[fenixdown110]

The clicking and static/hum/buzz is really driving me nuts.

I know there are ground loop isolators, but they're all for rca connections. I have a usb dac, so if there no way to install a ground loop isolator? Will a new pci usb card solve the problem? It's an intermittent event. It happens whenever it feels like it. It eventually goes away sometimes if I leave the computer on long enough. Sometimes, it doesn't go away at all and I restart it over and over until it stops.

 

[xnor]

Maybe your mainboard's usb controller is teh ****, you could try to replace it with a different mainboard model, or install an usb pci card.

 

[Currawong]

No, jitter is not clicks and not something you can hear as such (you hear the consequences of jitter as various kinds of distortion, but lets not go there if it's not relevant to your problem). If you are getting clicking, it is probably something to do with interruption of the data going to the DAC, so could have to do with the software you're using. I have no idea about setting up Windows for music playback, so I'll leave solving that issue to someone who does.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnor /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe your mainboard's usb controller is teh ****, you could try to replace it with a different mainboard model, or install an usb pci card.

Yeah, I was thinking that too as a possibility. I'll have to look into it now. It's intermittent as I said and will sometimes start crystal clear and then start clicking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, jitter is not clicks and not something you can hear as such (you hear the consequences of jitter as various kinds of distortion, but lets not go there if it's not relevant to your problem). If you are getting clicking, it is probably something to do with interruption of the data going to the DAC, so could have to do with the software you're using. I have no idea about setting up Windows for music playback, so I'll leave solving that issue to someone who does.

Ok. That's for clarifying. I'm running Windows 7 which might have compatibility issues, but the dac is fully recognizable. The signal is just interrupted. Maybe it's a compatibility issue between Windows and ASIO?

 

[ROBSCIX]

There are many kinds of jitter. For audio many are concerned with periodic jitter. Which is timing erros in the main clock. This type of jitter can be seen as the clock pulse starting or ending to early or too late or both. This incorrect timing signal "clocks" the other chips at incorrect times. If the DAC is being clocked at incorrect times you will get distortion and artifacting that is mathematically related to the jitter.
This type of jitter has no sound of it's own, what you hear is the negative effects it has on your audio.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are many kinds of jitter. For audio many are concerned with periodic jitter. Which is timing erros in the main clock. This type of jitter can be seen as the clock pulse starting or ending to early or too late or both. This incorrect timing signal "clocks" the other chips at incorrect times. If the DAC is being clocked at incorrect times you will get distortion and artifacting that is mathematically related to the jitter. This type of jitter has no sound of it's own, what you hear is the negative effects it has on your audio.

What I'm hearing isn't jitter. Thanks for the description and clarification. I confused it with seek jitter from CD readings which are clicks.

I think it is the usb controller that has gone to crap. I'll be installing a pci to usb card. The controller must have been really cheap or the soldering was bad. Maybe a bad ground. I'll have to open it up and take a look.

 

[xnor]

Btw, does this happen randomly? Because on my notebook e.g. opening a website with lots of flash/java applets or starting big applications etc. leads to audio glitches sometimes.

 

[Armaegis]

Sometimes, other devices on the same usb controller will cause the interference. Mice are known to cause this.

 

[devast]

First of all, try setting the priority of the player application you using in the windows task manager (to high). My notebook does this too sometimes when it's overloaded. If your problem still exists, then you're getting noise out from your pc to your amp. <= Like noise when your hdd is reading/writing or your use your mouse scroll. This can happen more likely when your unit gets power from the usb.

 

[nick_charles]

Welcome to audio hell !. I have had this problem on numerous PCs and with several different USB devices, sometimes it is just one an hour sometimes it is all the time. It can be an interaction with Antivirus/Firewall apps or wireless devices as well as the causes listed above.

You can do latency checking which sometimes helps to identify problem apps ,

DPC Latency Checker

you can turn off all unnecessary processes until it is stable and then turn them on until you find the culprit.

 

[fenixdown110]

Ah, thanks so much. I'll do all of the above and see if it gets rid of it. It's not doing it right now thankfully. It really is audio hell!

 

[fenixdown110]

I found out what it is. It's a damn usb ground loop. I need to reground it, but I'm not sure where to start. I'll have to ask a computerphile friend for help for just get a pci usb card and hope that has a better ground.

 

[Armaegis]

Just pick up a cheap ground loop isolator from radio shack.

 

[fenixdown110]

It won't work since I have a usb dac. Ground loop isolators are RCA only.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846
Won't this unit degrade sound quality though?

 

[Philski]

Are you using a PC or a laptop?