electric noise in microphone

kyyy

Honorable
Nov 3, 2013
3
0
10,510
Several times a day my microphone is recording noise.
It usually records two short sounds then another two. Those 4 signals are something about 10kHz, also other noise happens around that time. The noise lasts for a few seconds to a minute. Then problem disappears for several minutes or hours.

The microphone is a part of headphones from Sennheiser. The only suspicious thing in it is a common zero/ground wire of mic and headphones - it has a common 3-wire microjack. Both microphone and headphones are connected (by two minijack sockets) at the back of my PC to a soundcard on the P5B-VM motherboard.

PSU (a water coolled FEEL) is another suspect. But I don't understand how PSU could generate electric noise only sometimes.

It is impossible to connect MIC to front panel, it never worked.
I disconnected HDD and CD/DVD, there is no WiFi in that PC.

What is the cause of noise? Is it PSU, soundcard on motherboard, some radio communication like neighbour's mobile phone, windows 7 virtual memory on SSD, U-F-nOise ?

I can afford to replace _one_ faulty component, but not the entire PC.
Can I be sure that BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 550W will solve this problem?
 
Solution
Sorry no easy answers,ferrites attenuate a band of frequencies dependant on the design of the ferrite so they may or may not work.
A better shielded cable for the microphone (preferably double shielded) would help but this may be difficult to implement.
Check that your PC is well grounded and that the shielding of the mic cable is attached to ground(it should be if the pc is grounded).

makkem

Distinguished
Hi
I would suspect EMI from an appliance in your house could be to blame.
Is anything turning on at the time of the interference.
Main culprits are fridge,freezer,air con,central heating or anything with a motor or taking a lot of power.
 

kyyy

Honorable
Nov 3, 2013
3
0
10,510
I have no idea what electric appliances someone might be using next door or next floor. I've just ordered a few inexpensive ferrite filters and plan to install them on (around) most of my power and signal cables. Suppose that the noise remains, will this disprove your EMI hypothesis? If not what's the solution?
kyyy
PS: Water pipes inside my PSU seems irrelevant.
 

makkem

Distinguished
Sorry no easy answers,ferrites attenuate a band of frequencies dependant on the design of the ferrite so they may or may not work.
A better shielded cable for the microphone (preferably double shielded) would help but this may be difficult to implement.
Check that your PC is well grounded and that the shielding of the mic cable is attached to ground(it should be if the pc is grounded).
 
Solution