[XIX47]

Hello,
 
I have been thinking of upgrading my audio setup for the use of music listening. I do like gaming on my PC (though at this point SP games only) so I have bought a soundcard months ago since their features were better suited for gaming. However, a few weeks ago, I decided to expand my setup for music listening as well (from CDs to FLAC files). So far, the music sounds amazing from my headphones, however I have noticed crackling noises at certain points from many of the tracks. Now it is possible that these noises were a result from the CD mastering, but I have read that inferences from inside PCs could be causing these distortions as well. With an internal sound card that is a possibility, and I want to verify if that is the case, and fix it.
 
Here is my current Audio setup:
 
AKG K712s
JDS O2 amp
Creative Sound Blaster Z
 
Now, if the crackling noises still persist, would having an external DAC have a very noticeable improvement in SQ? If so, then I would keep the DAC.
 
Thanks.

 

[PleasantSounds]

If the noises always appear in the same spot, that would point to the recording.
 
More likely however you are experiencing buffer underruns in your soundcard or player. That means your soundcard has finished playing the content of the buffer before the next portion arrives. The most common reason is that your computer is busy doing something else at the time, or the critical resources are utilized by a different process. To fix that you can try doing two things:
- increase the relevant buffer sizes
- find the offending process and stop it (which I admit is not always a practical solution)
 
The interferences from the computer itself would most likely surface as bacground noise, typically fluctuating depending on the activity. In that case an external DAC might help, but if it was me I wouldn't be reaching for my wallet just yet.

 

[Honkytime]

  Hello,
 
I have been thinking of upgrading my audio setup for the use of music listening. I do like gaming on my PC (though at this point SP games only) so I have bought a soundcard months ago since their features were better suited for gaming. However, a few weeks ago, I decided to expand my setup for music listening as well (from CDs to FLAC files). So far, the music sounds amazing from my headphones, however I have noticed crackling noises at certain points from many of the tracks. Now it is possible that these noises were a result from the CD mastering, but I have read that inferences from inside PCs could be causing these distortions as well. With an internal sound card that is a possibility, and I want to verify if that is the case, and fix it.
 
Here is my current Audio setup:
 
AKG K712s
JDS O2 amp
Creative Sound Blaster Z
 
Now, if the crackling noises still persist, would having an external DAC have a very noticeable improvement in SQ? If so, then I would keep the DAC.
 
Thanks.

did you encode the music to flac? or did you get it downloaded already encoded? its possible to encode a low quality mp3 into a flac just cause it says its a flac doesn't mean it is flac quality. unless you encode them yourself or get from a reputable site it could be a crap encode as well. You could hook up a cd player or another source to the O2 and see if the problem persists.

 

[XIX47]

  If the noises always appear in the same spot, that would point to the recording.
 
More likely however you are experiencing buffer underruns in your soundcard or player. That means your soundcard has finished playing the content of the buffer before the next portion arrives. The most common reason is that your computer is busy doing something else at the time, or the critical resources are utilized by a different process. To fix that you can try doing two things:
- increase the relevant buffer sizes
- find the offending process and stop it (which I admit is not always a practical solution)
 
The interferences from the computer itself would most likely surface as bacground noise, typically fluctuating depending on the activity. In that case an external DAC might help, but if it was me I wouldn't be reaching for my wallet just yet.

 
Hmm, any particular/noteworthy common processes on Task Manager that may cause such inferences? I do have Steam, NVIDIA, Bitdefender, Firefox, and other programs usually running when playing music. On Foobar2000 Preferences -> Output, I have increased the buffer length with no noticeable results so far.
 
I have been trying to methodically search for a solution that would not require spending any $$$, so I rather not go for a DAC until I exhaust all other options. If I do purchase one, I would make sure it was a good return policy if does not work out in solving my issue or any noticeable increase in SQ.
 

  did you encode the music to flac? or did you get it downloaded already encoded? its possible to encode a low quality mp3 into a flac just cause it says its a flac doesn't mean it is flac quality. unless you encode them yourself or get from a reputable site it could be a crap encode as well. You could hook up a cd player or another source to the O2 and see if the problem persists.

I ripped the tracks from CDs I recently purchased on Amazon. I do not have much experience using online services to download music, but it would have to be a reputable site. I unfortunately do not have a CD player I can hook up to my O2 amp. I do have an 10+ year old CD stereo system that I would be able to borrow, but it is not of high quality and I doubt it could run on the O2 amp.

 

[PleasantSounds]

   
Hmm, any particular/noteworthy common processes on Task Manager that may cause such inferences? I do have Steam, NVIDIA, Bitdefender, Firefox, and other programs usually running when playing music. On Foobar2000 Preferences -> Output, I have increased the buffer length with no noticeable results so far.
 
I have been trying to methodically search for a solution that would not require spending any $$$, so I rather not go for a DAC until I exhaust all other options. If I do purchase one, I would make sure it was a good return policy if does not work out in solving my issue or any noticeable increase in SQ.
 
 

 
Are you familiar with the latency monitor? If not get it:
 
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
 
Some processes that may interfere include Windows indexer, virus checkers, disk defraggers. 
An external DAC may help since it would use different resources to get the data, but then make sure it's not going through your soundcard (i.e. go for USB connection).

 

[koshtramba]

Most people would notice a significant slowdown in overall OS performance, if a certain process is tying up too much system resources. I don't think crackling could be caused by a software problem.
 
Did you check if the source you ripped the tracks from ( the CD ) actually performs in the same manner? For example, on your home audio system, instead of on your PC. If the source is faulty, so will be the ripped tracks.
 
I did get an external Asus Xonar Essence DAC some time ago, and I can confirm that it's a pretty sweet deal. If the crackling noises are indeed caused by electric interference in your PC case, an external DAC will eliminate all such issues, and I bet you'll love it.

 

[XIX47]

   
Are you familiar with the latency monitor? If not get it:
 
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
 
Some processes that may interfere include Windows indexer, virus checkers, disk defraggers. 
An external DAC may help since it would use different resources to get the data, but then make sure it's not going through your soundcard (i.e. go for USB connection).

 
 I ran LatencyMon a few times tonight, and it stated "Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts".
 
 I think that rules out latency on my PC.

  Most people would notice a significant slowdown in overall OS performance, if a certain process is tying up too much system resources. I don't think crackling could be caused by a software problem.
 
Did you check if the source you ripped the tracks from ( the CD ) actually performs in the same manner? For example, on your home audio system, instead of on your PC. If the source is faulty, so will be the ripped tracks.
 
I did get an external Asus Xonar Essence DAC some time ago, and I can confirm that it's a pretty sweet deal. If the crackling noises are indeed caused by electric interference in your PC case, an external DAC will eliminate all such issues, and I bet you'll love it.

 
I did briefly test it one of the CDs on the 10+ year old sub-par stereo system and I could faintly detect distortions in the background. However, not nearly as noticeable as the ones I hear on my K712s.
 
I guess I know what this means. I have pretty much tested everything else but it looks like it is the CDs causing these distortions. To be honest, I wanted to double-check any other possibilities and be through about it just in-case. They are soundtracks from Star Wars & LOTR trilogies, so I thought these issues would not present in such classical music. I really hope I just received poor quality CDs and not poor audio mastering. That would be a major disappointment for me.
 
I am not sure if I will make any audio upgrades at this point. Since these issues have not affected my gaming, I think a regular DAC would be better suited for me for music listening. However, I wil check out the Xonar Essence later. Thanks.