Onboard audio buzzing. Worse with Roccat Kaze 5.1

[Snougar]

Hey all, first post here

Sorry if this seems long winded, I was just hoping someone here might be able to give some guidance~

On the weekend I ordered a pair of Roccat Kave 5.1's http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-000-RC to replace my old rattling BeyerDynamic DTX800s and Logitech microphone held together by tape (Both did me well, sad to see them retire )

But the Kave 5.1's are constantly hissing with static noise. I can't have the volume sliders on the Tip'n'slide remote any higher than 1/3rd of the way without it becoming unbearable.
Along with the static and hissing, whenever I move my mouse it will 'whine' (Kind of like a GPU squeal when your FPS are too high). My old pair of headphones did this too, but nowhere near as bad as the Kave's, (which I would guess because it has a built in amplifier that is... amplifying it.)

Specs down below:

Intel i5 3570K (4.4GHz)
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H (Audio VIA VT2021)
12GB DDR3-1600
Sapphire HD5850 1GB (Stock)
60GB Vertex II
500GB WD Black
2TB Samsung F4
Windows 7 x64

I am pretty sure this is EMI from my onboard sound (VIA VT2021), but before I did anything else I tried a few other things:

- Driver updates.
- Moving anything that could cause EMI out of the way (Power cables, router, etc)
- I tried using a few AC USB chargers.
- Unplugged my front USB/Audio on my case.
- Double checked cables were seated properly.
- Undid my overclocks and having my CPU/Mainboard/GPU running at stock.

Unfortunately none of this helped to lessen the static and mouse whining.

To rule out it being a fault with the Kave's, I tested them on my tablet (Nexus 7) while the amplifier was still plugged into the PCs USB. I tested each channel/jack while playing some music. And huzzah, there was no static, hissing or popping. I could max the sliders on the Tip'n'Control remote and everything was crisp and clear.

So this must be an issue with my onboard audio?

I am worried about getting a dedicated sound card like the Xonar DG/DS or Creative Audigy SE/FX if it doesn't stop the EMI.

I'm a little unsure where to go from here.

Would getting a Xonar or Audigy would be the right step to take now?

Has anyone else in the past had this issue with onboard audio and EMI?



Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Also realized I buggered up the post title, haha. Someone able to change that to Kave?

 

[wazza300]

you wont cure it if the headphones are usb powered,its the usb power that's leaking into the headphone socket hence why your hearing it

if you can power the headphones externally from a htc usb phone charger for example you should cure it

sound card didn't fix it for me on an older x58 motherboard,i used a xonar dx but headphones wernt usb powered

 

[neil pettitt]

hi chap, ive got the same problem. i run a xonar dgx soundcard and up until about 2 months ago it was fine then i noticed the buzzing noise and it got that bad i stopped using them . Now i use some sennheiser 350 se's . Its only if they are on max and system volume is on max that it would annoy me. I dont know about you but it appears a lot worse if you have your soundcard settings set for 5.1....when im using my 350's i run on headphone. I was even thinking about getting a better soundcard with sheilding to see if that would help.....i also have a pair of sennheiser hd 518;s and it is bad on them aswell even when on headphone setting......

 

[Snougar]

you wont cure it if the headphones are usb powered,its the usb power that's leaking into the headphone socket hence why your hearing it

if you can power the headphones externally from a htc usb phone charger for example you should cure it

sound card didn't fix it for me on an older x58 motherboard,i used a xonar dx but headphones wernt usb powered

Surely it can't be the USB causing the interference, because I tested with the amp in my PCs USB while connecting the 3.5mm jacks to another source and there was none. Which means the onboard VIA VT2021 audio must be the cause. It also had interference when my DTX800's were just using the 3.5mm, just nowhere near as bad.

hi chap, ive got the same problem. i run a xonar dgx soundcard and up until about 2 months ago it was fine then i noticed the buzzing noise and it got that bad i stopped using them . Now i use some sennheiser 350 se's . Its only if they are on max and system volume is on max that it would annoy me. I dont know about you but it appears a lot worse if you have your soundcard settings set for 5.1....when im using my 350's i run on headphone. I was even thinking about getting a better soundcard with sheilding to see if that would help.....i also have a pair of sennheiser hd 518;s and it is bad on them aswell even w hen on headphone setting......

I've always had the interference, but I think the amplifier just makes it all the more obvious. Also it is better when I just use the Kave's in stereo, which must mean one of the channels is picking up interference.

Though before your Xonar started buzzing, was the audio "cleaner"? Also what did you come from, audio wise?

At this point I'm just hoping that a dedicated sound card would lessen the interference.

 

[wazza300]

im just saying the usb power leaks into the headphone jack and that's what your hearing,can also be psu emi leakage/mb pcie emi leakage

only way to test is to try powering them externally,if your getting it through non usb powered headphones test by unplugging front panel usb ports

sound card might solve it but for me it had no affect I could still hear it,no such issues on a z68/77 board just every x58 boards I had did it

 

[Snougar]

im just saying the usb power leaks into the headphone jack and that's what your hearing,can also be psu emi leakage/mb pcie emi leakage

only way to test is to try powering them externally,if your getting it through non usb powered headphones test by unplugging front panel usb ports

sound card might solve it but for me it had no affect I could still hear it,no such issues on a z68/77 board just every x58 boards I had did it

I did think this, why I tried two AC USB power adapters (One from my Nexus 7 and one from my HTC phone - Also on a different power socket) and the noise was still there

I'm going to disable my onboard audio and keep the Kave's plugged in to see if it still gets interference.

I think I may bite the bullet and just get the Xonar DG. Worse case scenario is that the EMI is still there, but is lessened by the increased SnR.

EDIT:
With the onboard audio disabled, I can still here the mouse whining, but the buzzing/distortion is lessened a LOT. Not sure if that means anything, but I guess there is a bad ground somewhere on my system. Anyone have any idea how you would fix this?

 

[wazza300]

someone posted a resistor you plugged in the line on here but cant find the link

ahh found it

http://www.ipswichpa.co.uk/laptop-h...ck-socket-adaptors-available-fga-35-889-p.asp connections might be wrong though looking at the pic,but something like that is what you need

ohh did you disconnect the front panel usb ports from the mb when you powered the headphones through phone charger? im surprised it didn't stop the noise

 

[Snougar]

someone posted a resistor you plugged in the line on here but cant find the link

ahh found it

http://www.ipswichpa.co.uk/laptop-h...ck-socket-adaptors-available-fga-35-889-p.asp connections might be wrong though looking at the pic,but something like that is what you need

ohh did you disconnect the front panel usb ports from the mb when you powered the headphones through phone charger? im surprised it didn't stop the noise

I'm not too sure how these isolators are meant to work when there are 3-4x 3.5mm jacks. Thanks though!

Disconnecting the front USB/Audio from the case was the first thing I did. Unfortunately it didn't help with noise.

I don't think its my GPU either, since the noise still happens when my HD5850 is removed and I use the i5-3570K's HD4000. So its either my mainboard/audio or PSU.

Also thanks for all the responses, means a lot

 

[Snougar]

Alright, I think I'm going to setup an RMA and return them.