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Headphones playing internal computer sounds.

post #1 of 8
2/5/13 at 10:22am
Thread Starter 

Hi, i'm having a weird problem with my old Creative Aurvana Live.

 

I have them plugged to my motherboard's back pannel (its an Asus P8Z68-V PRO) and i noticed that the headphones would not only output the normal sounds (music etc) but also noises made when some action was made in the operating system.

 

For instance, if I resize a window, i hear a slight continuous noise while doing it, and the same happens when i'm scrolling down a website or window. There are more but these are the more noticeable ones (since i can control when and for how long they play). I think this happens for every action i make, even hitting a key in my keyboard (if i keep the key hit its very easy to catch).

 

Is this normal? I've read somewhere that some headphone cables act as an antenna that can pick computer fans etc, but this is more like a software thing, i dont hear my internals, i hear the actions i make in my operating system. Is there any way to fix this?

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post #2 of 8
2/5/13 at 10:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicolasete View Post

Hi, i'm having a weird problem with my old Creative Aurvana Live.

 

I have them plugged to my motherboard's back pannel (its an Asus P8Z68-V PRO) and i noticed that the headphones would not only output the normal sounds (music etc) but also noises made when some action was made in the operating system.

 

For instance, if I resize a window, i hear a slight continuous noise while doing it, and the same happens when i'm scrolling down a website or window. There are more but these are the more noticeable ones (since i can control when and for how long they play). I think this happens for every action i make, even hitting a key in my keyboard (if i keep the key hit its very easy to catch).

 

Is this normal? I've read somewhere that some headphone cables act as an antenna that can pick computer fans etc, but this is more like a software thing, i dont hear my internals, i hear the actions i make in my operating system. Is there any way to fix this?

This is electromagnetic interference, I think (not a science guy, don't shoot me.)

I had the same issue, but it went away as soon as I got my FiiO.

Getting a USB DAC will alleviate these problems. The ELE Dac goes for about $17 on eBay.

Your headphones are fine. biggrin.gif

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post #3 of 8
2/5/13 at 2:41pm

Yep, just terrible shielding of components on most standard motherboards.  I remember the first time I plugged some headphones into the el cheapo motherboard in my work desktop... :O

 

+1 on a entry level usb dac to remove that kind of issue.

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post #4 of 8
2/5/13 at 3:15pm

Generally onboard quality is crap, either get a soundcard/amp, or an external Dac. Depending on your uses. 

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post #5 of 8
2/5/13 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by formula1 View Post

Generally onboard quality is crap, either get a soundcard/amp, or an external Dac. Depending on your uses. 

I've had some low-mid end sound cards that don't shield well enough to be completely noise free in PCs with a lot of electrical noise.  Completely worth it imo to skip the internal sound card thing entirely and either go with an external usb sound card or a cheap dac/amp.

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post #6 of 8
2/5/13 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Errymoose View Post

I've had some low-mid end sound cards that don't shield well enough to be completely noise free in PCs with a lot of electrical noise.  Completely worth it imo to skip the internal sound card thing entirely and either go with an external usb sound card or a cheap dac/amp.

A cheap DAC is going to run a lot less than a soundcard and sound as good, if not better (due to less EMI).

The ELE goes for $17!

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post #7 of 8
2/5/13 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Errymoose View Post

I've had some low-mid end sound cards that don't shield well enough to be completely noise free in PCs with a lot of electrical noise.  Completely worth it imo to skip the internal sound card thing entirely and either go with an external usb sound card or a cheap dac/amp.

 

Weird. 

You can always DIY Emi shielding for your soundcard. wink.gif

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post #8 of 8
2/5/13 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicolasete View Post

Is this normal? I've read somewhere that some headphone cables act as an antenna that can pick computer fans etc, but this is more like a software thing, i dont hear my internals, i hear the actions i make in my operating system. Is there any way to fix this?
Cables do pick up radio waves, but they are generally to weak to be heard in headphones.

What you are hearing is probably fluctuations of CPU power consumption bleeding to audio ground. You can verify this by checking if the noise goes away when you run something like Prime95 or CoreDamage to keep CPU fully loaded all the time.

The problem is caused by audio ground line being grounded in some place other than the soundcard. If it happens on rear motherboard connectors there is little you can do (maybe removing IO shield would fix it, I'm not sure).

If you aren't prepared to debug and fix the motherboard the only alternative is to replace it or get a dedicated soundcard. PCI, USB, whatever - anything designed by somebody with half a brain shouldn't have this problem.
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