An USB external sound board can resolve problems related to coil whine?

[kiiha]

Hi! I have an GTX 970 with coil whine (pretty common for this one). I can hear the static noise on both video card and headset. The noise is louder when under stress and muting don't change anything (and bla bla bla about this subject). To workaround this I simply connect my headphone on my monitor because it allows me to, and the problem is "gone". But as it is a budget monitor, the quality of the sound don't compare with the one provided by the mobo (an z170m-plus from asus). So I was thinking about this externals soundboards but really never even saw and used one. If I buy one of these, the coil whine problem is gone? is the quality of the sound any good? (I mean, there are 7.1 adapters that are very very cheap). What about an pci soundboard? is it any worth it?

 

[herrwizo]

I have no experience with external USB soundcards. I had the same issue as you did, and no matter the motherboard or other components static was always there, practically imbearable with Sennheiser HD595's (current mobo has Realtek ALC1150, static is still present). I ended up buying Asus Xonar D2 (there is also a PCI-e version, called D2X) and the problem is completely gone. This card has a very nice EMI shield and sounds beautifully. Not cheap, though.

 

[kiiha]

I have no experience with external USB soundcards. I had the same issue as you did, and no matter the motherboard or other components static was always there, practically imbearable with Sennheiser HD595's (current mobo has Realtek ALC1150, static is still present). I ended up buying Asus Xonar D2 (there is also a PCI-e version, called D2X) and the problem is completely gone. This card has a very nice EMI shield and sounds beautifully. Not cheap, though.

Thanks for the reply! Sadly, I live in a country where hardware is extremely pricey and this soundcard's price on some websites that imports it goes off the roof, not an option for me.

 

[herrwizo]

You can try your luck with the cheapest addon card, or even USB one - but there are no guarantees...