popping noise after every note I record

Audacity 3.0.0
Windows 10 home build 19041
Mics: Zoom h4n with usb and usb extension cable. also tried a zoom q2n4k.

When trying to record music (brass player), I’m getting a popping sound happening after every note I play. It’s always the same time after each note and it bounces around my headphones/speakers almost like an echo. I’ve tried using multiple USB microphones, different headsets, and different usb cables but it’s still happening.
I’ve used audacity for almost a decade and never encountered this problem. It was happening on audacity 2.2.2, so I uninstalled that and installed 3.0.0. The only other change to my system was a new motherboard about a month ago. I’ve made sure all my drivers are up to date as well.
Here’s the really puzzling part: when I play the audio in audacity where the click should be, but without playing the preceding note, there’s no click. There’s a very faint sound of the valve moving, but that’s not an issue. I exported the audio and emailed it to myself, opening it on my tablet, and the clicks are gone. The clicks are also appearing at the end other music tracks from my music library, and this all started once I did some recording with audacity this evening. So it’s something with audacity and my computer. The only other thing I can think of is a fresh OS install but I can’t do that for a while. Any help is appreciated!

WAV audio file attached.

Are all your monitors wireless?

Koz

I would bet it’s a sound in the room, e.g. the valves of the brass instrument, or a creaky chair / floorboard.
The click sound is definitely not digital: there’s a hint of room-reverb when slowed down …

A noise-gate would get rid of such faint noises.

@kozikowski everything is wired. After trying out my bluetooth headphones, no pops! So I’m guess it’s a cable to my speakers as it’s happening with multiple plugged-in headsets. Thanks for helping me pin it down! If it’s a cable issue I can fix that.