PC Audio Gremlins

[Finkus]

So about 3 or 4 months ago, the high frequency in my left speaker seemed to start cutting out intermittently. My Technics speakers were pretty old ( 20 years maybe ) and I could tweak it back into life by cranking the volume on the amp for a fraction of a second then back to a more neighbor friendly level, so I chalked it up to that.

So I replaced my speakers for a pair of Mission, but it still kept occurring. So, then I replaced my Technics amp for a newer Denon and just for good measure I replaced all the cables for brand new. But it still kept happening, so I could only assume that it was a PC audio playback issue.

So I went through all of my drivers in Device Manager, other than a SM Bus driver issue ( which I then resolved ), everything was hunky dory. So I bought a Sound Blaster Z sound card and used that instead of the on-board Realtek. But, it still happened.

By this point I started looking at my desktop and started an upgrade spree, which ended up today replacing the motherboard for an MSI Z97 GD65.. but its *still* happening...

At this point, the only things I haven't replaced for new is the CPU, memory and gfx card ( didn't see the point as they're only a year old perhaps ).

I can't for the life of me figure out why this is happening but after a truck load of cash on upgrades, to still have this problem ( and it probably turning out to be a software issue ) is driving me nuts... any ideas?

( I've been to the doctors too, its not my ears... )

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K 3.50GHz / Corsair H100i V2 cooler
MSI Z97 GD65 motherboard
Corsair Vengance 16Gb RAM
Samsung SSDs 850 Evo 500Gb / 840 Evo 120Gb
WD 1TB HDD
2x MSI GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 4Gb SLi
Sound Blaster Z
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit

 

[Natsukage]

Hello.

Before blaming the gemlins...have you tested using a ipod/iphone/android phone/tablet/mp3 player to see if it still cuts off in the high frequency range?

If it still cuts off, then your PC is not the issue. If not, then yes, the PC is the issue.

I don't see anywhere where you tested your Denon on anything else than the PC. ^^;

 

[Finkus]

Hi Natsukage, thanks for responding!

Yes, I've tried both the old Technics and the new Denon systems on an iPod and there is no loss of sound, so I can only assume it's something desktop related.

 

[Natsukage]

Hmm, how exactly are you wired? Using 3.5mm cables or optical/coaxial?

And do you use the same exact program as before for music? (ex. windows media player)

 

[Finkus]

Single shielded pro-audio 3.5mm from the headphone jack on the Soundblaster to dual phono Aux input on the Denon, no extensions.

Generally I use youtube for music, although I sometimes use iTunes for my mp3 library. I used both of those before and after the upgrades and even before the glitch started.

 

[Natsukage]

Phono? You mean RCA, right. Since you can't use the PHONO input for anything else than a phonograph. Only the other inputs on your receiver. (Video1, AUX, etc)

Does your Denon and Soundblaster have Coxial inputs (orange plug)?

 

[Finkus]

Yes RCA to the DVD/Aux input. No Coaxial that I can see on either of them.

 

[Natsukage]

Nor optical I guess....?

Hmm, can you try listening to music using another program, such as Windows Media Player/Winamp/etc, and check if it still cuts off?

At this point, I think there may actually be an issue with your windows software... I really don't believe it can be either the CPU/RAM either...(and it's certainly not the GFX card). But try another program first and report back. ^^;

 

[Finkus]

After x-days of trial, I can say that it does *not* happen when listening to my mp3 library using Winamp, but it does if I'm listening to a stream url or youtube.

I can only determine its some kind of driver issue, but after replacing my motherboard 12 days ago, which included a fresh utilities/driver install, I'm at a loss..

 

[ssddx]

does it happen on all youtube videos? have you tested this by listening to the same youtube link on different computers or devices? there are youtube videos out there with known audio distortion issues i've come across.

test youtube in all 3 browsers (ie, ff, chrome). is it the same? if not, it could be something browser related.

 

[Finkus]

Sorry I should have been more clear; It doesnt occur when using Winamp to play my MP3 music library, but it *does* occur when I'm playing a url stream through Winamp, in addition to happening when watching youtube.

So its related to audio streaming somehow, rather than local media. I'm beginning to think the only next step is to do a clean install of Windows. #sadface

 

[Finkus]

Issue seems to be resolved!

I uninstalled the Razer Surround audio software that came as a bolt on with my Nostromo gamepad and the issue seems ( for now ) to have disappeared.

 

[Natsukage]

Well, that could very well be it.... It's not unheard of for 3rd party software to cause such issues.