Are you able to give screenshots of
- Options/Preferences/Video,
- Options/Preferences/File I/O and
- Help/ Check for Driver Updates?

Does the 'distortion' happen randomly or at a specific point Any audio plug ins? Does it happen with different file types, including PCM <.wav> ? Is the distortion present when you render a project?

You could try resetting VP and clearing the cache, which has been known to remedy a lot of audio (and video) issues.

The full resetting instructions. Follow closely.

What audio driver is chosen in Options->Preference->Audio Device ?

What audio drivers are available in that list?

Microsoft Sound Mapper

Oh, also offered, Direct Sound Mapper and Windows Classic Wave Driver

Does the 'distortion' happen randomly or at a specific point Any audio plug ins? Does it happen with different file types, including PCM <.wav> ? Is the distortion present when you render a project?

You could try resetting VP and clearing the cache, which has been known to remedy a lot of audio (and video) issues.

It's random. Can play a section of audio with distortion, rewind and play the same section and it's clean.

Have you tried audio only playback? Mute the video tracks. A codec or plug-in may be be drawing excessive system resources that affects the sound.

Try the 'Windows Classic Wave Driver'. ..though the Sound Mapper is usually trouble free as well. Have you tried experimenting with playback buffer settings? ('Audio device' menu)

Is Sound Forge Audio Studio 14 or 15 installed by any change, There have been reports of intermittent distortion that affects audio playback in general, besides SF-AS. As I recall deleting a registry entry will fix it.

Getting audio with Classic Wave Driver. Quality of playback much improved. Replaced speakers with computer and have been disappointed with sound. Seem much better now. Many thank rraud! Your a prince.

BTW have Steinberg UR 22 MkII audio interface. If that makes any difference.

Sorry, doing it again.

@daniel-s7451

Direct sound surround mapper is your onboard ASIO driver. Suggest you try it and see if it improves your situation.

Try your PC's integrated soundcard interface to see if the UR 22 is the root of the problem. The has been some reports of issues with Steinberg hardware in general in the Sound Forge forum,

After setting up my new workstation I have a similar and quite strange problem: There are heavy crackling sounds when playing from the timeline. This happens only with certain files while the other ones play absolutely clean. When I mute their videotrack only the crackling is gone... Putting them in a different track doesn't help. Even when I start a new project and import them as the only files the same crackling happens.

And yes: All of the files in the timeline are from the same camera, date and session. So it doesn't seem to be an codec related issue.
And no: This happens in no other editing or player software. For me it is quite obviously a Vegas related issue.

Here's my config:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
MB: Gigabyte B450M S2H V2
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 OC 6GB
Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio

Thanks for help!