Microphone sound issues

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

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Joined
6 Jun 2005
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1,856
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Cambridge
Hi chaps,

I have a Asus Xonar D1 sound card with a SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset. Whenever I use Teamspeak I'm told there's a helicopter noise from me..

I have the latest drivers for my sound card and have made a few observations:

  • I *have* to turn mic boost on to even be vaguely recognised
  • I think the mic boost is causing the sound card to pick up ambient noises from inside my case - possibly the GPU fan above it.
  • AEC option in the xonar software does seem to reduce the interference, but causes the audio quality of my mic to be dire.

Is there anything I can do?
 
Have you just bought the D1? or have you had it some time and you have only just noticed it? or have you changed hardware, maybe the graphic card?

Unlikely it's picking up from the fan itself, but certainly a possibility it's picking up EMI emitting from the graphic card. Can you put the D1 in another slot? as far from the graphic card as possible.
 
Marsman said:
Have you just bought the D1? or have you had it some time and you have only just noticed it? or have you changed hardware, maybe the graphic card?

Unlikely it's picking up from the fan itself, but certainly a possibility it's picking up EMI emitting from the graphic card. Can you put the D1 in another slot? as far from the graphic card as possible.
Click to expand...

Had the D1 for a while now, although my GPU is new. I cant move the sound card unless I move my GPU into another PCI-E slot which apparently is not recommended for single GPU setups.
 
This happened to someone else some time back, and probably a few others. Introducing a new graphic card caused EMI problems with his sound card. Components and setups vary when it comes to EMI, so it's impossible to say how a sound card will fare in any given setup without trying it. Some people have switched to a different sound card, which helped, but it's trial and error really, as there are so many variables. Even a sound card with a EMI shield is not guaranteed to have any effect. They do for some, but not for others. Luck of the draw really.

I'm not sure there is a lot you can do really with the D1 to solve the problem. You could however, try using the onboard audio for microphone, that's assuming the onboard audio is not affected.
 
Not sure how it worked out in the end for the guy who bought a new graphic card and has this problem, although as I recall now, he had sound output issues. I remember someone else having this microphone EMI problem with a Xonar Essence, but it didn't affect the output. He tried everything, and none of it worked. USB sound card might be the only option.
 
How bad would it be to relocate my 7970 into the second PCI-E slot large enough to accommodate it, and move my sound card above it?
 
I have asme issue but on an Essence PCIe card.

Is sat in the PCIe1 slot straight above my GFX (7970) at present and get the 'helicopter hum' you mention.

It is due to the fact that the mic/line input is not EMI shielded and so picks up interference from teh GFX card. It gets worse the more load you place on the GFX card too

There are several posts on other forums about this problem too.

Some have solved the problem by moving the cards as far apart as they can, but this is not an option for me as will be using X-Fire very soon (hopefully my order has turned up for new PSU and waterblock). I did buy some RF chokes off the Bay to put on all the internal power cables, especially the one that feeds into the sound card and GFX card too. These cost me £4 or so and they just clip around the cable.

Am hoping this clears the issue for me. WIll let you know
 
Shelster said:
I have asme issue but on an Essence PCIe card.

Is sat in the PCIe1 slot straight above my GFX (7970) at present and get the 'helicopter hum' you mention.

It is due to the fact that the mic/line input is not EMI shielded and so picks up interference from teh GFX card. It gets worse the more load you place on the GFX card too

There are several posts on other forums about this problem too.

Some have solved the problem by moving the cards as far apart as they can, but this is not an option for me as will be using X-Fire very soon (hopefully my order has turned up for new PSU and waterblock). I did buy some RF chokes off the Bay to put on all the internal power cables, especially the one that feeds into the sound card and GFX card too. These cost me £4 or so and they just clip around the cable.

Am hoping this clears the issue for me. WIll let you know
Click to expand...

Very interesting. If you can let me know how you get on I'd very much appreciate it. A bit extreme but I have looked at this : http://www.overclock.net/t/571718/how-to-make-emi-shielding-for-your-sound-card
 
It may. It's not guaranteed, because USB can also be affected. A cheap USB headset might be worth getting. If it's the same, no matter as it's cheap. If it works fine, you could spend more on a better one.
 
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