacts. The readme is explicit that running at 32000 Hz provides no benefit, despite that advice circulating on old forum posts.
If the sound lags behind the action
Sound that is clean but noticeably late is usually the buffer working against you: lower the buffer size step by step until the delay feels right, accepting that too small a buffer brings the crackle back. Also check that your game is running at the correct speed — audio sync problems and speed problems often arrive together, and our guide to games running too fast or too slow covers the pacing side. For a full once-over of every relevant option, the best Snes9x settings guide ties the sound, video and input settings together. And if the picture itself is the problem — a black or frozen window — see the black screen fix instead.
Work through these in order — sync first, then buffer, driver, input rate, and finally dynamic rate control with 48000 Hz playback — and in most cases the crackling stops at one of the steps. None of these changes touch your games or saves, so you can experiment freely.
A sensible order to try the fixes in
- Enable “Synchronize with sound core” and test.
- Raise the buffer in small steps and test again.
- Switch the sound driver between WaveOut and XAudio2.
- Toggle “Automatic Input Rate”; if crackling persists, lower the input rate in steps of 10.
- Enable Dynamic Rate Control and set the Playback Rate to 48000 Hz.
Changing one thing at a time feels slow, but it is how you learn which control your system actually needed — and it stops you ending up with every option flipped and no idea which one helped. Two more patterns are worth recognising. If crackling affects one game only, especially a title that pushes the SNES sound hardware hard or uses an enhancement chip, the bottleneck may be raw emulation load rather than your sound settings: close other applications and test again before blaming the audio dialog. And if crackling appears only through a particular output — say, a Bluetooth speaker or a TV over HDMI — while headphones are clean, the output device and its own buffering are part of the chain; Snes9x can only hand audio to Windows, and what happens after that is the device’s business. Testing with plain wired headphones is the fastest way to separate “emulator audio problem” from “playback device problem”. Finally, keep your sound card or chipset drivers reasonably current: the readme lists up-to-date audio drivers among its first suggestions, and a driver from the Windows default set can behave very differently from the manufacturer’s own.