[wtfjack]

A quality sound card will have premium capacitors and protection circuits that will eliminate outside electronic noise such as what the OP is experiencing.
I've also eliminated unwanted electrical noise in my system by adding a UPS with line conditioning.
I 'scoped' the power coming into my house and it looked like a sawtooth shark. Noisier then I expected. This noise will be introduced into the pc power supply and find it's way into the audio circuit. Adding the UPS eliminated the buzzing I was getting through my 5.1 sound system.
BTW.... I have a 24/96 audio card in my music studio pc. Use the midi for Roland keyboard and audio out to a Onkyo receiver. Excellent card!

[Trev33]

Seriously, thank you everyone for all the help!
Im going to invest in a Asus Xonar DG for cheap to try it out (never used a sound card, dont know why) and then hopefully save up for the STX.

Is it basically just better sound card = better sound quality? or is there more to it?

Thanks again guys!

Quote: Originally Posted by darquillity

1. Get a decent quality 24/96 audio card
2. Get a small mixing desk (I use a 4 channel)
3. Use balanced leads to connect sound card to mixer
4. Use mixer to output audio to your monitors.

PS I am an amateur studio owner and musician, have been doing this for 10+ years
:OP

Good luck!

I might actually consider that once I save up. Using a mixer will come in handy.

EDIT:
*Noob question warning*
Is it bad to use my monitors with this interference, will it have any affect on the speakers?

[darquillity]

Check out ESI - I have used their cards and outboard devices since 2000 and never had a problem. They are not expensive either! I'd stay away from the consumer-targeted stuff like Soudblaster Audigy.

(I'm still using my ESI Waveterminal 192x which I bought -11- years ago! Has never skipped a beat, while other brands I have bought are dead and buried, including once very expensive SB Audigy card)

http://www.esi-audio.com/products/

Audio is so fickle, and every time you add another device into the chain, you are potentially introducing artifacts on the line. Starting with a good quality soundcard is the first step, but you could still have problems even once that's installed. I've built a whole new PC just to house my recording gear, as the old AMD system I was using had something onboard that would cause erratic noise on the line - by moving the soundcard to a newer system, I managed to get rid of the noise permanently (but obviously I never resolved the problem on the old system - all good, now serves as a NAS) This new system has no other PCI or PCIe cards in it, so the soundcard has nothing either side of it to cause potential interference.

Then you have your cabling; the shorter your cables, the less chance of noise and interference. But sometimes it's just necessary to run longer cables (especially in a studio) so for this reason, you should aim for a card that has balanced ins/outs, use balanced cables, and a mixing desk which also has balanced ins/outs. Keep your cables from coiling too, run them as straight as you can.

Keep your cables and devices away from power sources, particularly powerpoints and powerboards. Sometimes it's necessary to have things close-by so you may have to experiment by moving things around a bit, if you have noise artifacts.

I once lived in a house where it was just impossible to get a clean signal, no matter what I did. Until I discovered that if I turned all the lights out, the noise went away! Many many recording sessions in the dark at that house! Point and case, sometimes there are things in the electrical wiring in a building that can cause noise; dirty power and dodgy wiring.

Keep your speakers away from old CRT monitors (LCDs are fine).

...... I'm trying to think of other problems I have had that caused noise and artifacts. Only other one I can think of is keep your pets from chewing on the cables, tends to introduce problems also

As you can see, so many potential sources for line noise, don't be disappointed if a new card doesn't completely resolve your problem. Just persist and you will eventually be able to eliminate it - it just may involve doing something radical like building a whole new PC or moving to a new house ;O)

[Noledox]

Another noise story: I found a cheap 2.1 channel speaker set with no power supply, which I managed to power with a spare laptop supply. When I connected the speakers to my PC and turned up the volume, the sub started vibrating pretty violently (with no known sounds playing from the PC output) . When I connected the speakers to an MP3 player instead, I didn't have any such vibration. I connected a cable with alligator clips to the PC case ground and the sub case ground, and the vibrations abruptly stopped. I believe I had a ground loop between the two because the PC was connected to an UPS backup but the speakers were not.

[Trev33]

Alright thanks for that info guys. Ill look at getting some XLR cables and setting them up to a mixer, then run from the mixer to a soundcard in the PC.
Looks like its time to start sussing it out. Powerpoints and power cables shouldnt be much of a problem as its a short distance from the PC to the Speakers, so ill trail around all the PC power cables.

Thanks for all the info darq.
And thanks for the additional info Nole.
Really appreciate it

[CSMR250]

Balanced connections will remove these problems, so if you can get a sound card with balanced outputs that is ideal.
With unbalanced outputs (what you have at the moment), you may need to attach extra stuff in between your output and the speakers - ground loop isolators.
With any sound card, even with unbalanced outputs, you should get perfect good quality for your level of system.

[Trev33]

Thanks CSM, im about to order myself a soundcard. :)

EDIT: An update on how the soundcard option turned out for anyone interested. It didn't remove the sound :( ! I am still happy with the purchase though!

I found out just now that the buzzing/hum-sortof-sound also happens when plugged into my iPhone, its just a lot lower. If I turn the speakers up via the ACTUAL speaker volume knob i can hear it. Also, if i take ONE of the RCA inputs out of the RCA to 3.5 adapter, the sound goes away on the speaker that is still plugged in.

Im going to buy some balanced cables, 2 XLR, send it to a mixer, then go from the mixer to my pc.

Thanks again for all the help guys.

[amdusius]

What sort of computer are you using. I had this issue from an HP laptop, when I asked around others had the same issue, its solved by cutting the earth off the power plug. I'm not sure I'd do that with a desktop tho.
It's a shame use monitors of this quality without a decent soundcard, a waste of good monitors. Motu is the recommended brand. Creatives are just a toy.
Good luck
PS. its already been said but it wouldn't hurt to can the rca's and get balanced leads

[Trev33]

Its a custom built desktop made about 3-4 months ago, not even that.

Yeah like i said, im gonna get some good XLR cables, and send them to a mixer then go from a mixer to the PC.

EDIT: Also, I did soem testing around, i plugged the two speakers into a completely seperate power board on the other side of my room, and plugged in the speakers to my iphone, turns out, no interference. Then, plugged one into the first power board, and the other speaker into the other power board, was getting interference with both (With the RCA's going to my iPhone)

Tried both speakers on the good powerboard, plugged the RCAs to the computer and got interference again.

So there must be a mixture of interference, some comming from the PC, and the other comming from the powerboard near my pc.

Such an annoying issue! llol

[apocea]

What sound card did you purchase? Did it require it's own power connection? If not, then it's likely that the power coming from the motherboard is too "noisy". If so, have you tried something other than your speakers? Perhaps try some higher end headphones or noise isolating (not noise cancelling) in-ear-modules.

[CSMR250]

As some have said before, you just need a ground loop isolator.