Looking for Cheap Solution to Audio Crackling / Hiss

D

dan415

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Nov 28, 2012
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My computer has fairly audible hissing noise I can hear when there's no sound or a quiet sound playing. Another issue with my sound is that I hear crackles and pops in my audio when I leave my computer on for a few hours. This only goes away when I reset it and sleep mode seems to only make the crackling come back more.

Currently I'm using my motherboard's onboard sound and 5 year old cheap speakers. Will my audio issues be resolved if I purchase a USB sound adapter?

I'm currently looking at the ASUS Xonar U3. Does this adapter seem good?
 
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In short, probably, but not definitely.

A USB sound card is definitely a good solution in many of these cases, but it depends on exactly what is causing the issues.

Does the hiss
- go up and down in volume when you change the volume within software?
- go up and down in volume when you change the volume on your speakers (assuming they have a volume control knob)?
- get worse during gaming or other heavy computer usage?
- go away when using headphones (try not to test this using any front panel audio)?
- go away when using another set of speakers (if possible)?

Does the crackle occur
- when moving your speakers?
- when changing the volume on your speakers (again, if they have a volume knob)?

Other questions:
Do you use the volume control on your speakers or the volume control in software?
What are your volume settings set at for both the speakers and software?
What is your power supply?
What other cords are nearby or possibly tangled with your speaker cords?
...etc..
 
Give us your computer specs, make sure you have the latest BIOS, make sure nothing is overheating (I remember nForce2 had a southbridge that would overheat on some boards and cause issues in audio among other things), make sure you have the latest drivers for your audio card/chip and also motherboard/chipset. Make sure your wiring is good and as the previous poster said, try to keep the audio wires away from power wires as much as possible (and if they need to be near each other, perpendicular is much better than parallel). Also, you can check to see if your DPC Latency is overly high http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Otherwise, a different card or USB sound device may fix your problem. Or it may not.
 
The only thing that's really going to solve it is an optical connection between your PC and speakers.
 
USB without galvanic isolation or some lead clipping is going to put you in the same place you are right now. You could try a ground lift on your speakers, or plug them into a different circuit but success will vary with this type of troubleshooting. Listen to kumquat's advice, TOSLink to DAC. Otherwise, prosumer firewire interfaces are mostly immune to such interference because they ignore the voltage and ground coming from the PC when plugged into their power brick. Keep in mind with firewire interfaces that you want a TI chipset for firewire connectivity -- if your motherboard has VIA or something like that, you're going to have to get an additional PCI/PCI-E TI firewire adapter card to prevent common audio interface problems.
 
TESLA said:
In short, probably, but not definitely.

A USB sound card is definitely a good solution in many of these cases, but it depends on exactly what is causing the issues.

Does the hiss
- go up and down in volume when you change the volume within software?
- go up and down in volume when you change the volume on your speakers (assuming they have a volume control knob)?
- get worse during gaming or other heavy computer usage?
- go away when using headphones (try not to test this using any front panel audio)?
- go away when using another set of speakers (if possible)?

Does the crackle occur
- when moving your speakers?
- when changing the volume on your speakers (again, if they have a volume knob)?

Other questions:
Do you use the volume control on your speakers or the volume control in software?
What are your volume settings set at for both the speakers and software?
What is your power supply?
What other cords are nearby or possibly tangled with your speaker cords?
...etc..
Click to expand...

For the hiss,
- It goes up when I turn my speakers up only.
- Stays the same no matter what I'm running on my PC
- Stays the same regardless of windows audio volume.
- Sounds the same through speakers and with using earbuds. Also, my higher quality earbuds magnify the hiss.

For the crackle,
- Doesn't occur when moving around speakers or changing volume.
- Only occurs after leaving computer on for several hours
- Relatively absent when I reset my computer
- When I load webpages or videos online, it crackles a lot.
- When not using any programs, a series of crackles happens every half minute or so.

In response to other questions
- I set computer volume and software to max, and turn volume up / down using my speakers
- Having audio software installed doesn't change anything.
- Speaker cords aren't tangled, but are next to other ones.


Here's my specs:

Asrock Pro3 Z75 motherboard, Core i5 3570k, 8gb Ram, 250gb SSD, AMD HD7950, Corsair 750w PSU
 
dandragonrage said:
Give us your computer specs, make sure you have the latest BIOS, make sure nothing is overheating (I remember nForce2 had a southbridge that would overheat on some boards and cause issues in audio among other things), make sure you have the latest drivers for your audio card/chip and also motherboard/chipset. Make sure your wiring is good and as the previous poster said, try to keep the audio wires away from power wires as much as possible (and if they need to be near each other, perpendicular is much better than parallel). Also, you can check to see if your DPC Latency is overly high http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Otherwise, a different card or USB sound device may fix your problem. Or it may not.
Click to expand...

My temperatures are fine and my drivers are up to date. I posted my specs above and will try DPC latency once the crackling returns. As mentioned before, crackling only occurs after several hours of computer use.
 
Onboard audio, analog connection, cheap speakers. Chances are you'll get hiss from those cheap speakers no matter what you do, honestly.

If your motherboard has an optical audio output, there are some excellent Audyssey speakers on sale at Woot today for $80 that have optical in. That might be worth thinking about.
 
Ok, I tried my mom's higher quality bose speakers using the same audio jack and there's no hissing at all with my cheap earbuds and still noticeable hissing with my high quality earbuds.
 
I think I have had intermittent crackling and noise on every on board audio I have ever run.
Had an external USB sound card that worked really well. Thinking of going back to it actually.
 
dan415 said:
Ok, I tried my mom's higher quality bose speakers using the same audio jack and there's no hissing at all with my cheap earbuds and still noticeable hissing with my high quality earbuds.
Click to expand...

Headphones / earbuds usually make hiss show up easier because they have a higher sensitivity. This happens with regular speakers, too. The higher the sensitivity, the more efficient they are, but also the easier to hear poor SNR (e.g. hiss) particularly with no or quiet music playing. Of course everything along the chain can add noise. Power cords can induce it when run close to the line-level cords (especially if said power cords have a lot of current flowing over them). Amplified speakers often add their own audible hiss, especially if cheap. etc.

FWIW I use the onboard analog output of my Asus P8P67 Pro. It runs into a Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer, into which my receiver and my headphones are plugged (the headphones plug into the mixer as well - not the receiver). I have no notable hiss, clicks, or any of that. It depends on the motherboard. Onboard analog is usable on some boards. It is NOT valid to imply that anyone who cares about sound (or is a PC enthusiast) should have a sound card/USB device these days. They do help with some setups, but it's not correct to recommend one in general. Only use them when necessary. (NOT saying the OP's onboard sound is necessarily good enough here. It may not be, or it may be and the problem could be elsewhere).
 
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kumquat said:
Onboard audio, analog connection, cheap speakers. Chances are you'll get hiss from those cheap speakers no matter what you do, honestly.

If your motherboard has an optical audio output, there are some excellent Audyssey speakers on sale at Woot today for $80 that have optical in. That might be worth thinking about.
Click to expand...

I'm only going to be using headphones. If I get a sound card I'll probably upgrade to a 5.1 or 7.1 headset. Will I still get hissing if I don't use an optical output and just use the regular colored audio inputs?
 
When I plug my headphones into the audio port on my motherboard, I get no hissing or anything, so I guess I'm going to use that unless the crackling occurs after hours of use... I'll let you guys know what happens. So it definitely was my old speakers causing the hissing problem.
 
That's because your headphones are non-powered. The hiss is caused by the speakers having amplifiers powered by a power source that has a different ground level than your motherboard.

You might want to get an inline headphone volume control if your headphones don't have one built-in. You can get a good one for $10-$15.
 
kumquat said:
That's because your headphones are non-powered. The hiss is caused by the speakers having amplifiers powered by a power source that has a different ground level than your motherboard.

You might want to get an inline headphone volume control if your headphones don't have one built-in. You can get a good one for $10-$15.
Click to expand...

Will that let me raise my volume higher than windows allows me to? Also, is there a possibility that it will introduce hissing to my sound?
 
dan415 said:
Will that let me raise my volume higher than windows allows me to? Also, is there a possibility that it will introduce hissing to my sound?
Click to expand...

No, it would only allow you to decrease the volume. No chance for hissing, they're just variable resistors. Totally passive.
 
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