Loud Buzzing and Noise playing games through speakers

jhatfie

jhatfie

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Messages
1,636
I recently decided to update my computer speaker setup and decided on some Presonus Eris E5's and Temblor T8 sub. Both have gotten fantastic reviews and I got them for a very good price.

However since I got them hooked up, I have gotten crazy amounts of loud buzzing and crackling sort of noises when playing games making them unusable.

I have tried all kinds of things and have yet to solve the issue. My setup is the one in my signature. Headphones and my old Logitech Z5300 speakers work fine with no buzz or noise when gaming.

I have tried different power strips, different outlets, separating the speakers onto another power strip, put them on the same.

I have tried high end 3.5mm to TRS cable, 3.5mm to RCA cables, RCA to RCA, RCA to TRS.

I have tried a EMI shielded sound card, like the Sound Blaster Z, I have tried an external USB sound card like the Sound Blaster Omni. (Disabling the internal card and front panel)

I have disabled mic's as well.

I have tried each speaker at a time, tried just the sub. I have tried hooking spacing them far away from my computer. Issue is present with even just one speaker/sub hooked up.

I have tried different drivers, shutting off all non needed equipment in my room.

The speakers when hooked up to my phone work fine even with my PC gaming right next to it.

I tested it on my daughters rig in a different room on a different floor in the house and the issue is there as well, just not quite as loud, but still not good.

Any ideas?
 
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In my opinion your video card is putting a lot of stress on your power supply and causing problems. I would ask the [H]ardocp power supply gurus if it is possible that you have placed too much on one rail within the power supply. I think I had a similar problem in the past where my PC would start acting flaky when gaming, and then I noticed that I had unintentionally hooked everything to one side of the power supply. When I balanced my connections out, I no longer stressed the power supply.

Some power supplies are single rail and some are multi rail. I don't know which type your power supply falls under. So maybe I'm completely off in my reasoning. Ask someone like Paul Johnson who does many of the power supply reviews here if this could be a possible culprit. Like I said I am a peon when it comes to power supplies so if someone else thinks I am wrong feel free to say so. I love learning new things. :)
 
I think that the Corsair RM850i has a configurable 12v rail, but I might be mistaken. I read that crappy psu's can sometimes cause interference, but I would think that the Corsair RM850i would hopefully not be one of those, plus you would think that my headphones or 5300's would also have similar behavior when under gaming load, but they do not. But who knows, I would not rule out anything.

I have spent hours and hours testing and unplugging and moving and buying new stuff to try to figure this out. I am pretty frustrated right now.
 
They will do everything they can to not exchange them most likely :D

I had the same thing happen to a pair of AV-40's when I hooked anything up through the speaker terminals.
 
I also noticed that if I use my USB headset and have it set as my default device but leave the speaker(s) plugged into the back or front 3.5mm output, just the loud buzzing spews from them when I play a game even though no output should be getting sent to them as it is all going to my headset, which of course works great with no buzzing. So very weird.
 
I'd bet you replace them you'll have the same problem. PC's are electronically noisy. Optical toslink out to an external DAC will more than likely fix your problem.
 
I had the exact same problem, which became much worse after upgrading to 970's in SLI.

I was running my bookshelf speakers off my receiver in zone 2 and I think the 20ft cables were adding to the problem.

I recently replaced this setup with a Teac ai-101da to power my speakers and take the optical signal from my soundcard. completely happy now, no interference, no buzzing, perfect.
 
If the sound doesn't buzz when using headphones the source of the problem is a ground loop. Ground loop means that your power supply is grounding itself through the signal cable probably amp to PC. Most amps use a floating potential (they are not grounded) although active monitors should be grounded. Even with grounded devices problems may occur if your house doesn't have a modern 0 and earth setup in wall sockets. Any building built before 80's can fall to this category (or even later depending on your local safety code).

Even if ground loop isn't the problem, computers typically have problems when connected to external audio sources. Many power supplies leak a 110v (or in the case of US, 55v) voltage to the chassis / potential of audio jack. This can be witnessed by a minor electric shock or sparks when you plug in your amp to the computer jack.

If the buzz is gone when using headphones you have little options. Either use a galvanic separator in the RCA line or switch to optical output.
 
Thanks for everyone's help thus far. I ordered a Furman PST-6 power conditioner to replace my aging surge protector and ordered up a FiiO D3 DAC. I'll report back in a few days when I have a chance to test everything out.
 
Well, I went and tested all of my outlets and they all are properly grounded.

Then I went ahead and hooked up my FiiO D3 using the optical cable and now everything is crystal clear. Speakers and sub all sound perfect. So very happy to have this resolved.
 
Worth noting, in case anyone else has a similar issue . The FiiO D3 is USB powered and initially I hooked it up to my PC for power and I was still getting a noticeable amount of noise. But using the supplied AC adapter for the USB power, everything works perfectly and only beautiful hiss, crackle and buzz free sound now.

 
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