Xonar DX - Bad interference

Storrm

Storrm

Storrm

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Joined
5 Nov 2003
Posts
322
Guys,

I posted last week re my problems with a Xonar DX and very weird feedback when playing games, the up-shot was that I ordered an X-Fi Titanium as a replacement because no one seemed to know what was causing it. Bad decision as the Titamium sounds no where near as good as the DX nor is the Dolby Headphone mode as good. It does (however) work properly in that I dont get any weird microphone feedback, so now I'm in a real pickle!

What I'm trying to establish is whether or not this is something to do with a faulty card (plausible) or some design problem with my ASRock mobo (see sig). I have the DX in the second from the top PCI-E slot and no cards in the adjacent slots. Its got its own molex power cable from the PSU so I know nothing else could be affecting it. I'm running the latest drivers from the Asus site but when I start a game and monitor the MIC (even without a MIC plugged in!), this is what I hear :-

asusDX_feedback.wma

What you can hear here is me starting a game of Call of Duty up whilst monitoring the MIC output (ie. what my friends here when I try to talk to them over Teamspeak!). The recording is quiet to start with as the game hadnt started to load, but as soon as it was running... well you can hear it for yourselves !

To me it sounds like interference from the mobo and I'm assuming that the card should have enough shielding to compensate? If the general consensus is that its just a bad ard then I'll feel happier taking a look at the Xonar Xense as it looks like its got some serious shielding on it. I really want to try to make the Xonar work - the difference between it and the X-FI is like night and day to me.

Help appreciated
 
Does it coincide with your hard drive light? I only ask because you say it happens when loading a game and don't mention whether or not it happens at other times. Does the DX take all processing away from the mobo?
 
Sounds to me like your motherboard is causing interference and problems for PCIE sound cards.

Looking at other threads, you didn't have any problem with an X-Fi Gamer, which was a PCI card.

Some motherboards, or a certain combination of components can cause problems with a sound card. Some people have had problems getting a sound card to work in one PC, but in another, it can work with no trouble.

Getting a card with an EMI shield will not necessarily be any better. It's not clear how effective EMI shields are. Some people still have EMI issues, even with a sound card has an EMI shield.

I don't know what else you can try that you haven't already. Sometimes it's luck of the draw whether a sound card will play nicely with the rest of the system.
 
joebingo said:
Does it coincide with your hard drive light? I only ask because you say it happens when loading a game and don't mention whether or not it happens at other times. Does the DX take all processing away from the mobo?
Click to expand...

If I'm not playing any games, everything is fine. I can load normal apps within windows and there's no noise. Its not synchronised with the hard drive light.
 
RMA'd it and bought a Xonar Sense+Sennheiser 350's. All problems fixed and no more nasty background buzzing. Must have been a bad card. Oh well, thanks OC for another no-quibble refund.
 
I bet it was your GPU.

Mine does exactly same, but only does it when the GPU's are working above 3-4%. I've got the Xonar and onboard enabled and use the onboard as my MIC input. That's the only way I could get round it.
 
@ChrisGTL

Thats exactly how I was getting around it, but it was annoying as I wanted to be able to easily swap between headphones and speakers. The Sense works perfectly, not a single bit of interference no matter how hard the GPU is working. Headphones are pretty responsive as well so overall I'm a very happy bunny knowing I'm not having to 'make do' with a combination of sound card and on-board mic
 
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