Windows Audio cutting out periodically

[iDango]

• explain the issue (including any pattern you noticed about when it happens);

The game's entire audio disappears altogether for a few seconds, and then comes back right afterward. Sometimes the loss of audio lasts more than a minute, but more often than not, it's for just a second or two. I haven't noticed any pattern, and I cannot recreate the issue manually, it just happens when it happens. Sometimes there will be large periods of time between cutouts, but it's almost guaranteed to happen at least once every five minutes, and very often it will happen two or three times in the span of ten seconds.

• your version number, including build number (see instructions below);

I'm playing via Steam on version 1.6.15, build 24356. I did also try using the "previous version" option in Steam (1.6.14) but the issue happened there as well.

• full error text, if any (see instructions below);

N/A, I never receive an error. The game doesn't crash, and no gameplay is affected by any means, just audio loss.

• please upload your save file!

I'm not sure how useful this would be, as I've played on different saves across several versions and accounts.

• what OS and device you are using;

Completely fresh Windows 11 24H2 installation, custom gaming desktop PC (can list parts if necessary). I was also experiencing this issue on Windows 11 23H2 on the same computer, which prompted me to blow away Windows and reinstall it from complete scratch.

• in-game language;

English

• single-player or multiplayer;

Single-player

• if you're using controller or keyboard/mouse;

KBM. Controller has been used as well with no differences.

• anything else you think might be relevant;

No other game or program on this system does anything like this. As previously mentioned, I completely wiped and reinstalled Windows 11 because I assumed it was janky Windows behavior.

I tried playing music from other programs in the background to see if only the game's audio would cut out or if the entire system's audio would cease. It turns out the entire system stops producing sound, as all other background programs' audio will cut out at the same time for the same duration and resume at the same time as the game.

Sound is sent from my computer to a TV via HDMI cable from my GPU (I've swapped the cable AND which HDMI ports were being used with no changes either). The audio goes from the TV to a sound system connected with an optical cable. I disconnected the sound system and used the TV's internal speakers as well and the issue persisted. The issue persists with Bluetooth headphones as well, so I hesitate to assume the issue has to do with audio outputs/devices.

We've tried reducing the game's resolution from 4K to even 1080p in case the high resolution was too much for the game (the black bars at the edges of certain areas of the game made me think 4k was too much of a struggle for it), but that didn't work.

I've tried recording the gameplay with OBS, but interestingly (and rather annoyingly), the issue actually wouldn't happen while I was recording... after 30 minutes of recording testing, the audio started crackling (which isn't what it'd been doing normally), do I stopped the recording, watched the recording and skipped to where the audio would have started crackling, but nothing happened in the recording. I'll keep trying this to see if I can maybe catch it in action.

All of this leads me to believe that it has to have something to do with either the game itself, or some device I have connected to the computer that's causing interference of some kind. I've tried disconnecting a bunch of unused devices just in case they were causing problems, but nothing's changed. Again, no other game or program does anything like this at all, on a completely fresh installation of Windows.

I apologize for the very long post. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?