How very odd! I'm in Central Ontario with a humidity of about 28%. I don't get crackling if I hold my PE near my power bars, PC, monitors, etc. Certainly the magnetic and RF fields given off by these could cause crackling in a device susceptible to them.

I would see if the store will give you an exchange. You can contact enTourage Tech Support to get their insight into the matter, and it may help to have a Ticket # to quote to the store to indicate it's a valid return issue.