

Disabling Realtek doesn't cause HD Audio Device to take over, it just removes all audio ("No audio output device is installed"), but even if it did it would be moot since Realtek has a tendency to re-enable itself upon restarting anyway. On the times my computer manages to restart without reinstalling Realtek (for whatever reason) Windows switches to HD Audio Device and everything works fine temporarily, but if Realtek doesn't reinstall immediately it tends to eventually reinstall itself overnight while my computer's in sleep mode. Uninstalling Realtek can work briefly, but disables all audio until I restart which gives Realtek an opening to reinstall itself. My audio works perfectly if HD Audio Device is in charge, I just need a way to get it in charge permanently. Neither option's really bearable in the long term. The most common "solution" seems to be going into Device Manager and telling the Realtek audio controller to use the HD Audio Device driver, which solves the crackling problem but creates another- a horrible loud thud/pop noise whenever I log in, load or unpause anything with audio (even muted videos), load a webpage with embedded video (again, even muted), do pretty much anything or randomly when I'm doing nothing at all. My problem is that whenever I have Realtek audio enabled and using a Realtek driver, any audio crackles horribly like a very old radio. From my fruitless google searching over the past few days it seems like issues with Realtek on Windows 10 are pretty common, but I still can't find a good answer to this question.
