Noise on USB audio

[Josh S]

I am getting noise on my headphones that corresponds to mouse movement or keyboard clicks. also, when hard drive is accessed I am getting a different audio noise. When CPU load goes up I also get noise on the headphones.

Here is the scenario:
When I use the headset with the splitter going to the Fiio and the mic going into the Soundblaster I get the noisy condition.
When I use any separate microphone (other than the one from the headset/splitter cable) plugged into the Soundblaster I don't get the noisy condition.


I am not sure, but it seems like some sort of ground loop is being made connecting PCI card to USB through the splitter cable. The splitter cable does split the ground from the 4-ring TRRS cable to the two 3-ring cables. One is going to the PCI Soundblaster card and the other to a USB Fiio DAC.

Any help? I would rather use the headset as intended and use it's microphone and not a separate one...

Here is the hardware/ set-up:

Hyper-x cloud 2
Mic/ Headset splitter for 4-pin AUX cable
Fiio DAC (for headphones) USB DAC
Soundblaster ZXR PCI DAC/AMP (for microphone input)

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Why are you using the Fiio? The ZxR has a pretty good integrated amp and DAC.

I've got a Fiio Q1 and an Asus Xonar STX ( among others ) and the STX is superior. The STX is comparable to the ZxR.

Also you can't use any of the souncard's virtual surround modes for gaming the way you're set up.