[Audio Bug] Sound stutters and crackles while on stable release (OS 20260716.1)

Your system information

• Steam client version: Steam Stable ( 1785799196 )
• SteamOS version: OS 20260716.1
• Opted into Steam client beta?: [No]
• Opted into SteamOS beta?: [No]
• Have you checked for updates in Settings > System?: [Yes]
  Hardware:
• Asus RADEON RX 9070 XT Prime Gaming
• AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
• 32 GB DDR5-6000 (2x16GB)
• Be Quiet 850w Power Zone 2
• ASUS TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI
• Kingston NV3 1TB SSD
• 2TB HDD

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

When navigating through the library, during gameplay, and during desktop, the sound is audibly crackling and occasionally skips out.
This issue is not present in the current Main Release.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Boot the system.
2. Ideally play something that constantly puts out sound (ie music, a decky plugin, a game).
3. Observe the crackling

Unsure if this is relevant to the bug, but this behaviour started today, the 24th of August 2026 (Berlin Time). I attempted to add a udev rule for OpenRGB. After rebooting, these issues came up. A complete reinstall did not help to fix these issues. Disconnecting and reseating the RAM did not fix the issue. Disconnecting the PC and the TV from the power supply for 5 minutes did not fix the issue. Changing several HDMI cables did also not fix this issue.
Changing the update release from Stable to Main fixed the issue.

No repository file, test, or entry point is identified in the report. First reproduce the crackling on SteamOS OS 20260716.1 using the listed steps, then compare Stable with Main; done means isolating the regression and confirming that audio no longer stutters or crackles.