Hi, my problem is exactly as described above. My sound card is Audigy 1 [product code; SBO162] and I have tried numerous drivers to fix it. The worse thing is that I have the same problem when I switch to the onboard sound on my mobo. HELP :)

Popping / crackling sounds are usually the first sign that the processor cannot handle the load. You'll likely see the framerates suffer as well..

Try this:Click start...run, type "dxdiag". Click "OK". This will bring upthe Direct X interface.Select the sound 1 tab and lower the acceleration slider a notch or two.Do the same for the sound 2 tab it might help the problem.Bert is absolutely right, this kind of indicates that you are at theragged edge of your systems capability, so reducing in sim sliderswould help as well.

For the Audigy card it indicates you've got updated drivers from Creative. Yep, you read that right.There's a HUGE thread over in their forums about snap/crackle/pop on several of their cards. They swear it's not them, and have no intention of fixing what isn't their problem.

I have tried lowering the dound in dxdiag to lowest and no luck. Also my system is dual core E6850, 2GB RAM, 8800GTS so I dont really think fs9 should be causing a performance hit!Should I try older drivers?

The busy airports thing certainly makes it seem like a performance problem but there are a couple of other thinks to look at oo.1. You say it happens on your MB audio too so I don't think the drivers will help. Does it happen if you play a music file?2. Try twisting the plug that goes from your speakers/headphones into your sound card. Do you hear even more crackling? The contacts may be dirty. If you are using speakers then try headphones, still crackling?3. Do you have any third part add-ons that do sounds near airports? Stuff like being able to hear AI engines better, etc.Steven.

Hi,I had the same problem but did not find a cure till, in September of October there were new Creative drivers. This solved the problem. But I had already bought, but not yet installed, a secondhand Terratec soundcard, Aureon 7.1. This card worked well. Maybe that could be a solution? Sliders back did not help, besides I had this problem also in FS2002, with (then) the newest hardware.Good luck,Jan