Xonar essence stx ii issues.

Mikemgs

Mikemgs

Mikemgs

Associate
Joined
1 Feb 2016
Posts
10
Need some help please. I brought some krk rokit 6's at the weekend. Plugged them into my stx ii using phono to 1/4 Jack leads. Played some music and was blown away by the sound quality, tried a couple of films on Netflix again no issues. Tried fallout 4, as soon as the game loads I get a humming / buzzing noise through both monitors. I've googled it and it seems I'm not the only one with this problem, but there doesn't seem to be a solution I can find. The buzzing noise seems to relate to movement on the screen. When I "look around" in the game the the buzzing noise changes to the movement. When no game is loaded, you can put your head right up to the monitor and only hear a very slight background hum.
Anyone know a solution?
 
If it were to happen with one game only, then the problem would be one of a software/driver conflict most likely. If it happens with pretty much every game though, then it sounds like the dreaded EMI (electromagnetic interference) issue. Bascially, as the GPU works harder, it pumps out more EMI. When you're on desktop, it's probably not noticeable, as the GPU is not working all that much.

If you don't get this when using headphones from the STXII, then it's most likely a ground loop issue.

You could try moving the sound card to a slot father from the GPU, if you can. If you can't, or if it makes no difference moving it, then the next thing to try would be a ground loop isolator. Link
 
Thank you, this is what I have kind of read already. Playing through my AKG Headphones there is no buzzing at all so it's kind of looking like this ground loop problem. I have ordered for delivery today, a ground loop isolator and some xlr to phono leads just to try.
I was reading about there being a problem with the cards interface touching the case with people using electrical tape to stop that touching the edge of the case. I'll try all these thing later after work. I'm hoping this ground loop isolator will fix the issue as I really like these monitors. Do you think the same problem would apply to any monitors?
 
Yes, because they are grounded at the mains, and are connected to the sound card, which is connected to the PC, which is also grounded at the mains. This can create a ground loop.

Headphones aren't affected in the same way, because they are only powered by the sound card; unlike speakers, which require a mains powered amplifier.

A ground loop issue, although a pain i the butt, is not as bad as it could be though; if you can isolate, then you can at least get round the problem. In quite a few cases EMI can be bad enough to render a sound card useless, and in some cases even the expensive EMI shielded ones. If the problem affects headphones, then it's hard to find a solution.
 
Wow. Thanks. Just hope then that the isolator will sort it out. Shame such expensive components can suffer from something like this.
 
Had this bad on my sound card and it was isolating it from the case that had the biggest sound improvement. Never tried one of those isolators though.
 
Well, it's being delivered this evening. I'll let you know how it works out. I'm gonna be pretty p155ed off if it doesn't work. Hopefully I won't be looking at an expensive external sound card instead.
 
Mikemgs said:
Wow. Thanks. Just hope then that the isolator will sort it out. Shame such expensive components can suffer from something like this.
Click to expand...

It should help. Whether or not it completely removes the noise remains to be be seen. Worth trying to isolate the card from the case, as the above poster mentions, if the ground loop isolator doesn't work as hoped.

Another thing to try would be connect the speakers to a separate mains socket from where the PC is located, see if that has any positive effect.

It is a shame that these things affect such sound cards, because the hardware is great. Really though putting an expensive sound card into a PC with the aim of getting great audio quality, is actually a crazy idea. Potentially there are too many things working against what you'd be trying to achieve. EMI and software issues are the bane of sound cards, and can turn great hardware into something useless.

A good DAC and headphone amp won't cost much more than an STXII, and will be free of the potential problems that can plague sound cards. An external DAC will provide good clean quality stereo, but nothing more. People buy these sound cards though because they want something that can do music well, but have the bells and whistles you get with gaming audio, such as Dolby Headphone.

It's the nature of the beast when it comes to PC audio. Gamers want their cake and to eat it too, so achieving great quality audio in an electrically noisy environment, from time to time, is not going to work out.
 
The left hand monitor is in a separate socket to the PC and right hand monitor but still suffers from the same amount of interference. I will be trying all these things later to avoid shelling out more money, although I could potentially send the stx ii back and maybe look at an external solution. I don't need surround sound, just good clear decent stereo for music games and movies.
 
UPDATE:
Thank you marsman, my isolater arrived about 20 minutes after I got home, plugged it in and loaded fallout 4, hardly any hum or buzz from the monitors. Thought I'd better get the gpu warmed, so played for around 30 minutes, no hum or buzzing. Fantastic. A little £6 device can sort £1150 worth of hardware. Lol.
There is a very small about of hum from the monitors but you need to have your ears pressed up against them to hear it. So if anyone else has the same issue, there's your answer.
I also got some cheap xlr to phono leads to test out which I've plugged in. I may upgrade these to something a bit better now I know the hum / buzzing has gone.
Thanks again for all your help
 
That's good news. :)

The faint hum you can still hear could be the speakers themselves, rather than the sound card. Could be the amplifiers emitting the hum. Also if there is no audio playing, it's not uncommon to hear a faint hiss up close if the volume is turned up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom