[RampantAndroid]

Hi all,

Just got my Darkvoice 336SE amp and plugged it into my Zune first, and enjoyed good audio - when nothing was playing, I got silence. Finally plugged it into my X-Fi's audio out on the back of the card...and I get noise. Lots of it - when nothing is playing. I muted everything in Windows, and still got the noise. It just sounds like interference.

First off: is this normal, especially for a tube amp?

Second off: If this is normal, should I just look at a Xonar Essence STX since it seems to be well thought of, or just jump at a USB DAC? Or, would I do well to just use a DAC that uses the SP/DIF output of my X-Fi?

Thanks!

 

[Alai]

SPDIF or USB are both digital. You can use either and you should be fine. I would stick with an external DAC. I have bad experiences with soundcards as well.

Noise is definitely not "normal". Technically, it is normal since electronics produce alot of interference just by functioning, but most electronics products are made to shield or reduce interference in one way or another.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alai /img/forum/go_quote.gif SPDIF or USB are both digital. You can use either and you should be fine. I would stick with an external DAC. I have bad experiences with soundcards as well. Noise is definitely not "normal". Technically, it is normal since electronics produce alot of interference just by functioning, but most electronics products are made to shield or reduce interference in one way or another.

But is the hum on an X-Fi with a tube amp normal/something that is common? I expect my Zune to be pretty good since it is battery powered....but what about the X-Fi?

As for the SP/DIF on the X-Fi - I know it is digital. I asked because using the SP/DIF out of the creative would mean the creative hardware would still do the mixing and audio acceleration, and the DAC would handle everything externally then...IE, a DAC that played nice(r) with games.

Is there a listing of good USB DACs on this forum somewhere?

Thanks!

 

[iriverdude]

I have a X-Fi, it's a bit noisy as well. Far higher noise floor than my Squeezebox-DAC-preamp-poweramp setup. I get some noise when I move the mouse.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a X-Fi, it's a bit noisy as well. Far higher noise floor than my Squeezebox-DAC-preamp-poweramp setup. I get some noise when I move the mouse.

Same here - noise when I move the mouse.

What are some good USB DACs? I don't see a listing here really...just individual threads...

Thanks again!

 

[RampantAndroid]

bump

 

[iriverdude]

May as well buy a DAC with digital input, then use flexijack out to it.

 

[Roseval]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't see a listing here really...just individual threads...

Try this one: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/al...pt-2-a-325941/

 

[maarek99]

Maybe you should first try going to the x-fi mixer and disable all the line-in's and mic-in's?

 

[mideel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid /img/forum/go_quote.gif Same here - noise when I move the mouse. What are some good USB DACs? I don't see a listing here really...just individual threads... Thanks again!

RampantAndroid the noise you get comes from your computers PSU and GPU through the PCI slot and leaks to the outputs. You can try to minimize the noise you get from the GPU by placing your xfi card to the PCI slot furthest away from the GPU and ENABLING, (PCI,PCI-E,CPU) Spread Spectrum options in your BIOS (enabling these might affect your PC's overclocks if you have any).

The only 100% sure way to get rid of the noise is to buy an external DAC with SPDIF input, buying USB only DAC will make your xfi card useless and using a USB DAC while gaming will make your CPU do all the audio processing causing 5-10% performance hit in games. If buying an external DAC is not an option and you need to keep the DAC inside your PC your best bet would be to buy Xonar Essence STX and build a separate PSU for the card.

 

[Ntropic]

Are you sure your control panel setups are done correctly? I used to have background hiss (whether there was data moving on the bus or not) until I turned Windows mic and line volume down to zero. See if there's equivalent settings for the XFi.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif May as well buy a DAC with digital input, then use flexijack out to it.

x2 and it's what I use. Look into a nice DAC in your price range.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maarek99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe you should first try going to the x-fi mixer and disable all the line-in's and mic-in's?

I do this by default, but it was the first thing I checked....still got the hiss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mideel /img/forum/go_quote.gif RampantAndroid the noise you get comes from your computers PSU and GPU through the PCI slot and leaks to the outputs. You can try to minimize the noise you get from the GPU by placing your xfi card to the PCI slot furthest away from the GPU and ENABLING, (PCI,PCI-E,CPU) Spread Spectrum options in your BIOS (enabling these might affect your PC's overclocks if you have any). The only 100% sure way to get rid of the noise is to buy an external DAC with SPDIF input, buying USB only DAC will make your xfi card useless and using a USB DAC while gaming will make your CPU do all the audio processing causing 5-10% performance hit in games. If buying an external DAC is not an option and you need to keep the DAC inside your PC your best bet would be to buy Xonar Essence STX and build a separate PSU for the card.

The card resides in the PCI slot furthest from the GPU. I figured this was just noise from a dirty supply...but figured creative would be good enough to properly filter the input supply.

I'll look into a DAC that uses the Flexijack I suppose - as you answered my next question regarding USB DACs and gaming (I suspected there would be a hit, had no clue as to how bad.)

Thanks!

 

[Aynjell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RampantAndroid /img/forum/go_quote.gif Same here - noise when I move the mouse. What are some good USB DACs? I don't see a listing here really...just individual threads... Thanks again!

Try moving your card to a different slot if the option is available to you. One of my slots is perfect for my cards, the others are all very noisy. Also see if you can make a makeshift static filter. Granted the issue is probably at the pinouts...

 

[ourfpshero]

i feel for you. i have an x-fi xtrememusic, and just put in a prelude yesterday. my little dot 3 tube amp gets a faint hissing crackling noise that goes up with the volume control. unplug the line out from the x-fi and its gone. the new prelude does the same thing.
however, using a xenos solid state amp or a crekk solid state amp gives me zero noise. i have also had an ld1 and ld2. sound cards and tube amps dont mix well. i have dual vid cards so my sound card sits right next to one.
i have tried an x-fi xmod usb thingy and the noise goes away, but i am a gamer and need my sound card.
i will try the spread spectrum settings