In the terminal, type 
<code>sudo nano /etc/pulse/daemon.conf</code> 

Find the section that looks like this: \\

; default-sample-format = s16le \\
; default-sample-rate = 44100 \\
\\
  
and change it to this: \\
 
default-sample-format = s24le \\
default-sample-rate = 48000 \\
  
(or default-sample-rate = 96000 or default-sample-rate = 192000 depending on what your system can support.)\\ 

Then save the file and in the terminal type 

<code>pulseaudio -k</code> \\

Done. \\ \\

  
EDIT: I should add, after making the change, you can see what pulseaudio is using with pacmd list-sinks | grep "sample spec" It'll show one result for each audio device.