[Troubleshooting] Brand New Build - Audio Static and Slow Boot Time

Troubleshooting Help:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zkZ7pb
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zkZ7pb/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($228.10 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI B150 Gaming M3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($100.04 @ Amazon)
Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.88 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.14 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.75 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB Mini Video Card ($194.02 @ Amazon)
Case: Zalman Z1 Neo ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.59 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($61.13 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.98 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Samsung U28D590D 28.0" 60Hz Monitor
Monitor: Samsung U28D590D 28.0" 60Hz Monitor
Total: $998.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-25 03:45 EST-0500

I completed this build yesterday and I've been using my computer today but noticed two big problems.

Audio Problems:
Firstly any audio I play either through speakers, headphones or headset will come out very distorted and even lags behind the video at times. I've tried all the ports in the front and back of my computer with no luck. At first my PC had an NVIDIA audio driver and a Realtek audio driver.

1. I first went to my MOBO's support page and tried to get the latest version of all drivers including Realtek driver (7960)

2. I then tried to update in device manager but both drivers were up to date. So after restarting I uninstalled the NVIDIA driver to see if Realtek alone was better. Problem persisted.

3. I uninstalled Realtek, deleted all files, went to the Realtek website and got a slightly older version (R2.79) of the driver. Installed that but the problem persisted.

4. Found a slightly newer version of the Realtek driver (7989) on the Microsoft Update Catalog which came as a cab file. I'm having trouble installing this driver since the DISM tool cannot locate the file even though the path is right.

Furthermore, I don't understand why this issue is happening when I can't seem to find other people experiencing this problem recently since windows 10 has been out for so long.

SSD Problem
I have a Sandisk Ultra II 480 Gb SSD and a 1TB WD 7200 RPM HDD. Currently windows and everything is solely on my SSD with nothing in my HDD at all. I installed windows 10 home through a USB 3.0 drive. In my BIOS boot order I have the order set to my Windows Bootloader on my SSD. However I'm seeing boot times of up to 3 minutes or more. I also notice that my HDD periodically will not be detected in my BIOS, but I can still see it in This PC. To clarify after pressing the power button it takes about 2 min or a bit more to POST and then 15-30 seconds to get to the login screen which seems acceptable. What could be the problem specifically causing a slow POST?

Using the motherboard LEDs to debug I see that the CPU LED is on for 1 second, then the DRAM LED for one second, then about one minute or two with no LEDs on and then after that the VGA LED is on for about 45 seconds until the BIOS post screen is done.

I've played around with my BIOS settings essentially disabling everything I didn't need (Legacy USB, Parallel I/O, HPET, etc) but I've seen no improvement whatsoever in my POST/BOOT time.