XPS 15-9560, audio delay, lag

Since I have tried everything I can with software and there was no solution, and I have some friends with the same laptop and they don't have the issue, it has to be something that is different in my laptop. I think it can be the audio daughter-board, bt it's annoying that many people exhibit this issue and Dell hasn't tried to offer any solution.

I chose the repairing of the laptop becase that's the only solution that the have offered me ( no replacement). Anyway, since the laptop presents failures just out of the box I still have the option to give it back if the repairment process isn't successfull.

Ty for your answer, really appreciate it.

I have one system (XPS 13 9365) which exhibits the delayed system notifications.  I do not know about the audio popping.

If I use the built-in speakers or wired headset the sound is delayed.  If I use a Bluetooth headset it is quite a bit faster.

I have been trying to see what was delaying the sound production but so far no one thing seems to be definitely at fault.

I cannot answer the motherboard question, but I would not choose to go that path... up to you I suppose.

I don't know how does it work on USA, but in Spain the law is really clear about that. If your product presents defects, the retailer has to give you the option of repairing them or replace the product. If after the repairment the problems are not fixed, the retailer has to offer you a price discount or a full refund and the returning of the product.

In the USA, you have 30 days to return for full refund.

That's the path I would choose.

You won't be able to try repair and then send it back if that doesn't work. You are past the 30 days.

I guess, since nobody from Dell is replying this post, it means that they have no idea about what is going on or how to solve it?

Something to try .. open the Waves UI and leave it open.  It seems to decrease or even stop the delay on my 9365 when opening an Admin command prompt..

I realized if you go to the speakers icon on the bottom-right corner and open the reproduction devices window, the delays go away if this window is opened. But I usually work with many windows and I can't have anything that I don't use over there.

Also this is not a permanent solution, and I shouldn't be opening anything every time that I turn on the laptop just for it to work properly.

I tried again with the microsoft high definition audio drivers: the delay goes away, but everytime that a sound starts it makes a really loud crack sound before playing the audio and this crack actually hurts the ears really bad.

Leaving a window open is not a solution, it is a clue to the problem...

Baby steps may get this resolved.  A few months ago there was another situation where leaving the Voice Recorder helped the situation but I can't remember exactly what that was.  I had not discovered leaving the Playback device dialog open also helped, so more info for the hunt..

The distorted audio has only happened occasionally for me, but several 7567 owners are complaining about processor throttling which could cause such distortion.  If you have several windows or tabs open it does add load to the system.

The technician has been today in my house and he has replaced the motherboard, but he did not replace the audio daughter-board since it doesnt come together with the motherboard, which I think it is the real problem. The motherboard replacement has had no effect on the issue, and Dell has asked me to re-install Windows 10 with an USB, which I will do today, but I still think that the issue is related to the audio daughter-board since it is the piece that includes the realtek chipset.

If the Windows re-install has no effect I will be calling again to the Technical Support.

Clean install of Windows from USB following the Dell webpage procedures had no effect. Once updated and all drivers installed, it still presents the same issue. Somehow I think it has to be the drivers, but if so, I can't understand why some people have the problems and others don't (I know people with my same model and they don't have this problem).

I checked my Inspiron 15 7567 again yesterday and it had the delay.  So now, two of my three laptop systems has that delay, but they do not exhibit any other audio problems like distorted sound while listening to music.  Since I don't spend time on YouTube I have no experience and I don't run Chrome...

It has been suggested that the Intel Video could have some effect on this and the problem re-occurs after some Windows updates...  I just don't have enough info to draw any conclusions about anything...

All I have been able to determine is the delay does not happen if a basic sound driver is being used or with Bluetooth devices.  

On one system the delay would stop by opening the Sound dialog window but on another system, the delay continued...

It looks to me like the sound is not being given priority status and has to wait for other processes to finish.

I did not have even time for to run Chrome haha, I just checked in edge and firefox, I never installed Chrome in this laptop. If it was just about streaming I could live with it, but audio alerts are important for me (not joking) and its annoying. Dell's only answer is reinstall Windows from USB and use all our drivers and it doesn't work.

I think we can narrow it to Drivers (which looks like they dont care about) or audio daughter-board (which looks like they have no idea).

Even the technician who came to my house didn't know if the audio chipset is in the motherboard or daughter-board and then he tells me he was sure it wasn't hardware... Since he doesnt know where are the chipsets I'm not sure that I can rely on his argument.

I tried to give real time priority to everything that I think could be involved with the audio in the Task Manager with no success either -.-'

Some time ago we were having problems with external powered speakers would start popping when not actually playing anything.  Someone then suggested a component was being allowed to go to sleep and losing control of the device.

It may be the same thing now.  The notification sound is delayed unless something is using the sound system.  While playing iTunes the sounds happen right on time, with the opening of the window.  As soon as iTunes is shutdown, the delay returns.

As far as I know, there is no setting we can use to keep the device active while inactive...  This may be related to a specific processor or configuration.  My two systems are Kaby Lake processors.