[aleex]

Regarding noise. I have my graphics card mounted fairly close to my STX. I have a pair of 250 Ohm DT990 Pros on High Gain in the STX Audio Center. I have my Windows volume at 50% because some stuff is just too loud otherwise, but also b/c noise becomes fairly noticeable at higher volumes. At 50%, it's vague, but it's still there and I clearly notice a difference if I toggle off/on. 
Is this normal? Is it caused by the graphics card? Should I try a lower gain?

I've tried some plugins for foobar, but I've formatted since and can't recall the difference.

And just a little btw question, is it correct that the DAC is far better than the amp on this card? Or is that just exaggeration?

 

[Deadeight]

I have been looking into buying this, but have a question.
 
In my PC, the place where I will mount it on the the motherboard will leave a 1cm gap below it where the 1kW PSU lies, and a 1cm gap above it where I have a 6950. Are these going to interfere with the card? This is a less than ideal position to mount it, but my only option. Are there metal components available to shield the electric field or something? 
 
If this will cause an issue I will most likely pursue an external solution.
 
 
Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I have been looking into buying this, but have a question.
 
In my PC, the place where I will mount it on the the motherboard will leave a 1cm gap below it where the 1kW PSU lies, and a 1cm gap above it where I have a 6950. Are these going to interfere with the card? This is a less than ideal position to mount it, but my only option. Are there metal components available to shield the electric field or something? 
 
If this will cause an issue I will most likely pursue an external solution.
 
 
Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Hard to say, really. I have the same sort of setup, hugging my GPU and PSU, and I get no noise at all (this is with my computer taxed heavily all day, overclocked CPU and ~90% GPU usage at all times running Folding@Home). The poster above you appears to be getting noise. The card is shielded, and in the tests I've seen it displays less noise than a typical external component, but every computer is different.
 
aleex, is this just a general background noise or is it interference that makes noise when you tax the computer, i.e. when you scroll a browser up and down?

 

[aleex]

I set my gain to the lowest, barely hear any noise at all now.
It's general noise. It's present just right after and during playback of audio (video with audio, audio in foobar). It's probably normal, and it's not really of much annoyance now anyway. 
 

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I set my gain to the lowest, barely hear any noise at all now.
It's general noise. It's present just right after and during playback of audio (video with audio, audio in foobar). It's probably normal, and it's not really of much annoyance now anyway. 

Probably amp trouble, not interference. Max Windows volume and turn the volume down on the card instead, see if that helps. Maxing digital volume maximizes signal-to-noise ratio. The amp amps whatever it's given, so if noise is high compared to the signal before the amp even touches it, it'll be high in the end too.

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

Probably amp trouble, not interference. Max Windows volume and turn the volume down on the card instead, see if that helps. Maxing digital volume maximizes signal-to-noise ratio. The amp amps whatever it's given, so if noise is high compared to the signal before the amp even touches it, it'll be high in the end too.

There's a volume control for the card?!  Where?!

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

There's a volume control for the card?!  Where?!

There's a knob in the audio center thing, above where you set the mode (Gaming, HF, etc) and to the right of where you set things like sampling rate, channels, and gain. That is, if you're using the ASUS drivers at least.

 

[PelPix]

That just moves the windows volume for me.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

That just moves the windows volume for me.

This moves the Windows volume?
 

 

[aleex]

Isn't Mixer>Playback the card's volume?

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

This moves the Windows volume?
 

Yep!  Moving windows volume moves it as well!
And no.  Mixer->Volume is not the card's volume.  It doesn't change the volume during ASIO playback, so it can't be anything but a digital volume control.

 

[Head Injury]

I suppose it is if it's set as your default device. I've had the Windows volume icon disabled for ages.
 
Well, I guess that confirms my suspicion that the STX volume control is digital anyway. And that might explain why dropping to Low gain reduced the noise you heard, because it improved SNR.

 

[PelPix]

I don't hear any noise on Very High, though.  I don't know what his problem is.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Anyone using the OPA2107AP in the buffer?
How do you like it?
I'm currently using three LME49860NAs and thinking of replacing the buffer with the OPA2107AP.
 

 

[PelPix]

I wouldn't.