Problem with sound card

[nebulous9]

Hello all, I just got into computer gaming and went ahead and connected my computer to my 2 channel home audio system. The computer has an HT Omega Claro XT sound card. But unfortunately, I am experiencing some problems.

My current rig:


Claro XT sound card
PH/P 850 Pre amp
HCA 750 amp
HCA 500 amp
ADS towers

I am able to hear audio well however when there is a pause in the music or a quite scene in the video game I hear feedback and unwanted noises. It kinda sounds like little computer noises, small beeps and chirps. The cable I am using is a 20 ft rca cable that works fine with any other device I throw at it.

I still get the problem when I connect the computer to one of the line levels on my Zphono pre amp.

Has anyone ever experienced a problem like this?

[Chris D]

Hey, nebulous, welcome to the Guide and Club Parasound! :banana:

It doesn't seem like your problem is with your Parasound gear. So if you'd like, I can move this thread to another section of the forum where you'll get more expertise for your particular problem, like our computer section or Audio Hideout.

Unfortunately, people that get into high fidelity A/V quickly find out that computers (particularly laptops) can be VERY noisy devices. There's lots of stuff in computers that cause EMI and mechanical noise. Many sound cards fail to do a good job of isolating all this noise and put out clean sound. So I'd recommend you start there, particulary if, as you say, other components give you clean sound through the same connection cable and input.

Nice rack!

[Kevin P]

What type of connection are you using? Analog, optical SPDIF or coaxial?

If it's analog, try a digital connection and see if that works better. If you still get noise with a coaxial digital connection, try an optical connection. If you still get noise, then there is either interference or a problem with your sound card. I looked up that card and it seems to be on the higher end of computer sound cards, but computer's power isn't very "clean" so getting clean audio out of any computer can be a challenge.

In many cases, using the digital out to an external DAC, or the one in your receiver or processor, will help.

[nebulous9]

Hey, nebulous, welcome to the Guide and Club Parasound! :banana:

It doesn't seem like your problem is with your Parasound gear. So if you'd like, I can move this thread to another section of the forum where you'll get more expertise for your particular problem, like our computer section or Audio Hideout.

Unfortunately, people that get into high fidelity A/V quickly find out that computers (particularly laptops) can be VERY noisy devices. There's lots of stuff in computers that cause EMI and mechanical noise. Many sound cards fail to do a good job of isolating all this noise and put out clean sound. So I'd recommend you start there, particulary if, as you say, other components give you clean sound through the same connection cable and input.

Nice rack!

Thank you for replying. Yes, please move this thread to the computer section.

The problem I have is very strange because when I connect headphones directly to the sound card it sounds perfectly fine.

Could it be that the line out from the sound card doesn't match the line in from the pre amp?

What type of connection are you using? Analog, optical SPDIF or coaxial?

If it's analog, try a digital connection and see if that works better. If you still get noise with a coaxial digital connection, try an optical connection. If you still get noise, then there is either interference or a problem with your sound card. I looked up that card and it seems to be on the higher end of computer sound cards, but computer's power isn't very "clean" so getting clean audio out of any computer can be a challenge.

In many cases, using the digital out to an external DAC, or the one in your receiver or processor, will help.

Unfortunately, my preamp only has analog inputs.

I have been on the market for a used Parasound Model 7100 Surround controller and those things have coax and optical inputs. Once I buy one I may have better luck connecting my computer to my rig.



Thanks for the help guys

[impala454]

Nice rack!

:boobies:

Sorry. Had to :B

[Kevin P]

You may want to consider an external DAC between your computer and your preamp.

[Chris D]

Okay, moving forums. I'll leave a redirect in Club Parasound, too, so people can still find it from there.

[Hdale85]

It's more likely the noise isn't heard on the sound card with headphones because it's not amplified that much, when you throw it through your pre-amp it has a lot more amplification via at least 2 stages, and it sounds like your AV pre-amp doesn't have a lot of filtering (which is nice in most cases but not so much with PC's). I'd agree that a decent DAC between your PC and pre-amp is a good idea. If you're looking for cheap there is a USB DAC that TwistedPearAudio has that's under 100 bucks I believe. Here I got the link

http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/digital/usb.aspx

Just have to watch for it to come back in stock, one nice thing is if you get into digital audio more you can upgrade your DAC with that USB receiver by adding one of their Opus, COD or Buffalo DAC's and using the USB as the input (what they designed it for but they used a DAC to get the USB features so they decided to make it possible to use the onboard DAC as well). There are some other USB DAC's but probably nothing for this price that would match quality wise.

[Face]

I have the same issue via HDMI, optical, coax, or analog. The only way I can get rid of it is using an asynchronous USB DAC.