[Bug] PoE2 Major Audio issue - extremely loud buzzing

PoE2 has been blowing out my speakers with a really loud buzzing noise. It happens at the GGG logo when loading the game, at the class overview after choosing a class when making a new character (the part with the vidoe), in the skill gem cutting menu (I presume because of the explanation video because it doesn't happen when cutting support gems, which don't have a video), and the cut scenes between acts.

This buzzing noise is incredibly loud. I can't stress this enough. It hurts my ears. The only thing I've been able to do to avoid it is mute my speakers before performing any known action that causes it. If I'm streaming my game to others on Discord, they hear it as well, while louder than the game itself, it's brought down by the Discord volume controls.

This bug does not occur in PoE1, despite the GGG logo screen being the same, nor any other game.

I'd really love to hear what the skill description videos say, and what is said during the scenes between acts!

I'm using Kubuntu 24.04 (KDE Plasma 5.27.11 with QT 5.15.13), the Steam version through proton, with a Razer Leviathan V2 Pro soundbar, and controller. It seems the issue isn't happening to all linux users - it's not happening on Steamdeck, and I have a friend using Ubuntu Cinnamon who's not experiencing this issue.

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fastfetch

OS: Kubuntu noble 24.04 x86_64
Host: G706
Kernel: Linux 6.8.0-51-generic
Packages: 2751 (dpkg), 6 (flatpak), 18 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.2.21
Display (PG27AQDM): 2560x1440 @ 240 Hz in 27" [External] *
Display (S2419HGF): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 24" [External]
Display (DELL U2723QE): 2160x3840 @ 60 Hz in 27" [External]
Display (UGD1503): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 16" [External]
DE: KDE Plasma 5.27.11
WM: KWin (X11)
WM Theme: Breeze
Theme: Otto (Otto) [Qt], Breeze [GTK2/3/4]
Icons: breeze-dark [Qt], breeze-dark [GTK2/3/4]
Font: Noto Sans (10pt) [Qt], Noto Sans (10pt) [GTK2/3/4]
Cursor: breeze (24px)
Terminal: konsole 23.8.5
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (16) @ 4.43 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX [Discrete]
Memory: 9.98 GiB / 31.27 GiB (32%)
Swap: 0 B / 512.00 MiB (0%)
Locale: en_US.UTF-8

pactl info

Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 9827
Tile Size: 65472
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.0.5)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.usb-Razer_Razer_Leviathan_V2_Pro_562332B03200430-01.analog-surround-71
Default Source: alsa_input.usb-audio-technica____AT2020_USB-00.analog-stereo
Cookie: 362c:32dd

I have this issue as well, exactly as described, using Linux and the Steam client. Using an Axiim Link USB audio adapter.

Update: I tooled around with it a bit and it actually got better when i set sound channels to Medium instead of High. What exactly is the sound channels option doing?

Second update: That temporarily fixed it but it came back like an hour later, still set to Medium! I really have no idea what's going on but this is pretty awful.

To reproduce, I right click on an uncut skill gem and click on one of the skills - the LOUD noise that does not respect volume settings happens while the little preview movie is playing.

I've played around with this a little more - the problem does not exist at all when the game is first booted up, but then after it's been running for ~3 or 4 minutes, it's in full force. Clicking and then mousing away from a skill video, it sounds fine for the first couple clicks, then has a small "bzzzzzz" in the background of the video for a couple, then the bzzz gets so loud nothing else can be heard. Some kind of audio leak?

I am seeing this as well regardless of the audio output.

System info:

- Steam version of PoE2
- pipewire 1.2.7
- Proton Experimental (and several other tried versions)
- KDE Plasma 6.2.4
- KDE Frameworks 6.8.0
- QT 6.8.0
- Kernel 6.11.10-304
- Wayland

Hardware
- 7950x3d
- 64gb ram
- RTX 4090

I have this issue as well, using Creative AE-9 soundcard which is a high end soundcard, never had any issues in any other games.

I also am experiencing this issue. Super loud buzzing during any of the skill movies, also the end of Act 1 cinematic. Sounds like there's some folks on Windows experiencing similar odd audio behavior (https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3620734), but may be completely unrelated. FWIW, I do not experience the issue in Windows 10, only on Fedora 41 w/ Steam Proton.

I've tried w/ and w/out GameScope, windowed, fullscreen, lowering the audio channels in game, removing LD_PRELOAD="" from the launch options, running in Vulkan, running in DX12. Nothing has resolved the issue yet. Interestingly enough, while I'm in an area changing the renderer to DX12 and then back to Vulkan before the gears stop spinning fixes the issue for a while, but it comes back eventually. I haven't tried DX11 yet. I'll do that later and post results.

Tech info below:
xxxx@xxxx:~$ fastfetch

OS: Fedora Linux 41 (KDE Plasma) x86_64
Kernel: Linux 6.12.6-200.fc41.x86_64
Uptime: 48 mins
Packages: 2898 (rpm), 18 (flatpak)
Shell: bash 5.2.32
Display: 3840x1600 @ 120 Hz in 38"
DE: KDE Plasma 6.2.4
WM: KWin (Wayland)
WM Theme: Breeze
Theme: Breeze (Dark) [Qt], Breeze [GTK3]
Icons: breeze-dark
Cursor: breeze (24px)
Terminal: konsole 24.12.0
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700K
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER [Discrete]
Memory: 5.48 GiB / 31.24 GiB (18%)

xxxx@xxxx:~$ pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 334
Tile Size: 65472
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.2.7)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd_Sound_Blaster_GC7_2EAAEAE5092ECBEA-03.pro-output-0
Default Source: alsa_input.usb-046d_Logitech_BRIO_2450ADFC-03.analog-stereo
Cookie: 1278:18bd

Same problem here, on Linux/Fedora 41 (Gnome), playing through the Steam client with Proton. Audio starts buzzing loudly on cutscenes between acts, when hovering cursor over skill icons to view the little popup demonstration video & the class overview videos. Seems like the problem manifests within the "embedded" multimedia in the game.

Confirmed to still exist in 0.1.1

Confirmed to still exists in 0.1.1c

Hey, got same issue for the last 2 or 3 weeks now, when i started with poe2 sound was fine

OS: Nobara Linux 41 (KDE Plasma) x86_64
Host: MS-7C91 (2.0)
Kernel: Linux 6.13.5-200.nobara.fc41.x86_64
Uptime: 4 hours, 6 mins
Packages: 3596 (rpm), 10 (flatpak-user)
Shell: bash 5.2.32
Display (PL2770H): 1920x1080 @ 120 Hz in 27" [External] *
Display (PL2770H): 1920x1080 @ 120 Hz in 27" [External]
DE: KDE Plasma 6.3.2
WM: KWin (Wayland)
WM Theme: Breeze
Theme: Nobara (Nobara) [Qt], Nobara [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3], Nobara [GTK4]
Icons: Papirus-Dark [Qt], Papirus-Dark [GTK3/4]
Font: Noto Sans (11pt) [Qt], Noto Sans (11pt) [GTK3/4]
Cursor: breeze (24px)
Terminal: konsole 24.12.2
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (16) @ 4.43 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT [Discrete]
Memory: 10.92 GiB / 31.27 GiB (35%)
Swap: Disabled

pactl info
Server-Zeichenkette: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Bibliotheks-Protokollversion: 35
Server-Protokollversion: 35
ist lokal: ja
Client-Index: 761
Tile-Größe: 65472
Name des Benutzers:
Rechnername:
Name des Servers: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.2.7)
Version des Servers: 15.0.0
Standard-Abtastwert-Angabe: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Standard-Kanal-Zuordnung: front-left,front-right
Standard-Ziel: alsa_output.pci-0000_2d_00.1.pro-output-3
Standard-Quelle: alsa_input.pci-0000_2f_00.4.analog-stereo
Cookie: f53b:1090

when i started playing i had older kernel versions like 6.12.xx and some in between, also kde plasma got some updates since then
what also happened in between was changing screen freq from 60 to 120 Hz, my Speakers were connected to MB, now they are connected to screen so soundcard changed from MB to hdmi audio and i added a config for modprobe sg to load on startup for my BD writer i bought in between (maybe there are dumb information too but i just want to try to give as much input as i am possible as linux newbie)

I hope this can help fix the problem.

Kind regards