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3070ti FE Active Monitor Speaker Buzz (Under high power usage)

Only issue is Roland Duo Capture EX isn't avaliable on Rainforest that I can see so would be a gamble with someone else. The Rubix22 is though but delivery not till mid April.
The Audient ID14 is on there but sold and dispatched by "someone else".

I appreciate all the information and help you have all sent, really making this easier to work through. Going to look at the ones you mentioned above but in a nutshell just now:

Possible "USB Ground Loop" issue but as the iDefender+ did not remove it completley my best option would be moving away from USB and going for OPTICAL.

Allthough I would have thought a £60 iDefender+ would have done a better job than the Behringer HD400 Hum Destoryer I have decided to order one of these anyone coming tomorrow to see if that works any better. If it does happy days and just shows a cheaper device can do a better job, if not then I'll return it and continue down the "OPTICAL" route.

In terms of going for an OPTICAL device I then have two options:
1 - Purchase a DAC for around £55-90 that only is used for the speaker side of it connecting to the PC with OPTICAL and powered via USB wall plug, this means I would keep my Scarlett 2i2 as a USB powered device ONLY for the guitar input side.
2 - Purchase a Audient ID14 for around £180 or similar audio interfaces mentioned above that will replace the Scarlett and allow me to both plug in my speakers and guitar with the advantage of using OPTICAL rather than USB to hopefully remove the buzzing issue from the GPU load.

And to clarifiy, I "ONLY" have this buzzing during under load GPU gaming, so this still applys the "ground loop" status? Or is this a red herring and is more "EMI"

Sound about right?
 
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So this Dac must have a separate amp stage for headphones than speakers if the issue only exhibits on the latter? Im not convinced its anything to do with the DAC itself. the whole affair is baffling
 
baritonejohann said:
So this Dac must have a separate amp stage for headphones than speakers if the issue only exhibits on the latter? Im not convinced its anything to do with the DAC itself. the whole affair is baffling
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Agree, because I never heard the buzzing through headphones instantly I blamed the rear of the audio interface (balanced trs cables and speakers)
Guess I will find out tomrrow when this HD400 arrives.

Thanks again and I will post tomorrow with an update... cross fingers. Must admit the reviews on the HD400 if you filter "graphics" has a lot of people saying the similar issues with myself, but I won't get hopes up as the iDefender did similar.
 
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The Rubix22 is available from other rainforest sellers for delivery in the next few days (albeit 94% positive ratings), but its Amazon so especially if you've got prime I dont see any issues. :)
Realistically I don't think the IDefender+ can necessarily preclude you using USB either; as I saw someone else with your same device literally commenting it didn't resolve it for them; and reviews are somewhat mixed, so I'm not convinced its as proof as it states.
You probably CAN use USB for data, but you just need to ensure the unit has seperate power/ground for the amplifiers, and not drawn from the USB; but optical would completely take the ground issue out of the picture.

Now whether going for a DAC vs a replacement interface; the question would be does your current software support the change to a DAC only (or would you have to change anyway); and are you happy with the latency; as it sounds like older 2i2s arent really seen THAT favourably in terms of recording latency; and you may get better performance out of an alternate music recording focused interface; but at a summarily higher cost.

And yes, as its only when the GPU is under load; it does seem to be related to noise being introduced from the motherboard/PSU/GPU when the device is under load; but as you mentioned headphones into the interface are fine; it seems to be having a bigger impact on the analogue outputs of your device; probably due to the lack of seperated power source so noisy incoming power = noisy output; there may be some filtering on the headphone side which is why you're not experiencing it there.
Stripping back to optical; with a seperately powered device that is powered from a seperate wall socket; breaks the electrical connection there and should resolve the issue unless your PC is outputting truly horrific noise on the local power ring in your house. (which was a seperate bane to my existance back when I was using homeplug as it'd destroy connection speeds; along with unshielded microwaves which used to regularly absolutely destroy wifi signal lol)


As an aside though, I do sympathise, these sort of frustrating headaches are something I'm all too well aware of, and then take a lot of time and effort to solve.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
And yes, as its only when the GPU is under load; it does seem to be related to noise being introduced from the motherboard/PSU/GPU when the device is under load; but as you mentioned headphones into the interface are fine; it seems to be having a bigger impact on the analogue outputs of your device; probably due to the lack of seperated power source so noisy incoming power = noisy output; there may be some filtering on the headphone side which is why you're not experiencing it there.
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this makes the most sense to me at the moment.
 
Rowan88 said:
Exactly what I thought, but since there was no issue on my sons PC this made me think the Scarlett was fine and that the PSU was the issue (until his didn't work on mine)


The Scarlett 2i2 Gen 2 is only powered via USB. If I connect a plug onto it similar to a phone charger and put into the wall then I have no way of connecting it to the PC to check with the GPU. I did however purchase a TP Link UH720 powered USB hub. So I have that powered into the socket with the Scarlett connected into that, then connected into the PC.

As it only does it under load im 99% sure it's coil whine, but as mentioned the noise from the physical card is fine, its only when its amplified by the speakers.

Here is a small clip to show, and when I move the mouse for higher FPS etc it gets more high pitched.
(apologies if this link is against the rules, if so please remove!)

Another thing I forgot to mention, I attached my Corsair headphones to the 1/4" jack on the front of the Scarlett 2i2 and there is no buzzing at all, so again this led me to believe everything up to the Scarlett was fine, and that its to do with the rear ouputs, cables and speakers.
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The issue is often powered USB hubs aren't good enough for solving this kinda noise issue. I tried that with my aforementioned issues and it didn't solve it.

But yeah it's possible it's not the power but you're getting coil whine or emi. You might have to mess with DIY shielding to test that one though haha.
 
Rawr said:
The issue is often powered USB hubs aren't good enough for solving this kinda noise issue. I tried that with my aforementioned issues and it didn't solve it.

But yeah it's possible it's not the power but you're getting coil whine or emi. You might have to mess with DIY shielding to test that one though haha.
Click to expand...

Haha I did see a post elsewhere with copper tape, wouldn't even know where to begin with testing this one.
 
One other point - Is the buzzing worse when the monitor is bright i.e. showing a white screen? I have active speakers either side of my monitor, and if the monitor is particularly bright, the speakers have a buzz in the background.
 
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Ok the Behringer HD400 Hum Destoryer turned up today..
I connected it after the Scarlett 2i2 (Scarlett 2i2 > 1/4" TRS > Behringer HD400 > 1/4" TRS > Yamaha HS5)

Loaded Read Dead Redemption 2 and ran about at around 200w as normal.
NO BUZZING ISSUES!! :D
The only thing that "may" have changed is it seems a little more quiet, but thats an easy fix by turning up the speakers from the back.

I ran a test with one of the speakers connected to the HD400 and the other not, but both speakers made the buzzing, so I can only assume the interference got from the "bad" one into the "good" one this way.
Other thing but I need to test more is the right speaker seems quieter than the left? Turned it up more to balance but clearly something to do with when its processed after the HD400.
What I am going to try is I only had an "unbalanced" TRS to connect between Scarlett and HD400 so even though it states it can convert this to balanced I have bought two new balanced cables to see if that will help with audio volume drop, if not then I will take that over the poltergeist screetching anyday while gaming :cry:

It technically still doesn't prove why it never made the sound on my sons PC upstairs, maybe the case is still a factor?

Either way I will test it over the next few days to see if it 100% has fixed the issue but it seems to have done so.

Best £19 ever spent, cant believe the £60 so called "better one" didn't have as much impact as this small box. Doesn't even need powered is literally just a bridge between the audio interface and speakers.
 
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Small update

I changed the unbalanced TRS cables to balanced so all four are balanced and the volume has restored to full volume as before, with the buzzing gone during gaming.

Now to cable manage it all under the desk.

Thanks again for all the info, will keep it in mind when I replace the Scarlett 2i2.
 
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