I recently bought a Vizio M55Q7-H1 and have noticed persistent issues with the audio. Specifically, I hear popping/crackling sounds during multiple situations across shows, apps, and menus. Some examples include:

-Whenever I play or pause a show, movie, or commercial -Whenever a new audio source starts playing, such as when one commercial on Hulu ends and another begins -Whenever it goes from complete silence back to playing audio -Occurs in both Smartcast apps & Chromecast

I also found multiple posts on the r/Vizio_Official subreddit discussing this, so it is a known issue. Here are some of the posts: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/jrddpf/third_m55q7h1_with_popping_sound https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/if231b/m55q8h1_cuts_off_quiet_ambient_sound/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/igno1z/m_series_2020_65m65q8h1_crackling_sound_at_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/jsn6bx/new_v585xh1_has_popping_sound_when_audio

The only solution that seems to exist at the moment is either to return the TV and get a different brand (which I don’t want to do because the picture quality on this one is great) or to plug in a soundbar. One reddit user said he requested a free soundbar from Vizio support as a solution since no other software or hardware fix currently exists, besides returning the TV altogether as I mentioned.