How To Fix Google Nest Audio Crackle Pop Sound Problem

Due to the cheap Japanese yen, I've been doing a lot of shopping recently.  I decided to upgrade my aging Sony Google Assistant speaker to the latest Google Nest Audio.

Nice.  Sounds good.  Upgrade complete.

Wrong.  I'm forever plagued with IT problems.  I must've been cursed by some IT witch or something.

Every once in a while the Google Nest speaker would make a short click / crackle / pop sound while playing streaming audio.  It happened most often with Spotify.  At first I thought it must be a hardware problem with the speaker, but I noticed that it would only do it when playing Spotify or SomaFM.  Youtube music and news podcasts never suffered from the dreaded pop.

So maybe it's a firmware problem.  Well...damn...should I just return this thing?

I googled the crap out of the issue and found a plethora of (angry) posts, but very few solutions.  I tried all the suggested solutions to no avail: factory reset, try other power outlet, change some speaker wifi settings, etc.

The crackle would return.

One night I was poking around the Nest Audio settings in the Google Home app and stumbled upon a setting called "Preview Program."  It sounded like the speaker would get a not-yet-officially-released firmware update.

Let's do it.  What do I have to lose?

1) Go into the Google Home app and tap your speaker.
2) Tap the gear to go into the speaker settings.
3) Tap "Device Information," then "Preview Program."
4) Join the Preview Program.

Not long after joining the program, I felt like the speaker got busy doing something.  No problem cuz I was about to go to bed anyways.  I woke up the next morning and checked the device information.  The firmware versions were newer.

Profit!  So far, so good!  Knock-on-wood...the audio crackle problem is gone now.

So if you too suffer from this Google Nest Audio crackle problem, I highly suggest trying the "Preview Program" solution.  It seems the issue has been fixed in a not-yet-officially-released firmware update.

FURTHER READING
https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6343937