[eidahl]

I currently use my onboard sound for my headphones and seem to be getting a lot of crackling / beep-like noises. The strange thing is that the crackling increases whenever I click on things and open programs.. it's completely random.

It does this for any headphones and I've tried it using an old soundcard for the headphones and it still does these noises ( the headphones work fine on other computers). Any ideas?

EDIT: I'm using the nforce audio onboard sound.. ( Realtek AC97 I believe).
I've tried both the nvidia audio driver / realtek drivers, same thing.

 

[qwerty009]

Decent sound card would solve the problem. Integrated and cheap cards generate lot of noise and pick up interference. You can also try to update drivers and change sound cards IRQ (there could be conflict).

 

[theBigD]

i had the same kind of problems. i got a good soundcard (xfi music). moved it as far away from video card as possible. then mod the card for improved sound. its amazing how much better this setup is than my mp3 player.

 

[DSlayerZX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eidahl /img/forum/go_quote.gif I currently use my onboard sound for my headphones and seem to be getting a lot of crackling / beep-like noises. The strange thing is that the crackling increases whenever I click on things and open programs.. it's completely random. It does this for any headphones and I've tried it using an old soundcard for the headphones and it still does these noises ( the headphones work fine on other computers). Any ideas? EDIT: I'm using the nforce audio onboard sound.. ( Realtek AC97 I believe). I've tried both the nvidia audio driver / realtek drivers, same thing.

stay away from the on board sound cards, they are evil~~~~~

but anyway, yes, get any decent sound card would solve the problem

 

[jcx]

increasing buffer size in the soundcard driver is a much cheaper solution

drop outs are a consequence of the operating system not sending enough data quickly enough to the soundcard to cover up for timeouts spent servicing video, hard drive, ect

on board soundcards can still be poor, I hear noise (hiss) even when the music is continuous with my RealTech motherboard chipset

 

[Joshatdot]

get a Chaintech AV-710 $22 at Newegg

 

[qwerty009]

You can also try to set your players priority to High in task manager. Might help...

 

[CarbonTi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshatdot /img/forum/go_quote.gif get a Chaintech AV-710 $22 at Newegg

+1

Chaintech is a great value, just search the archives here for instructions on how to set it up correctly to use the higher quality Wolfson DAC chip on the card.

Onboard soundchips on motherboards are not for any kind of audio fidelity, they are there just to allow the motherboard noise/sound capability - go into the BIOS setup screen of the computer and turn the onboard sound chip off.

 

[Lord Chaos]

Another alternative: buy an outboard digital-to-analog converter, and connect that to your computer's digital audio output. If you get one with a built-in headphone amp you only need the one box. There are many different ones available. I use a Benchmark DAC1 with both of my computers, and am quite pleased with it.