annoying noise , buzz , hummm , high pitched

[thebirdman9999]

hi! i have a little issue here , im using m200 dac with usb to sp200 amp , low gain 9-10 o clock im hearing some kind of noise , really bad kind .. when i shut down my pc everything is quiet , i press the power then it goes to the bios screen , from there , noise is coming in , then even louder when windows is loaded at the desktop .. when i scroll , or move the mouse , the pitch in the noise is shifting , i could litteraly compose something with the tones it does... haha -_- also when i open a game , i have some really fast clicky kind of noise coming in.. if i unplug the dac power , noise is still there , if i unplug usb , its gone . do you guys think using some other connections can fix the problem ? usb seems to be the problem here .

 

[Count Arthur]

Have you tried using a different USB port on the PC?

Also, what PC do you have and do you know what make and model the motherboard and power supply are?

 

[Duckeenie]

I had similar issues with my PC until I switched to using the balanced outputs and not a whisper now. If your amp or active speakers have balanced inputs you could try that.

 

[thebirdman9999]

Have you tried using a different USB port on the PC?

Also, what PC do you have and do you know what make and model the motherboard and power supply are?

i have a corsair power supply , 8 years old , lots of dust inside it . x570-p motherboard . i have tried every usb port possible , same problem , i dont know anything about this but how is the power supply affecting that ? if its the case.

 

[thebirdman9999]

I had similar issues with my PC until I switched to using the balanced outputs and not a whisper now. If your amp or active speakers have balanced inputs you could try that.

i will try ordering some balanced cables and see if it helps . will report back if its working or not

 

[Count Arthur]

i have a corsair power supply , 8 years old , lots of dust inside it . x570-p motherboard . i have tried every usb port possible , same problem , i dont know anything about this but how is the power supply affecting that ?

Some no-name PC power supplies are made very cheaply and can be noisy, however Corsair have a pretty good reputation, my last two PC PSUs have been Corsair and I've had no problems. Similarly, some budget motherboards may have issues, but a decent one from one of the major brands, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc. is less likely to be the cause of problems.

Have you tried unplugging some of the other USB devices? You could try unplugging them one at a time and seeing if the noise goes away when a specific device is unplugged. You mentioned that you can hear when you move the mouse, so I'd start with that.

 

[thebirdman9999]

Some no-name PC power supplies are made very cheaply and can be noisy, however Corsair have a pretty good reputation, my last two PC PSUs have been Corsair and I've had no problems. Similarly, some budget motherboards may have issues, but a decent one from one of the major brands, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc. is less likely to be the cause of problems.

Have you tried unplugging some of the other USB devices? You could try unplugging them one at a time and seeing if the noise goes away when a specific device is unplugged. You mentioned that you can hear when you move the mouse, so I'd start with that.

unplugged everything but the dac , still there . mouse is just adding another layer of really high pitched noise when i move it but the original annoying noise is still there , going crazy , modulating randomly .

 

[kneading_kitten]

i will try ordering some balanced cables and see if it helps . will report back if its working or not

Try isolating the problem using the following tests:

Test 1: Plug the headphones into your phone/music player, play music, see if there is noise. (Isolate the headphones)
Test 2: Connect the tested phone into the DAC's USB in. Connect the DAC to your amp using your normal setup (RCA out i presume). Plug your headphone in the amp's out. Play music and test if you hear the noise. (Isolate the dac/amp)
Test 2a(optional): Pair the phone with the setup via Bluetooth on the m200 and play music, test if you hear the noise. If yes, your dac/amp have problems.
Test 3: Disconnect the DAC from your Amp. Plug the phone's 3.5mm out (if you have it) straight into the SP200 through a 3.5 to RCA cable and play music. Test if you hear the noise. Step 3 + 2 would say you have problems with both the DAC/Amp or not.
Test 4: Reconnect the setup with your PC. When you hear the noise, with two feet on the ground, touch your DAC, Amp with your naked hand. See if the noise goes away.
Test 5: Jiggle the cables and connections. You can have loose connections somewhere and that can be audible.

If nothing works, make sure that you are plugging both DAC and Amp into the same power outlet. The outlet needs to be properly grounded (have a third prong). And buy the XLR cables like you said.

Trying the above should fix your issues. If using the XLR cables with properly grounded outlets don't fix the issues. You can try something else (this shouldn't work but you can still try), which is connect your PC to your DAC via an Intona USB isolator. I wish you wouldn't have to resort to this, because that would be an expensive experiment to try.

EDIT: also at each step, varies the volume

 

[thebirdman9999]

Try isolating the problem using the following tests:

Test 1: Plug the headphones into your phone/music player, play music, see if there is noise. (Isolate the headphones)
Test 2: Connect the tested phone into the DAC's USB in. Connect the DAC to your amp using your normal setup (RCA out i presume). Plug your headphone in the amp's out. Play music and test if you hear the noise. (Isolate the dac/amp)
Test 2a(optional): Pair the phone with the setup via Bluetooth on the m200 and play music, test if you hear the noise. If yes, your dac/amp have problems.
Test 3: Disconnect the DAC from your Amp. Plug the phone's 3.5mm out (if you have it) straight into the SP200 through a 3.5 to RCA cable and play music. Test if you hear the noise. Step 3 + 2 would say you have problems with both the DAC/Amp or not.
Test 4: Reconnect the setup with your PC. When you hear the noise, with two feet on the ground, touch your DAC, Amp with your naked hand. See if the noise goes away.
Test 5: Jiggle the cables and connections. You can have loose connections somewhere and that can be audible.

If nothing works, make sure that you are plugging both DAC and Amp into the same power outlet. The outlet needs to be properly grounded (have a third prong). And buy the XLR cables like you said.

Trying the above should fix your issues. If using the XLR cables with properly grounded outlets don't fix the issues. You can try something else (this shouldn't work but you can still try), which is connect your PC to your DAC via an Intona USB isolator. I wish you wouldn't have to resort to this, because that would be an expensive experiment to try.

EDIT: also at each step, varies the volume

just tried rca connected in my amp going to a green adapter ( connected a AUX cable in that to my phone , noise is gone , i still can hear a noise when i boost the gain of my amp to the max but i think this is normal , and that sound is going away when i play something and coming back when nothing is playing , its far from the other noise from my pc , and yeah i tried that on my pc aswell , noise was still there , connected that to the headphone out of my pc . so noise seems to be coming from the pc . i cant do step 2 since my dac has no headphone connector. i tried with another of my dacs with another usb connector , same problem , i dont think that the dac is faulty or the usb connector , no noise until i connect something to the pc

 

[kneading_kitten]

so noise seems to be coming from the pc

Is your PC, M200, SP200 connected to the same grounded multi-outlets (outlets have three prongs)? If not, does the noise go away when you touch the metal surface of your M200 or SP200?

Someone with more knowledge than me can correct me if im wrong, but XLR cables wouldn't solve the problems if your setup is not grounded at all. There is also the possiblity of a "noisy ground" but i think i read from JohnYang that this is a very very rare problem. The signal from the PC should be filtered through the back of the M200 because any decent DAC should filter its signal and power inputs.

 

[thebirdman9999]

Is your PC, M200, SP200 connected to the same grounded multi-outlets (outlets have three prongs)? If not, does the noise go away when you touch the metal surface of your M200 or SP200?

Someone with more knowledge than me can correct me if im wrong, but XLR cables wouldn't solve the problems if your setup is not grounded at all. There is also the possiblity of a "noisy ground" but i think i read from JohnYang that this is a very very rare problem. The signal from the PC should be filtered through the back of the M200 because any decent DAC should filter its signal and power inputs.

yes it has 3 , yes pc and amp and dac connected to the same , touching is not affecting the noise . yeah maybe the filtering thing . but then.. why its doing that on my other dac ? dacmagic 100 . coincidence maybe? they both share the same problem maybe ? i dont know haha

 

[thebirdman9999]

ive read somewhere else that usb hub or something like that could fix the issue . im gonna succeed .. !! i have hope haha , oh there i found somebody with the exact same sound as me, i have hope for xlr i have headphones but its the same thing i guess ? aniways .. im gonna try xlr and report back the result thx you for the help , really appreciated !~ :

 

[Count Arthur]

Does your motherboard have an optical SPDIF output? If so, it might be worth trying the DAC with that.

I suspect the noise is coming over the USB connection, rather than being picked up by the signal cables.

Also, is the SMSL powered over the USB connection, or only through the 5v DC input; can it be used without the power supply if connected to USB?

 

[raindance]

Use something like the Musical Fidelity Vlink to create an optical output to feed the DAC. My laptop was noisy in the same way and this resolved it.

 

[thebirdman9999]

i just found out i have a ground lift switch on my dacmagic100 , killed the noise .... and i like more the sound of the dacmagic over the m200 . finaly.. win win.. just received my m200 1 week ago so i will return it . i have less resolution out of it on my hd800s .

 

[Qrmas]

I had similar issue with Khadas powered by USB port and Khadas connected to SMSL SP200 with RCA cables. It was pretty much USB ground loop issue between PC and Amplifier and I got it fixed with IFI Idefender 3.0 by separate power from USB port and powering Khadas from USB phone charger plugged to Ifi Idefender. With this all noises coming from USB ports was cut off effectly.