[Needles]

Hello!

I recently became the proud owner of both a new Auzentech Home Theatre HD 7.1 sound card and a great set of Denon AH-D2000s. Overall, I love the setup. For games and movies, the combo is amazing, absolutely no comparison to the gear I was using prior.

However, always in the pursuit of perfection ...

Is there any way to reduce or eliminate (not holding my breath) the background "hiss" one hears during "silence"? I realize the setup is good enough to highlight subpar audio in a game, for example, and that may very well be all I'm hearing, but I wonder if there is a certain configuration of volume sliders in Win 7 that might at least reduce the hiss. I haven no illusions that I'll be able to achieve perfect silence, but I'm hoping to at least improve my current situation. I currently have the Windows volume slider at about 25%.

Thanks in advance!

 

[leeperry]

there REALLY shouldn't be any background hiss/noise...maybe you got a dud?

try disabling all the stuff you don't need(especially the microphone input)

as a last resort, you could try this: Buzzing noise in Forte headphone only during 3D audio - [H]ard|Forum

 

[Needles]

Thanks for the reply, leeperry.

I've done some more testing and it's the old sob story: My GPU is interfering with the card, which shouldn't come as a HUGE surprise considering my only available PCI-e slot is right beneath the video card, barely a quarter inch of daylight between the GPU and the HTHD. Maybe I'll try taping the bracket. The hiss is all but non-existent on desktop (I hear it when I scroll occasionally, prolly something to do with Windows Aero and the GPU), but as soon as I fire up anything GPU intensive, the buzz/hiss begins and the pitch and frequency changes depending what's on screen. Easy to diagnose. Now ... let's see if it's easy to fix beyond buying a new mobo with better PCI-e slot placement.

 

[leeperry]

what's your PSU?

well, the Auzen cards seem to often give this problem anyway...I've had PCI-E soundcards that were dead silent, even in 3D games, and even in slots right next to the graphic card...it mostly means that the ground shielding of the soundcard is poor, or that the PSU gives crazy ripple when the GPU is active(what happens if you defrag your HDD?)..could also be motherboard dependent, but strangely it often boils down to the Auzen soundcards.

 

[Needles]

Corsair Professional HX850w. Hopefully not the root of my issue. According to reviews the PSU is super low ripple. My HDD is a SSD, defragmentation is not an issue (TRIM is active). I suppose it could be the mobo, mid-range Gigabyte board. Otherwise, I guess it's the card. I'd hoped opting for a HTHD over the Forte would mean better shielding (amongst other things). Many people find relief isolating the card from the case, taping the bracket and/or using a plastic screw. I guess I'll have to ghetto mod it and see what comes.

 

[Needles]

I'm still toying with the notion of isolating the backplate and replacing the metal screws with plastic ... but then I realize I HATE the fact that I need to mod such an expensive sound card to achieve acceptable, basic functionality. Would I be better served returning the HTHD in favor of a different solution? I love the fact that it provides a dedicated headphone jack with on-board amp, allowing me to have my Audioengines and my Denons hooked up without having to swap cables ... and the SQ is otherwise quite wonderful ... but the buzz caused by the GPU is simply unacceptable. Such an issue should not be present on a high-end product. I'd consider the STX, but I need a card that is 100% gaming proficient. Unless I find a solution, I'll likely end up back with my XtremeGamer. Not as sexy, but she's silent.

 

[leeperry]

well, manufacturers were slow to catch the PCI-E wagon because making a PCI card is already not child's play...but PCI-E is even worse. It would appear that the Auzen engineers are not as skilled as Asus' when it comes to proper ground shielding...you can rest assured that a STX would be dead silent, but well it doesn't have a discrete HP amp/X-Fi drivers etc etc

if taking off the backplate doesn't help, it sounds like you'd be better off getting your money back indeed.

the wall plug the PC is connected to is properly grounded?

 

[Needles]

I've already sent a ticket to Auzentech and I'll be contacting the RMA depo at the online retailer when I get home just to get the ball rolling. I'd rather NOT send it back, but I've returned hardware for less.

The PC is connected to an APC UPS, I'm not sure if that answers your question. I haven't yet achieved the level of hardcore necessary to answer that question with confidence.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Did you make sure you muted all input sources that are not being used?
Try another slot -if you have any extras?

If the card is not exactly what you want, return it.
I have heard this card and it is silent....

 

[ROBSCIX]

Another question, at what point are you hearing the hiss?

If the card is set for headphones and your using the rear headphones output, how loud do you have to turn the volume before you hear this hiss?
Your OP says about 25% your hearing hiss?

Are you using the front or rear jack?

 

[Needles]

Indeed. I actually went so far as to mute EVERYTHING and the buzzing was still present. It's not part of the audio, it's something on the line and the GPU is the obvious cause. With near dead silence on the desktop (with the exception of very faint sound during some scrolling), it comes to life as soon as a game is launched and the GPU starts pulsing.

Unfortunately, no other slots are available to me. Three on the mobo but only one is able to accommodate the sound card.

The hiss is always present, but it's extremely faint at desktop, worsened by scrolling (sometimes). It absolutely goes nuts during heavy GPU load, changing in volume and pitch depending on the load.

Volume level has zero effect on the buzz. With everything muted, buzz. With play volume and mic unmuted, but volume turned all the way to zero, still buzz.

I'm using the rear headphone jack.

I really want to love this card. The sound it provides is amazing ... with one notable exception, of course.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Needles /img/forum/go_quote.gif Indeed. I actually went so far as to mute EVERYTHING and the buzzing was still present. It's not part of the audio, it's something on the line and the GPU is the obvious cause. With near dead silence on the desktop (with the exception of very faint sound during some scrolling), it comes to life as soon as a game is launched and the GPU starts pulsing. Unfortunately, no other slots are available to me. Three on the mobo but only one is able to accommodate the sound card. The hiss is always present, but it's extremely faint at desktop, worsened by scrolling (sometimes). It absolutely goes nuts during heavy GPU load, changing in volume and pitch depending on the load. Volume level has zero effect on the buzz. With everything muted, buzz. With play volume and mic unmuted, but volume turned all the way to zero, still buzz. I'm using the rear headphone jack. I really want to love this card. The sound it provides is amazing ... with one notable exception, of course.

...then there is some issue outside of normal operation. Based onw hat I have seen and heard, during normal operation this card is indeed dead silent. You can crank the master volume up and it stays silent until about 90% when you start hearing the amps noise floor and even thes it is a very faint hiss.
What your talking about seems like something totally different, in that that card or the buss is picking up interference produced from others sources.

Your using the latest drivers etc for both cards, chipset etc?
I would advise you to post a thread at the Auznetech forums and see if anybody has a fix.
Wait and see what Auzentech has to say.
You said you have you have muted everything? MIC, line? also make sure to disable to Mic boost, sometimes this can cause trouble.
I lower all the faders and mute them and disable any type of boosting or real time monitoring.
It may help but I think the issue is related to something else.

 

[Needles]

Something else interesting: With my Denons on, I reached behind the tower and gently jiggled the headphone connection on the back of the card. The buzzing changed, getting worse, better, worse, better. I may not have disabled mic boost, I'll give it a shot, but yeah I'm not holding my breath. It's most likely some kind of interference. Seems many Forte users had the issue, and many solved it isolating the card's backpanel from their case. EDIT: Mic boost disabled, no change for the better. One guy in the link leeperry posted used tissue paper to test the fix, simply made a small rectangle or it, cut out the back to allow the I/O ports to pass through and totally isolated his card from the case. When this solved the problem, he pursued a more permanent fix. I may try something similar, a quick fix to test the theory.

EDIT2: Crud. I just pulled the side panel off my rig to listen. With the panel off and the fans turned down, I notice that the video card makes a very audible buzzing sound under high load, with the volume and frequency changing depending on load. This buzzing matches perfectly with the buzz I'm hearing through my headphones. So yeah, that's the nail in the coffin on that one. I tried simply removing the screw holding the back panel to the case and there's zero change to the buzz. I'm beginning to think it's actual BUS interference, which likely means I'm 100% screwed unless I get a new mobo (current mobo: GA-P35-DS3R).

 

[Needles]

Some additional weirdness for you: On a whim, I plugged the headphones into the green jack of the breakout cable (removed the Audioengines temporarily), to compare. The buzzing is there, but it's extremely feint compared to when the Denons were plugged into the rear amplified headphone jack. If I could get the buzzing to this level using the amplified jack, I'd be satisfied.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Noise is no big deal on the GFX card provided it is not picked up in the audio card.
I would test with some masking tape just along the edge of the PCI shielding...
This does not happen with every card so it seems like some type of compatibility issue with the Mobo or the mobo and GFX card/audio card.
Post back when you have checked it out.

The green jack on the break out cable is the line out. Do you head phones require amplification?