Can a computer damage headphones?

[JustStorm]

I've had this self build computer for 4 years now.
Since the beginning the PSU always had coil whine, including the GPU and CPU.
Tried RMA etc but the shop always had bad service so to no avail.

But, since there seems to be some electrical issue (?) I've always been afraid of hooking up headphones in case it could damage them?

I have zero knowledge if it comes to electricity so this might be really stupid.

All my other devices that are hooked up like my mouse and keyboard etc work fine!

There is nothing wrong with the performance of my pc so there might be no electricity problem at all but I just want to be sure is all!

So, can headphones for example get damaged by a computer?

Can there even be anything bad about the PSU if everthing works just fine?


Thanks in advance and sorry if this is stupid.

 

[CaptainCretin]

You dont say how old the PC is, but if you bought it via credit card, you could try a claim through the credit card company if the seller isnt playing ball.


It is unlikely that the headphones will be damaged by what you have described; psu whine isnt good though; I would budget for a better psu from a better shop sometime in the near future. Poor psus can kill cpus with ease - had it happen several times in the past, with a business PC my families business bought; in 3 years it killed 5 cpus and they replaced EVERYTHING except the psu.
At that point they declared enough was enough, and stopped doing warranty repairs; I replaced the psu and we never had another issue with it; ancient though it was, it was still in use as a toddler games machine 15 years later.

 

[JustStorm]

You dont say how old the PC is, but if you bought it via credit card, you could try a claim through the credit card company if the seller isnt playing ball.


It is unlikely that the headphones will be damaged by what you have described; psu whine isnt good though; I would budget for a better psu from a better shop sometime in the near future. Poor psus can kill cpus with ease - had it happen several times in the past, with a business PC my families business bought; in 3 years it killed 5 cpus and they replaced EVERYTHING except the psu.
At that point they declared enough was enough, and stopped doing warranty repairs; I replaced the psu and we never had another issue with it; ancient though it was, it was still in use as a toddler games machine 15 years later.

Sorry, English isn't my first language. I build the computer myself 4 years ago

 

[therealduckofdeath]

I've had similar experiences with shops doing everything they can to dodge taking things in for check-up/repairs. Try contacting the manufacturer instead, letting them know the store doesn't want to listen. If it's a custom built PC, contact the manufacturer of the power supply.

It's not very likely an electrical damage would travel all the way to your headphones. The sound card/DAC would almost certainly be destroyed before that and the motherboard before that.

Whiny coils are a tricky thing, so I guess I can understand why a shop dodges it. Coils do make a sound, it's unavoidable, but they should obviously not be so loud it gets annoying. In comparison PSU and case fans should normally drown any of those types of sounds. You could argue that they have to replace it as if a coil or capacitor failure could create a power spike that could damage components in the PC. Though, to be fair, a modern power supply come with internal surge protection so it is extremely unlikely for a modern power supply to destroy internals. Worst case these days is more likely that you'd get a PC that resets itself without any explanation when the PSU's surge protection temporarily kills the power.

 

[CaptainCretin]

You dont say how old the PC is, but if you bought it via credit card, you could try a claim through the credit card company if the seller isnt playing ball.


It is unlikely that the headphones will be damaged by what you have described; psu whine isnt good though; I would budget for a better psu from a better shop sometime in the near future. Poor psus can kill cpus with ease - had it happen several times in the past, with a business PC my families business bought; in 3 years it killed 5 cpus and they replaced EVERYTHING except the psu.
At that point they declared enough was enough, and stopped doing warranty repairs; I replaced the psu and we never had another issue with it; ancient though it was, it was still in use as a toddler games machine 15 years later.

Sorry, English isn't my first language. I build the computer myself 4 years ago

OK, do not worry.

It wont damage the headphones before doing other damage to the PC first.

Change the psu to a good brand; I use Corsair, Fractal and Earthwatts psu's.

Give lots of bad reviews for the store where you bought the psu.