[hagosrush]

Hey guys,

I have recently built a new machine which I am using for video / photo editing but the built in output of the Asus motherboard is meh. There is a lot of digital noise.

My setup:
Sennheiser HD 650
Beyer Dynamic A 20 solid state amp
AudioQuest 1/8 to RCA
Asus motherboard headphone output

I would like some clean output out of my PC that is free of digital noise and keep the Amp in the loop. What do you suggest here? I am open to USB DAC, PCIe Card, or other option. I am using the generic microsoft drivers as the Asus drivers are terrible and cause a lot of dropout in playback.

If I can stay under $100 that would be perfect. If not, let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Hagos

 

[PurpleAngel]

Hifimediy DAC, $30-$70.
https://hifimediy.com/DACs/ready-made-dacs?sort=p.price&order=ASC

 

[buke9]

If you are getting noise I would go with something outboard then. Schiit,Topping,Smsl and a quite few others make them in that price range so you have a lot to choose from. Quite a few things can cause noise in a pc as fans and video cards are on the top of the list but I think the biggest most people overlook is skimping on the power supply I have had too many headaches over a underpowered or just plain cheap power supply that I will always spend more than I want to on one just to relieve the headache.

 

[hagosrush]

Hifimediy DAC, $30-$70.
https://hifimediy.com/DACs/ready-made-dacs?sort=p.price&order=ASC

Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you

 

[hagosrush]

If you are getting noise I would go with something outboard then. Schiit,Topping,Smsl and a quite few others make them in that price range so you have a lot to choose from. Quite a few things can cause noise in a pc as fans and video cards are on the top of the list but I think the biggest most people overlook is skimping on the power supply I have had too many headaches over a underpowered or just plain cheap power supply that I will always spend more than I want to on one just to relieve the headache.

Agreed. I did purchase an EVGA PSU that is gold certified and has about 100 more watts than my system will use even when overclocked. I do however have 9 fans and two water pumps to cool it down...now that I am typing this out it makes perfect sense why I have noise (face palm). Everything is RGB (not by choice) but man alive it was hard trying to find stuff that wasn't. And thank you for the suggestion.

 

[buke9]

Agreed. I did purchase an EVGA PSU that is gold certified and has about 100 more watts than my system will use even when overclocked. I do however have 9 fans and two water pumps to cool it down...now that I am typing this out it makes perfect sense why I have noise (face palm). Everything is RGB (not by choice) but man alive it was hard trying to find stuff that wasn't. And thank you for the suggestion.

Good power supply as most overlook that. Fans can be a problem as well and 9 while great for cooling have got to be pretty loud and if you don’t have filters will bring in a lot of dust as well. Just because there is a space for a fan doesn’t mean you have to fill it. I would start by unplugging a few fans at a time and see if that reduces the noise you get it could be a faulty fan that is giving off the noise just something to try first as you have plenty of cooling to spare.

 

[hagosrush]

Good power supply as most overlook that. Fans can be a problem as well and 9 while great for cooling have got to be pretty loud and if you don’t have filters will bring in a lot of dust as well. Just because there is a space for a fan doesn’t mean you have to fill it. I would start by unplugging a few fans at a time and see if that reduces the noise you get it could be a faulty fan that is giving off the noise just something to try first as you have plenty of cooling to spare.

Good points. The challenge sadly with my case is that the airflow...is pretty but not very functional as it was built for liquid cooling so I have a push pull situation on the radiators to increase the air flow (5 for the GPU) and 2 for the CPU with one additional on the card itself and one pulling fresh air inside. I will certainly look into removing the fans one at a time to see if that reduces the noise I am getting and maybe sit the damn thing closer to the AC flow to help cool and remove some of these fans.

 

[buke9]

Good points. The challenge sadly with my case is that the airflow...is pretty but not very functional as it was built for liquid cooling so I have a push pull situation on the radiators to increase the air flow (5 for the GPU) and 2 for the CPU with one additional on the card itself and one pulling fresh air inside. I will certainly look into removing the fans one at a time to see if that reduces the noise I am getting and maybe sit the damn thing closer to the AC flow to help cool and remove some of these fans.

I was just giving you some options of trying to reduce a bit of noise and a outboard dac might be the solution. Just trying to eliminate the sources.

 

[hagosrush]

Oh no, I know and I appreciate it. I just wanted to share my struggle with someone else haha.

 

[buke9]

Oh no, I know and I appreciate it. I just wanted to share my struggle with someone else haha.

Totally understand.

 

[hagosrush]

Thanks for your help gents. I decided to go with the Schiit as it's silver design fits with my existing headphone amp. I remember looking at some of their products years ago before I had children and remembered they existed hah. So I was slightly partial to the brand / design. I will try not fall off of my Audio horse for such a long period again.

Thanks again,
Hagos

 

[buke9]

Hope it works out for you.

 

[hagosrush]

Okay, report. It's clean now. I did a couple of things which resolved the issue.

1. The Schiit Modi 3 - HOLY...Schii...you get the idea.
The audio quality compared to the headphone jack I was using before....wow. I like.
2. I changed the outlet on the Amp to another device and voila...I hear nothing.

I tried the headphone output with the clean power and the operating noise was still there. I assume that the headphone jack may be sending power as it has a built in sensor that can power my 650's.

Now to get my lossless audio from my old Mac Pro.
Seriously, thanks again for your help guys. I am eternally grateful.

**sidenote** Does a digital source for lossless exist? I will search the forums.

Hagos

 

[buke9]

I’m very happy that you are happy now. Not sure what you mean by digital source for lossless as there are many unless I don’t get what you mean.

 

[hagosrush]

I’m very happy that you are happy now. Not sure what you mean by digital source for lossless as there are many unless I don’t get what you mean.

Are you aware of any music service that offers the download of lossless music? I have digitized most of my music from CDs but would like to update it.

I think that...Tidal was it used to do it but not sure if they still do.