Static/hissing/scratching from Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX (possibly defective card).

WolfyAmbassador

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I'm getting this really bad faint sporadic background static/hissing/scratching in my headphones, especially when I have them plugged into the back port of the card directly, even when I mute the sound, it's still present. I notice the static goes quiet for a split second when I load a web page, going back to the previous page, or the frequency changes when I scroll up and down a page rapidly, and just any kind of fluctuating CPU activity in general changes it's behavior, like simply opening up an application or window causes the static to change in frequency and behave sporadically. If I plug my headphones in the front port of the case, the static is much quieter, but it's still present. A few websites will cause the static to act differently as well.


What worries me is that a couple of mobile phones that I've used in the past and one manufacturer refurb iPod Touch 2nd gen had this problem as well. Whenever the wifi or cpu was doing something, there would be this faint fuzzy/scratchy static that would behave sporadically, while other mobile devices that I've used/still use had/has not a single peep of this sound, and these are onboard SoCs we're talking about, not a discrete card like the Audigy FX. Most sound cards/onboard audio will have a normal audible faint consistent hiss/white noise when the sound is activated but no actual audio is being played, but this kind of behavior seems to be like some sort of erratic fluttering interference.




It's similar behavior to this, only less screechy and is more of a consistent hiss/fuzz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FWu_MrRQ28&t





I'm positive the card is defective, because the onboard audio of this mobo does not have this issue, plus, the fact that it happens to only a select few units of the same model, whether it's a smartphone, an iPod, sound card, etc, which btw, other iPod Touch 2nd gens that I've used never had this issue, this was just one unit that AppleCare sent back to me which had this flaw.




This is me years back, basically complaining about about the same problem on my LG Motion 4G: http://androidforums.com/threads/weird-cpu-audio-chip-static-buzz-fuzz.689899/



If you have any ideas on how I can fix it, live with it, or if it's something typical with discrete sound cards, then I would be more than happy to hear your thoughts on this issue, but I'm strongly considering returning this and buying something else, probably a different card or an external DAC.


Thank you :)
 

WolfyAmbassador

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It's even worse with the cheap headphones. Is there anyway I could record this interference and upload it so people can hear it for themselves?

 

Darthutos

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Sep 15, 2014
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it's not the earphones and you can't (probably no one can) live with a static sound all the time. might as well buy something else and if static is gone then return the faulty card.

edit: is there something in the back of your case that could generate interference? my corsair void wireless headphone sound is messed up if I put the dongle in the back but is fine in front.

do you have speakers? if so then you can record the sound with your phone via video.
 

WolfyAmbassador

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I know that some people were mentioning that having it close to a component can cause interference, but others said that it didn't help when they changed the location of where the card is seated. Unfortunately, I am very limited in expandability due to the fact I have a MicroATX mobo and I could only place the card in the next slot right below the GPU, so both cards are pretty much neck to neck.
 

WolfyAmbassador

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Currently, I have a USB wifi adapter, a flash drive, and a Blue Snowball.