UX6404VI Canadian Non-touch edition USB Sound crackling and cutting off on battery?!

[Toomuch_]

Hey Zen people!

I've had my ZenBook Pro 14 for 2 weeks now and I love it except that when plugging in a USB dongle DAC or USB APTX Bluetooth adapter I get constant crackling and sound dropouts when on battery power. I've  clean installed windows and reinstalled every single driver by hand, the problem persists; nothing changed. 

This only happens when I'm on battery. I've also checked with the app LatencyMon for audio latency issues and the laptop has drivers with very high DPC counts which can be a cause for these audio issues. Can anyone here attest to this, and or help with the issue. Should I write an email to ASUS maybe?

Thanks,

New Zenbook Pro 14 owner.

[Falcon_ASUS]

@Toomuch_
I have forwarded the information to the relevant department.
We will keep you updated and your consideration will be very much appreciated.

[Falcon_ASUS]

@Toomuch_
The technical team mentioned that they need you to provide the complete model of the device you are using and which program you are using for music playback. Furthermore, may I ask if the device you are using provides its own installation program? If it does, I also recommend installing it and checking again.Thank you.

[Toomuch_]

It's with any program that plays audio. I use any audio from microsoft Edge,  Amazon Music, Amazon Prime app, Disney+ app, foobar etc . 

Model number is: UX6404VI-DS91-CA

[Toomuch_]

I did an Asus fresh install from a factory image, it didn't change anything.

[Toomuch_]

Update 11/25/2023:

After some investigation I think I might have found the culprit: Intel Smart Sound Technology for USB Audio. If I disable that driver altogether in the Device Manager then the "clicks" and "pops" completely disappear. I will do further testing but so far so good. 

To me, it is quite clear that there is some sort conflict between the Intel Smart Sound drivers and the rest of the audio driver chain for USB audio only on battery.

I will report at a later time if the issue is completely gone and am looking forward to an official fix from Asus. Maybe an Intel Driver update could help?