Insanely loud white noise through headphones - Despite low volume setting ~

[Guest]

Alright this one has me thoroughly stumped.

Tonight would mark the second time a massive degree of white noise would come blaring out the headphones for evidently no reason.
It's few and far between, the last event being a few months ago.

- This time it was seemingly initiated by attempting to play audio through a YouTube video.

- Last time I was working in Photoshop and can't really remember, the audio setting was equally quite low then as well - I'm fairly positive it came as a result of me adjusting the volume via the keyboard buttons in preparation for launching some music.

The headphones are the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ears.
Soundcard is the ASUS Xonar DX - Using the unofficial Uni drivers.

The sound will linger until I get chance to drop or mute the audio. After which, all returns back to normal. I've been using the headphones most of the day with no issues either. I should add that I played the same video soon after with no issues. Really bizarre.

The Windows volume slider was sitting at about 10-20% before and after the issue, and yet the white noise came through on max volume (and I was wearing white undies at the time, you can imagine the mess).

Finally, and interestingly, removing the 2.5mm jack going directly into the cans caused a shock to be delivered to my fingers, nothing major, just interesting.

Any help greatly appreciated, I'm completely stumped - I'm too young to have a heart attack.

 

[ssddx]

for starters i would swap back to official drivers in case its a software glitch. at least until you can rule it out as a variable.

likewise i'd check the cans out with a different source to rule them out as a variable but i highly doubt anything on their end is causeing problems.

are you absolutely sure that the shock was caused by the soundcard and was not caused by an esd discharge built up on your body (static shock)? in any case you need to be careful as such discharges have been known to damage equipment in some cases.

i'm running harder to drive headphones than the ones you are using and even on amped sources while music is playing i've never had issues with electrical shocks when inserting or removing the headphone jack on a solid metal connector. at most i hear a pop in the headphones (so i try to avoid plugging them in "live" but no other issues). if the soundcard itself is producing this charge perhaps something is defective.

white noise can also be caused by emi so i'd run a test with the soundcard in a different pci slot, without any wifi turned on, without speakers turned on (just running headphones), and with minimal hard drive activity. sometimes things like wifi, hard drives, speaker magnets and in general any higher powered devices can cause white noise however since it is not tied to the amplifier it would only be low level and only as loud as your volume setting.

you can also try changing some windows settings

Spoiler

Right click the Microsoft speaker icon in the taskbar and select "Playback" devices.

Select the communications tab and try selecting "Do Nothing"

The other problem area can be having the "Loudness Equalization" enable.

Again follow the above and select Playback devices, this time select the Default output device (green check mark), at this point the Properties button should become active. Select properties then the "Enhancements" tab, first select "Immediate Mode" then scroll down and un-check "Loudness Equalization".

May have to reboot... see if that evens things out.

you can also try swapping from the rear headphone jack to the front headphone jack (or vice versa)

i'm not sure i would feel comfortable connecting $250 headphones up to a potentially disfunctional soundcard. until you resolve the issue you might want to experiment with cheap $10 cans/earbuds




now... what do i think might be the issue?

my first thought would be that its software based and for some reason the volume control is glitching. while i've not heard of this happening with soundcard software i've experienced this with other programs involving sound and its documented to happen in certain scenarios with some audio editors.

my second thought would be that there might be something wrong with the soundcard on a hardware level, perhaps with the amplifier which is causing a voltage spike.

of course i'd still run through checking everything out to see what effects they have on the issue. i would suggest testing out on cheaper cans until you get the issue resolved though but thats your call.

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much for the in-depth reply!

I had the sudden realisation this morning that had I been using the speakers instead.... bang goes my eardrums. Quite literally.


Anyway I checked a few things out, it's very difficult to recreate the issue when it happens so infrequently. I know that I often use the Mac Mini to which I've never had the issue with. (Although I use it far less than the desktop).
I too suspect the drivers. Although I've never heard anyone else having this problem with them. I will also try the card in a different slot (Good suggestion!).

Unfortunately I'm unable to use the front jack, I deliberately didn't hook up the cable (Eh, less sound quality and it looks a mess internally), it's currently being used to hold an 80mm fan behind the motherboard tray.

I'm not too entirely concerned about the shock in all honesty, it wouldn't be the first time and usually it happens when I unhook them while audio is playing. I generally noticed that starting around the time I bought this keyboard - Of which the frame is all metal. Probably has nothing to do with it but that's around the time I started getting shocks from metal stuff (including 'said frame).
You would think it would act more as a grounder rather than a charger, but then I've never been great at science.


I had a look into the sound options and noticed something that may well be the cause. The Windows audio setting for the soundcard is set to use '24-Bit, 48000 Hz, (Studio Quality)'. I believe 48000 Hz has been known to cause some issues, which might explain why it happens in music production programs.
Would you recommend dropping it down to 44100? Or less than 24-Bit?

 

[makkem]

Hi
If you are getting shocks from metal work and jacks then you need to make sure that your computer is properly grounded this could be potentially dangerous.

 

[Guest]

Can't think of any reason why it wouldn't be. It's on the floor - admittedly carpet, but the cheap thin kind that is basically what they use on cat's scratching posts.
Everything is hooked up through an anti-surge adapter and as far as the actual power supply goes, this one should be able to filter out a lot of noise.

I was always under the impression a static shock was a normal occurrence =/

 

[makkem]

It may not be static but an electric shock from a high resistance or non existant ground.
if it is static then when you get a shock this will discharge all the static and you will not get another shock for a while if it is a poor ground then you will get a shock then be able to get another shock straight away.
Neither the power supply or the anti surge will operate correctly without a good ground connection.

 

[Guest]

It may not be static but an electric shock from a high resistance or non existant ground.
if it is static then when you get a shock this will discharge all the static and you will not get another shock for a while if it is a poor ground then you will get a shock then be able to get another shock straight away.
Neither the power supply or the anti surge will operate correctly without a good ground connection.

Intriguing.
Well here in the UK the plugs do have a 3rd 'pin' for ground - If that helps?
The shock doesn't happen again afterwards, like you said it's more like a discharge.

 

[makkem]

Yeah if it only happens once then you should be ok its probably static.

 

[makkem]

If you have any doubts about your sockets wiring then these are very handy
http/

 

[Skylyne]

You problem screams driver/software issues to me. I've had the same thing happen to me countless times with my external sound card (I use an L6 UX1, instead of traditional cards), and it's a bitch to deal with. Sometimes you can update the driver, and the problem goes away; other times, you have to delete your drivers, and start fresh. I've had this happen a lot with my UX1, because I use it in a fairly unorthodox way; but you'll likely be able to fix it by fiddling around with your drivers.

Changing the output settings from 24-bit/48Khz to something else is only going to benefit you if your sound card cannot handle the output (unlikely, as the specs claim it can handle 192 Khz sample rates). I don't have any experience with the Uni drivers, but try the Asus drivers. If neither the Asus drivers, nor the updated Uni drivers work, then there's likely another problem that's screwing up your driver compatibility. Every time I've had such an issue with my UX1, it's usually due to some system process, or a driver malfunction, but reinstalling drivers tends to work well.

As far as the small shock that you experienced, that could be a number of things. Since you are on carpet, and it didn't repeat itself after the first shock, I'd suspect it's static built up from being on carpet.

Final note, which I see go ignored on a daily basis due to poor education: If you value your headphones, NEVER unplug your cans while there is any volume being allotted to them. I can't stress this enough. Ever been familiar with the popping sound that happens when you plug them in/unplug them? While it's okay on cheap stuff that can be replaced, it's horrible to do with your beloved cans. If you know any sound guys who've dealt with complete audio noobs, they'll have a story or two about someone unplugging a cabinet before the gain was turned down; POP goes your speaker. I was in a little shoebox of a room when some moron did this with a really nice cab; blew both the woofers because of this mistake, and half of us pissed ourselves and hit the deck. When any gain/volume is allotted to your headphones, there is a current being pushed, and that current can take a toll on the drivers when it's endured over and over. While most of the ones you will experience from computer case jacks, or a cell phone, can be relatively harmless, unplugging while there is sound being transmitted is far from a good idea. Some people get away with doing this for years, and their speakers/drivers never fail or fry... but the audio quality will suffer from repeated abuse. Take care of your cans, and they will last much, much longer. If you can manage to DIY/buy a volume knob to plug into, I'd highly recommend investing in one. It's more wiring, but it will help ensure your headphones don't receive constant abuse from plugging/unplugging them into a jack that has a constant current being pushed. I learned this during my DJing days, and I know people who have either blown their cans from simply plugging/unplugging them improperly, or know someone who has been the victim of this. While the chances of frying the drivers are low, it's something stupidly simple that will help you avoid ruining a big investment.

 

[Guest]

I definitely think I'll be reverting back to the official ASUS ones. They are pretty much one in the same, with the Uni being a community project to continue updating where ASUS left off, while that's all well and good I can't say as I've ever noticed a difference from the time I was using the official ones.
I mean really, what is there to update on a soundcard?

As for the unplugging thing, yes I agree, I very rarely do it and usually when the volume is extremely low that I just forget to stop it. Same goes for the monitors I use, of which the pop is far more extreme. Both of these are completely my fault and just down to straight up lack of concentration at the time.

I'll make an effort to avoid doing it in future.


Official drivers here I come.

 

[Skylyne]

The community update drivers are going to support various programs differently, and may have better integration/etc.. That isn't to say there will be a noticeable quality difference, but possibly a performance difference. Sometimes opensource drivers are a good thing; in my case, the ASIO drivers work flawless (under 5ms latency with my UX1 when running Ableton, at its maximum sample/bit rate), and the L6 drivers can barely keep up with a 200ms latency. It all depends on what the hardware is being used for. Do I benefit from the ASIO drivers in anything other than audio production? Nope. I still need the L6 drivers to run it lol. I have a feeling the Uni drivers are similar to the ASIO drivers, but in the sense that it's for a 'daily driver' instead of a specialised one.

On the topic of plugging/unplugging: I mentioned that because I've met countless people who have told me, "it's harmless, dude." I think they believe that because the pop is relatively quiet, compared to the pop on something like a 100w sub woofer? Regardless of the reasons, I figured I'd point that out, as it's literally the same thing. Glad to hear it's something you try to stick to, though, as I'd hate to hear you lost your momentum over something stupid. I like how that last sentence played out... I'm a nerd.

if the Asus drivers don't fix the problem, I'd like to know. If they don't, let me know what fixes it; I'm interested.

 

[Guest]

The community update drivers are going to support various programs differently, and may have better integration/etc.. That isn't to say there will be a noticeable quality difference, but possibly a performance difference. Sometimes opensource drivers are a good thing; in my case, the ASIO drivers work flawless (under 5ms latency with my UX1 when running Ableton, at its maximum sample/bit rate), and the L6 drivers can barely keep up with a 200ms latency. It all depends on what the hardware is being used for. Do I benefit from the ASIO drivers in anything other than audio production? Nope. I still need the L6 drivers to run it lol. I have a feeling the Uni drivers are similar to the ASIO drivers, but in the sense that it's for a 'daily driver' instead of a specialised one.

On the topic of plugging/unplugging: I mentioned that because I've met countless people who have told me, "it's harmless, dude." I think they believe that because the pop is relatively quiet, compared to the pop on something like a 100w sub woofer? Regardless of the reasons, I figured I'd point that out, as it's literally the same thing. Glad to hear it's something you try to stick to, though, as I'd hate to hear you lost your momentum over something stupid. I like how that last sentence played out... I'm a nerd.

if the Asus drivers don't fix the problem, I'd like to know. If they don't, let me know what fixes it; I'm interested.

Might take a few months dude, the issue is remarkably infrequent.

I don't pay a huge amount of attention to a soundcards 'features' other than sound quality, honestly. Any kind of virtual surround, voice changing, preset EQs etc... All sounds like a pile of crap to me.
The official drivers do come with a separate ASIO thing, it defaults to 10ms latency and I've changed the standard 16-bit to 24.

Ay', the pop is always an "Ah shit I forgot!" moment. It's pretty rare but it happens. The pop on headphones or earphones is pretty minute compared to the immense volume of the studio monitors.
It did get me thinking what would happen if the same issue played out had I been using them, considering it has no regard for current set volume I'm fairly confident that would be enough to cause permanent ear damage. The volume of it is bad enough with a set of headphones, with these speakers I tend to stick to the 10-20% range with the volume slider and even that's pretty freakin' loud - I can't imagine what white noise at 100% would do.

Infact it's got me so worried that I'm strongly considering the purchase of a limiter of some kind.

 

[Skylyne]

Hey, I don't care if it takes a while to hear back on this. It's a problem I've suffered as well, and I'd like to see what works for others. It definitely doesn't seem to be a common enough occurrence to make people jump on it with a certainty of what happened (I remember searching for hours when it first happened to me), so I'd like to see what does work in the long term. Like I've said, the most reliable thing, for me, is a fresh driver installation.

And to answer your quandary over what would happen using monitors with the sound card's driver failure... you'd probably have a heart attack. This happened to me many times in one night, and it was profoundly annoying. Since I have my sound running through an independent speaker system, with its own volume, and my UX1 is just the computer interface; so when I'm listening to something at low volume levels, there isn't much to worry about. When this first happened to me, I was watching a video that had poor audio quality (extremely quiet), and I was leaning in to understand the audio better. With my volume up to roughly 60% on the amplifier, my sound driver decided to shit on me. That's the story of how I nearly had a heart attack at age 22... at 4am. Since then, I pass on anything that requires me to crank up the volume to hear it at a reasonable output level. If I can't amplify it enough before it reaches my sound system, I'm not watching/listening to it. I learned the hard way that your sound output (through the speakers) should rely on a separate volume control.

Learn from my mistakes, and do what I do; run a cheap USB sound card, crank up the output on your OS to 100%, and independent sound card to ~80% (or whatever is best for ideal output without clipping), and run your speaker volume based on what the perceived volume is through your amp/shelf system (most likely won't be a high output). Do that, and you're less likely to visit hospital, and possibly need a new chair, when this occurs. Whenever you run studio monitors, or anything that has a decent amount of audio power, I always recommend using a studio sound card for delivering audio over a PCI card (better price for the equipment you get). Something like the Focusrite 2i2 will give you balanced 1/4" outs, independent headphone and monitor controls (hard controls, not just OS/software), and you can still use it with an amplifier to avoid having the output directly rely on your sound card's output. It's much more hassle, but it's going to be a far superior method to running audio directly off your PCI sound card. Not only will it be less likely to make you shit yourself, but you'll also have a much better range for output volume (which makes a huge difference), while still maintaining crisp clarity when pushing higher gain/volume levels.

Just thought I'd add that in there, since you are using studio monitors. You can probably find a used USB sound card for cheap, and run that with a mixer/anything that supports balanced in/out with a dedicated gain and a master that you can monitor for clipping. That's the best way to get the most out of your audio and prevent your system from scaring the piss out of you when a driver fails. Take what's useful from that for your use/needs. That's how I will set up my studio when the money starts rolling back in.