I get static noise when listening to my headphones, whenever I move mouse, also get static from mic as well...soundcard prob?

[moomooemu]

I just got some ms-1 ones and I notice whenever I plug them in, I can hear this low static at all times. I hear noises whenever I scroll up or down the page using the side scroll on the right side, noise whenever my mouse goes over links.

I thought it was the headphones, but I noticed whenever I turn up my speakers really loud, the same symptoms occur. Whenever I tried my headphones on my brothers new laptop, I didn't get these symptoms.

Also, I just got a simple mic and whenever I plug it in, I get this low rumbling sound. Hear is what it sounds like, YouSendIt - Send large files - transfer delivery - FTP Replacement

Again, whenever I plug the mic into the laptop, it works perfectly fine.

So I am not sure what is causing this problem. Could it be dust and debris, maybe loose connections on the wires for the soundcard, maybe the inputs, or is it the actual soundcard itself, or could it be something completely else?

Oh and the soundcard I have currently is a sound blaster audigy 2 I believe. Now I was going to upgrade my source soundcard anyway, so even if it is the soundcard, its not really that big of a deal. Do you guys have recommendations for different levels of soundcards, budget, pretty decent, extreme etc lol? Thanks!

[milkweg]

This is a common issue with PC soundcards. My onboard audio on one PC has that issue quite bad but on my other PC that has an X-Fi it is very minor. The way to fix it is to use the digital out of your current soundcard and feed it into an external DAC. I use an EMU0404 USB using digital coax from the X-Fi and now have no such issues at all. You could try another soundcard but that doesn't guarantee it won't have the same isssue. Could be the motherboard that is causing it and not the soundcard at all.

[Operandi]

Originally Posted by milkweg

This is a common issue with PC soundcards. My onboard audio on one PC has that issue quite bad but on my other PC that has an X-Fi it is very minor. The way to fix it is to use the digital out of your current soundcard and feed it into an external DAC. I use an EMU0404 USB using digital coax from the X-Fi and now have no such issues at all. You could try another soundcard but that doesn't guarantee it won't have the same isssue. Could be the motherboard that is causing it and not the soundcard at all.

Yep, your picking up interference from the electrical activity within the PC. All internal sound cards are going to have this issue to some extent how bad it is depends on how much thought was placed into the design of the board.

[Pockymonster]

Instead of spending money like some people are going to suggest. Try moving the sound card to another PCI expansion slot. It might be sharing an IRQ with the keyboard or mouse. So everytime you use the mouse or keyboard it "interrupts" it. Or maybe its sharing it with the video card. Just move it somewhere else and try to see if it goes away.

[ziplock]

Depending on how old your computer is, you may be using a cd-audio cable that runs from the back of your cd/dvd drive to your sound card. Try muting cd-audio in the windows mixer app. I have seen this silence excessive noise in certain PC configurations. Good luck.

~Z

[moomooemu]

Well I found that if I mute the mic input, all noise stops completely...but when I turn it back on, I get all the noise back again.

Also another problem, might be with the inputs. My mic seems to work 100% better when its only plugged in halfway. I get so much more sensitivity and it picks up sound alot better. However, whenever I plug it in completely, it is probably only half as good. I don't understand why its like that. Also its notable, that I only get the low rumbling sound(you can hear it in the link I posted) whenever I plug in the mic in the front slots. In the back ones, I get no extra noise.

I tried moving to a different pci slot but I dont think it made a difference.

What is an external DAC?

So what are my options of what to do since the fault is due to the design of the motherboard? Maybe like an external soundcard? Or maybe that option suggested above which is to use the digital out to the DAC thing? I'm not sure what I want to do, because I do want to use my mic as well without having all this annoying static noise.

Thanks.

[Redo]

Go for a USB mic and forget this problem ever existed.