Audio Crackling

From the moment I start up Mass Effect 2, there is this constant static/crackling sound behind all of the music and sound effects. It seems some people had the same issue in Mass Effect 1 and fixed it with a change to an ini file...but the same settings don't seem to exist for ME2, and additionally, I installed and ran ME1 and didn't have that issue. Another possible fix was to set Windows to stereo sound, but as far as I can tell it already is. I swear I had this issue before, and managed to find a way around, but just can't seem to remember how. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I would REALLY like to play through this game again, but the sound issue is just unbearable.