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My Titanium HD is buzzing... why?

X

XacTactX

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
4,137
As the title says above, that's what's happening. If I use the headphone output with earphones (Monoprice MEP-933, HiFiMan RE0) I get a high-pitched buzzing sound, even at low volumes like 35%. I don't have to concentrate for it either, it's plainly audible, and it fades out momentarily. But I don't think it's happening all the time.

The thing is, this sound card has an SNR of something like 120 dB. I mean it can't be buzzing because of the noise of the sound card. I think it's something else...
 
Could be a bad ground somewhere in your case. Are you using the headphone output on the card or one on the case front panel?
 
I'm using the main headphone output, NOT the front panel. I think I've heard about this, is it a problem with the power supply?
 
What happened is I had the power strip my PC is plugged into, plugged into another power outlet (since an animal had died inside the wall where it was plugged in, and I taped up the power outlets). I just plugged it back into the old power outlet that I usually use, and the buzzing has gone away.
 
OK, the problem has NOT gone away, I still get a high-pitch buzzing from my Titanium HD's headphone output. What do you guys think the problem is? Could it be the front panel connectors on my case? I did some Googling and people were talking about that problem with the Antec 900 (though my case is the NZXT Lexa S). Keep in mind I am NOT using the front panel jack, I am using the main headphone jack.
 
Try setting your audio bit-rate in windows or creative drivers to 16bit/44.1khz and see if that helps (if it is happening during play).

If simply plugging in causes the sound issue, I would look into trying a different PSU as it may be a ground problem.
 
XacTactX said:
OK, the problem has NOT gone away, I still get a high-pitch buzzing from my Titanium HD's headphone output. What do you guys think the problem is? Could it be the front panel connectors on my case? I did some Googling and people were talking about that problem with the Antec 900 (though my case is the NZXT Lexa S). Keep in mind I am NOT using the front panel jack, I am using the main headphone jack.
Click to expand...

Grounding issue then. Caps could also be the issue.

Might be time to get another card or figure out a way to ground the problem.
 
OK, it's now 3AM, and I have NOT done anything, but the high-frequency buzzing has gone away. If I raise the volume to 100% I get a low hiss, but I think that is normal...

So, why did the sound card fix itself? :confused:
 
XacTactX said:
OK, it's now 3AM, and I have NOT done anything, but the high-frequency buzzing has gone away. If I raise the volume to 100% I get a low hiss, but I think that is normal...

So, why did the sound card fix itself? :confused:
Click to expand...

Go to the Creative Audio control panel and set it to Audio Creation Mode, and enable Bit-Matched Playback. Then go to the Creative Console Launcher and set the clock to 44.1kHz.

Is the buzzing still there? Have you tried another pair of headphones/earbuds?

If it is, then it is probably a grounding issue with the card (like others have said) or the power the card is getting could be irregular (Power supply or even the electricity in your home could be the issue).
 
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Thanks NoTrigger, I think that must be it, it's the quality of the electricity in the home. I just tried it again, and the high-pitched hum is gone. This problem is a little bit beyond an average college student, unfortunately.

Well, I'm going to see if I can find out what the problem is with a multimeter over the next few days. Thanks, guys.
 
Try a different wall outlet or a different power strip. Sometimes these oddball power issues can be fixed by simply varying the situation a bit.
 
ocellaris said:
Try a different wall outlet or a different power strip. Sometimes these oddball power issues can be fixed by simply varying the situation a bit.
Click to expand...

Or a different outlet even. You would be surprised how little it takes to create an electrical ripple across your lines in your home. It can be caused by all kinds of sources.

If you want totally clean power get a UPS with a built in line conditioner , the biggest advantage of using a setup like that is you can switch to run off the battery instead of a direct line thus isolation any kind of drops or peaks (power surges) and it'll also eliminate ripples for the most part.

However I think its probably the card on its own. Can you borrow another sound card to try? Or enabled your mobo's onboard sound to see if it also buzzes?
 
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