Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card Humming/Popping/Whine

Hi

I am getting a whine sound coming though my headset when I use my mouse. Additionally there is feint popping and humming coming through too. This is during desktop use and amplifies itself more during gaming. It sounds like someone is loading a Spectrum ZX game. lol

I have eliminated the headset being the cause as I have tried 3 different sets and it still occurs.

I have my drivers up to date and have used the Uni Xonar ones too.

I disconnected the soundcard and used the motherboard's on board and the sound annoyances disappeared.

Is there anything else I can try or find that is the cause of the problem before I initiate a RMA?

I checked my OCUK order and it was purchased in 7 Feb 2013. So I assume that I am covered under warranty if it is for 5 years.

5 year warranty? Where are you getting that info from? As far as I'm aware sound cards have 1 year warranty, 2 at most.

It sounds like an EMI issue, which normally gets worse when the GPU is working harder.

I assume this is a recent occurrence?

Assuming it is: Have you added anything new to the PC?

Marsman said:

5 year warranty? Where are you getting that info from? As far as I'm aware sound cards have 1 year warranty, 2 at most.

It sounds like an EMI issue, which normally gets worse when the GPU is working harder.

I assume this is a recent occurrence?

Assuming it is: Have you added anything new to the PC?

Click to expand...

SOGA

Yes it's started happening since last week. No new components have been added.

Is one of my components failing and it's being picked up by the soundcard? I guess I should unplug the power connectors from the gpu to make sure that isn't the problem either.

SOGA has been replaced by the Consumer Rights Act since 2015.

Neither SOGA nor CRA would be applicable here in any case as they only apply to newly purchased goods and 3.5 years doesn't exactly qualify.
If a product becomes faulty within the first six months it can be considered as being faulty at the time of purchase but after that you would need to prove that it has been faulty since purchase and considering it has only just started making noises that would not be true.
The five or six years that are mentioned is the period you have to take the retailer to small claims court after they have refused to repair or replace the item and they are only obliged to do that within the first six months.

rids57 said:

SOGA has been replaced by the Consumer Rights Act since 2015.

Neither SOGA nor CRA would be applicable here in any case as they only apply to newly purchased goods and 3.5 years doesn't exactly qualify.
If a product becomes faulty within the first six months it can be considered as being faulty at the time of purchase but after that you would need to prove that it has been faulty since purchase and considering it has only just started making noises that would not be true.
The five or six years that are mentioned is the period you have to take the retailer to small claims court after they have refused to repair or replace the item and they are only obliged to do that within the first six months.

Click to expand...

thanks rids

Guess it's perfect excuse to get a DAC instead

Twirlywoos said:

SOGA

Yes it's started happening since last week. No new components have been added.

Is one of my components failing and it's being picked up by the soundcard? I guess I should unplug the power connectors from the gpu to make sure that isn't the problem either.

Click to expand...

Sometimes this can happen if a new GPU is added. I've seen a couple of members post it's happened to them, where they've gone from a perfectly working sound card, to having problems after adding a new GPU which likely pumps out more EMI. One guy got a different brand of the same model GPU, which caused his Xonar Essence these problems, but the previous brand he was using, was fine.

As you haven't done that, then it could be that the sound has developed a fault.

I had two sound cards fail in what sounds like a similar way. It was as if whatever protection they had against EMI just broke or was removed. I don't mean the so called EMI shield because these cards didn't have them. Even shield covers are only effective up to a point.

Since they went, I use a DAC. Would never go back to a sound card, unless it was a cheap one. The 'higher end' ones are too much money when there are potentially too many hassles. Whether it be poor drivers/software or EMI problems. Windows 10 seems to be causing plenty of people problems when it comes to sound cards. Don't think I've seen so many sound problems since Vista was released. I don't know if that's Microsoft's failing, or the people that write the drivers, just got a whole lot worse at it.

Other than a cheap sound card, I don't think they are worth the hassle any more. There are some great low cost DAC/headphone amp options available now for stereo/2.1, for anyone that doesn't want to spend a great deal, and plenty of choice for those who do. For anyone with 5.1 PC speakers, a cheap sound card is perfectly good enough. Spending £100+ on a sound card now, is pointless in my opinion.

If anything happened to my STX I would just use my Schiit stack for everything. I do like dolby headphone but often find myself using the Modi/Magni and playing in stereo, simply because I couldn't be bothered to switch.

Great thing about DH, is that a £25 DGX can provide it. For those who prefer Creative's SBX, I don't think you can get that on any card cheaper than a SB Z. Shame there isn't a cheap offering that can do that, just as the DGX can for DH.

Of course though, if issues plague even a cheap sound card, then you can't get headphone surround effects without buying maybe something like a Mixamp; especially if they are software, rather than EMI issues.

Would be nice to see some other non sound card options for DH, SBX or whatever, like the Mixamp. Realtek is hardware capable of providing Dolby Digital Live on the majority of motherboards; just need some 'fixed' drivers. and optical out of course.

While Realtek still uses drivers, I've not seen anywhere near the amount of sound issues as I have for sound cards. From a software point of view, surely Realtek fares much better.

well there is always the Razer surround software

Oh OK. Don't pay much attention to Razer when it comes to audio, after went from the perfectly good original Carcharias headset, to that terrible successor. That and all those ghastly looking other headsets they make.

The software actually isn't terrible, unlike their hardware

Are you plugging direct to soundcard or using a front panel audio to connect the headphones ? you can try moving the soundcard to another slot any gpu slot or pci-e1x slot will work if not doing so try the bottom gpu slot.

Are they usb headsets or analogue ?

C64 said:

Are you plugging direct to soundcard or using a front panel audio to connect the headphones ? you can try moving the soundcard to another slot any gpu slot or pci-e1x slot will work if not doing so try the bottom gpu slot.

Are they usb headsets or analogue ?

Click to expand...

Connected directly to the soundcard. Using a HD700 headset. The soundcard is on the lowest pcie slot already as it is furthest away from the GPU. I shall try another slot tomorrow. Cheers

Have you tried one of these, sorted my problem out straight away.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AV-Link-Ground-Loop-Isolator/dp/B000NVWB9O