Weird and high pinch sound, and pop sound when switching lights on/off coming from speakers connected to external sound card

[NickosD]

Hello everybody.

I have a really weird issue. I recently bought the soundblasterx g6. I have connected it to my pc via the usb. On the sound card I have both my speakers (edifier r1700bt, back port of the sound card) and my headphones (pioneer hdj1500) connected. When both of the devices are connected, I have a pop sounds from switch on/off lights and this weird sound (this sound happens when i hold my headphones or if i hold the headphone cable near the 3.5 jack. It also happens much louder when i power the usb card via usb charger (and this is when i recorded the sound)), and also when i change from headphones to speakers and vise versa a high pinch sound that last a sec or so. IF I disconnect headphones, no issues. I have also tried a different usb cable, different usb port, to connect my sound card via optical and give power to it from a usb power bank (which the louder sound happened).

I tried the same thing with my laptop. No issues at all. Tried both with and without charger. My laptop uses a 3pin charger, which from a video I saw it might be a cause for ground loop (and in the video he suggests to use a 2 pin charger). I guess if the problem was from a poorly grounded outlet or if the issue weas from the card, I should have the same issue with my laptop too.

I changed the psu cable of my pc and the power hub, issue still there. If I dont have the headphones connected on the card, no issue. But i want to leave them connected and control the output via the software (so i can hide the sound card at desk).

I ended ordering these. Do you think it will do smth? Where should I use them? Eg should I put 1 on the usb cable, near the sound card or the other end which connects to the pc? Should i put one too on the speaker and headphone cables?

 

[oohlou]

One second? That is very long in audio terms. If you are getting one full second of the sound then you are like hearing a flaw in the product design and not something you will be able to fix with any sort of cable change / clamps.

As for popping when the lights change that suggest a power issue. Are you familiar with your home's power wiring? What all is on this circuit? Turning off a few 60W bulbs shouldn't matter much but if the circuit is already heavily loaded that could be an issue. (I hear a pop when I turn on/off my heater but that is 1500W).

 

[NickosD]

One second? That is very long in audio terms. If you are getting one full second of the sound then you are like hearing a flaw in the product design and not something you will be able to fix with any sort of cable change / clamps.

As for popping when the lights change that suggest a power issue. Are you familiar with your home's power wiring? What all is on this circuit? Turning off a few 60W bulbs shouldn't matter much but if the circuit is already heavily loaded that could be an issue. (I hear a pop when I turn on/off my heater but that is 1500W).

The high pinch sound is at most 1 sec. Dunno.
Just to make sure that you have read it, but I have 0 issues while connected to my laptop with and without charger.

Also added a link for the weird sound (1st paragraph)

And no, I'm not familiar with the wiring, nor it's loaded (basically only my pc which draws at most 100w on idle)

Edit: from this Thread I saw that powering the dac via power bank is not providing ground connections, so I will try tomorrow using a phone charger instead of power bank + optical to pc.

 

[NickosD]

Nope, still does the sound using a wall usb outlet instead of a power bank. Anyway, the caps arrives tomorrow. Where should i place them?

 

[NickosD]

Also tried to remove at first the external case and metal foil from the usb cable, then cutting the black wire (ground wire) which resulted in dac not powering on.

Dunno.

 

[oohlou]

First, don't run your PC without ground. That is dangerous; at a minimum to your PC, at a maximum to your house and family.

Second, I listen to your sound clip and you are now saying "high pitch". There is nothing high pitch in that clip. It is really low pitch and has a distinctive warble. To me this suggests you have a ground loop and the power in your house is really noisy... like it is coming from a generator or you have a malfunctioning high current appliance like a freezer or electric dryer. It is really doubtful that sub 60Hz warble is coming from your PC or USB devices.

 

[NickosD]

First, don't run your PC without ground. That is dangerous; at a minimum to your PC, at a maximum to your house and family.

Second, I listen to your sound clip and you are now saying "high pitch". There is nothing high pitch in that clip. It is really low pitch and has a distinctive warble. To me this suggests you have a ground loop and the power in your house is really noisy... like it is coming from a generator or you have a malfunctioning high current appliance like a freezer or electric dryer. It is really doubtful that sub 60Hz warble is coming from your PC or USB devices.

I never said that i will run my pc without ground. I removed the ground wire from dac. Also, there isn't and ground issue with pc. I fthere was, I would fill it one way or another.
Anyway, as i say, I have that sound when dac powered on by outlet, a high pitch sound (mostly when switching between headphones/speakers and when someone joins in discord) AND the pop sounds from light (aka all 3 sounds).

I would suspect ground issue from the house if the issue was audible with my laptop (with or without charging it). I also tried to clear the ground pins (europeans ones, 2 holes and the ground one comes as pins), change the 2.5 to 3.5" headphones cable, and to connect only the pc to different outlet

 

[NickosD]

@oohlou https://drive.google.com/open?id=16suyB0-92cbJwk0HGhf3NyNrCmu8ssFH (all the sounds)