Annoying chirping sound from speakers

I'll get right to it I recently hooked up my speakers to my PC(previously using to play music elsewhere) and i noticed a sharp, and very audible chirping, the noise is non stop and and oscillates quite fast. I have not been able to find a solution on the internet, so i decided to ask you guys for help.

My set-up is:

Sony SS-B3000
Yamaha RX-V663 (through Zone 2)
Soundblaster X-fi Platinum (who knows maybe Fatal1ty)


Furthermore, when i hook up my iPhone 3g to the output the chirping is gone and the sound is nice and clear. The on-board soundcard has always made wierd chirping noises, combined with other noise which is hard to describe. Although the soundblaster card has never done this, until i swtiched from my computer speakers to actual speakers.

I though this might be helpful
This is what the speakers are registering when they are "off" but still hooked up to the RX-V663.
http://www.filesavr.com/img00931

http://www.filesavr.com/img00941




The sound seems to oscillate between those 2 peaks.

You guys are my last resort, please help me

My Echo also has a very low level issue with that as well. Sometimes equipment and cables that aren't highly shielded will pick up all the interference that comes from inside a computer with its switching power supply, fans, and other devices that cause electrical pollution. This is one of the biggest reasons that many recommend an external digital to analog converter.

Maybe your soundcard has an optical out that can go to a cheap used reciever or maybe you might be interested in looking at what DAC options are out there.

You are correct it seems to be some kind of interference, i was focused on thinking this was an internal problem. I still cannot find what is to blame, but turning the gain on the receiver down and increasing soundcard output to max seems to have brought it down to bearably levels.


But now, to play it loud, I have to get up and change the volume on receiver manually, if i want the neighbors to come over and tell me to turn it down.
Somewhat an inconvenience, but much better then the mind numbing chirp.

The common x-fi bug?

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What exactly do u mean by that? Are you talking about the bad capacitors?

Do you have other sources apart from your computer? Are you using analogue or digital outputs from the soundcards? Tried both soundcards, when testing onboard have you removed the X-Fi?

The X-Fi does have several bugs, one is loud screeching noise. It depends on your motherboard chipset/ BIOS or if you're just unlucky. I've got a X-Fi and when I scroll it makes a little bit of noise, not a lot but it's there (analogue out)

Try muting all the recording inputs on teh X-fi, many times if they are left "floating" -enabled without a signal supplied they can easily pick up interference from many sources.

Normally it is poorly shielded speakers. I do not think it is the X-Fi as when he turns the volume up on his X-fi and down on the speakers, the problem is attenuated. Therefore, I believe that the speakers are the ones picking up EM. Maybe it is your cellphone, I find that people with iPhones can mess up cable signals when they send SMSes. Likewise, some poorly made speakers will manifest that problem when a phone is nearby. I assume that the problem has to do with some sort of radiation.

Easy test: unhook the interconnect from the sound card and listen with the gain on the receiver up. Still hear it through the receiver and speakers with the volume up? If yes, its not the card. If no... its likely the sound card. Many sound cards attenuate digitally anyway and that messes with the sound quality, you usually want the volume at max from the computer and have an analog volume control.

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He's on my ignore list for making inane unhelpful comments. He usually makes over twenty of these a day.

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Awww you've hurt my feelings. Shows how much you know the crackling is a well known X-Fi bug.

I got my hands on my brother's USB SoundBlaster Live 24-Bit. After 2 painful restarts, i got the new drivers installed. The chirping was still there, but much less. Now i got a new problem with this external card, every time something loads on Firefox it makes sound similar to that if one was to twist or move around the plug (3.5mm) on the output. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

The chirp is still there although, so its not just the sound card.

And yes I have tried to hooking this up to different speakers, which are shielded for sure and the chirp is still there.

It seems any audio that leaves this computer, whether it be through USB, onboard, of the sound card. There is a chirp.

Or it may be the receiver, but it works on every other source, and every other source works on my speakers.

It's not a problem with the external card. But again the sounds that the Live! makes when something loads is just so annoying. I think i would prefer the constant oscillating chirp, with receiver turned down.
Sigh....

I will reinstalled the X-fi drivers and try what ROBSCIX said, to mute all inputs.

@iriverdude yes i have other sources. Read the first post?

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It's only their when the computer is the output whether it be digitally, or analogly (should be a word).

Cables might be an issue too, but an external DAC might be the ticket. It definitely sounds like computer noise in the signal.