Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › High pitched whine from front headphone jack
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

High pitched whine from front headphone jack

post #1 of 4
11/10/11 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 

I have a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H motherboard with onboard Realtek ALC892 HD audio.  The rear plug for line-out has no problems whatsoever, whether hooked up to my pitiful computer speakers, or when using my headphones.  Recently, I used the HD audio cable that came with my case to hook up the front headphone jack to the header on the motherboard.  I get a faint, high pitched sound in the background whenever I try to use this. 

 

Is this a grounding issue?  Something else?  Never run into this one before.

Reply
post #2 of 4
11/10/11 at 6:42pm
Thread Starter 

Ok, after much experimentation, the whine doesn't seem to appear until I listen to something online.  Foobar, VLC or TMT3 don't have it when playing straight from the hard drive or from an optical drive.

 

Happens in any browser, and at both youtube and Pandora.  Weird.

 

Easy solution is just to use the back plug, I know.  Kinda defeats the purpose of having a handy front headphone jack however.

Reply
post #3 of 4
11/10/11 at 10:54pm

I had this problem on my last 3 cases:

 

Silverstone Raven 2

Antec P182

Antec 900

 

I noticed it's worse when mousing over links on websites.

 

Turns out it's a ground issue where the headphone jack and USB ports share the same ground.  I had two options, either cut the ground or unplug the USB header from the motherboard.  I chose to unplug the USB and instead I'm using a USB hub on my desk, much more convenient too plugging/unplugging devices.

 

Not sure if you're having the same problem, try unplugging your front USB and see what happens.

Reply
post #4 of 4
11/11/11 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the tip Shilent.  I have a Silverstone case with the headphone and mic jacks on the same pcb as the front usb ports.  I unplugged the usb cable attached to the motherboard and the whine is gone now from the headphone jack.  I also have a usb hub, so the front usb ports aren't necessary for me.

 

I appreciate the help.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › High pitched whine from front headphone jack