[Maximus Pain]

In the middle of PC gaming. My headphones will scream, screech, artifact extremely loudly for no reason. I end up having to rip the headphones off my head so that I don't get hearing damage. Its extremely loud all of the sudden. Seems like something is failing badly. This does not happen when I simply connect my headphones to one of the aux connections on my computer, bypassing the dac/amp.

Volume set to 100 in windows.

Volume set to 100 in game.

11 o'clock position on amp.

Gear:
Win 10 PC (updated drivers)
Bifrost 2 (USB)
Jotunheim (low gain)
HD-560s (single ended)

Any idea what the heck could be causing this?

Thank you!

 

[Thomasr]

You should be able to isolate the cause through experimentation.

E.g. Try with music instead of gaming, try a different USB cable, try using your phone as a source instead of the PC, etc.

Either way, I personally wouldn't continue using a rig like that until the problem gets sorted. 500ms (the time it takes to yank the headphones off) of hearing damage is still 500ms. That crap is cumulative so you're not doing 70-year-old-you any favours.

 

[jkx0547]

Driver rollback for amp? (Assuming it’s usb)

Cable for headphones

Volume knob only does it at that position? Could be a dirty pot ?

 

[Elegiac]

It's haunted.

 

[mmxshhfpl]

"Volume set 100 in Windows" may seem a driver issue to me, BUT "Volume set to 100 in game" is NOT caused by anyone/anything except you or something you installed definitely (like a keyboard macro). I believe you should fresh install windows and start from there.