Newbie PC audio problem

[theios_kostas]

Hello,
I recently set up a pc audio system, consisting of my pc, Musical Fidelity xcan v8p and AKG K-701. Problem is, I get a crackling sound when I listen to music. It's not very loud, but it seems to get louder when I raise the volume. When I connect the DAC to another pc, with the first pc running and every cable and device at the same place, the sound dissapears. So I guess it's not a cable shielding problem. Also, when my pc is freshly booted, I get no or little crackling.
My PSU (Seasonic M12D) also makes a (physical) whistling noise (probably due to a bad capacitor) so it's about to be brought back to the store. I'll be swapping PSUs tomorrow, to see whether the problem lies with the motherboard or the PSU. Could the PSU be causing electrical noise to the USB plugs (I tried plugging it into another slot and a hub)? Has anyone encountered such a problem? Any suggestions or thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

PS: My pc is running Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10. My other pcs (with which i had no troubles) run Windows XP and Ubuntu... well the previous version. Also, the crackling is not continuous, it's a periodical, short pause.

 

[krzywica]

Whats the make/model of the motherboard?

If its an integrated card then it could be the sound card dying. I have never had this happen but several of my friends have.

 

[theios_kostas]

Hello! Thanks for your answer. My motherboard is a Gigabyte UD3R. I have disabled the onboard soundcard, and I feed my amp through USB. I hope it's not the motherboard's problem, because it will be a pain to uninstall it - install new one

 

[krzywica]

Hello! Thanks for your answer. My motherboard is a Gigabyte UD3R. I have disabled the onboard soundcard, and I feed my amp through USB. I hope it's not the motherboard's problem, because it will be a pain to uninstall it - install new one

Oh I see I thought you were using onboard that was being fed to a DAC.

In that case it is likely your DAC that is at fault. Try and enable the onboard and play it through there and see if you have the same issue.

 

[theios_kostas]

I think the DAC is fine, too. I will be testing this further, though. I kind of hope it's the PSU, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

 

[krzywica]

I think the DAC is fine, too. I will be testing this further, though. I kind of hope it's the PSU, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

Its unlikely but possible. Sounds like a grounding issue to me.

 

[theios_kostas]

Lol I just found what the problem was: I am stupid. Running applications seems to cause the crackling, which must be a delay due to system using up the CPU. I have found that web browsers especially cause a lot of cracking. I didn't open the browser on other pcs, as they were not connected to the internet. Right now, despite feeling stupid, I am pretty happy with the system's performance. It sounds great Thanks for the help!

 

[krzywica]

Lol I just found what the problem was: I am stupid. Running applications seems to cause the crackling, which must be a delay due to system using up the CPU. I have found that web browsers especially cause a lot of cracking. I didn't open the browser on other pcs, as they were not connected to the internet. Right now, despite feeling stupid, I am pretty happy with the system's performance. It sounds great Thanks for the help!

This should never happen. If you are overloading the system and running into swap file then maybe it would skip and studder but it should never crackle.

Sounds like faulty hardware and/or a driver issue. Try updating your latest drivers (I assume there are drivers for the DAC as it is USB connected).

 

[theios_kostas]

The device installs the driver on its own. I'll take it to the dealer and see if he can help, or give me a new one alltogether... Maybe it's a win7 - linux problem? (Also the site has no new drivers).

 

[theios_kostas]

I tried installing my old soundcard (an asus xonar) and connecting the xcan via rca. It solved the problem. There is absolutely no sound other than the music playing (the problem thus was with the USB plug). The sound card dac is of high quality, and I 've actually gotten rid of the USB streaming limitations, so I 've every reason to be happy! Thanks for the help krzywica!

 

[Yancy Sefton]

Hello guys!

If the problem happens intermittently like you described, we can rule out the settings and Here I suppose you know how to check the audio settings of your machine. If so, it must be the hardware. Since audio cards are cheap You can get one for $20 and the sounds are pretty decent, install a new sound card...
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