Hi everyone,
I recently built my own machine and it's been working great, save for the sound quality. In fact, low sound quality was one of the first things I noticed - when windows 7 started up for the first time, a pop interrupted its startup jingle. Ever since, I've been getting intermittent pops and crackling when playing music (doesn't happen so much with games).
For a while, I'd been running the speakers on my ASUS monitor. I thought it could be a problem with them, so I switched to headphones - still there was crackling. I switched speakers again, this time to an old set of Labtec speakers in my old tech box - still, there were popping noises.
My next thought was that it was a problem with my MB's onboard sound (here's my motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265 ), so I decided to get a dedicated sound card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270008 ) that had good reviews but wouldn't burn a hole in my pocket. After installing it and running my sound through it, there was still crackling (I've tried multiple PCI slots). I've made sure that the drivers for both the SIIG card and my motherboard are fully up to date, just in case that had something to do with it.
With that, I feel like I've exhausted the possibilities that are easily identifiable. I hope I'm not overlooking something stupid. Does anyone have an idea as to what's causing this problem?
Thanks a lot.
I recently built my own machine and it's been working great, save for the sound quality. In fact, low sound quality was one of the first things I noticed - when windows 7 started up for the first time, a pop interrupted its startup jingle. Ever since, I've been getting intermittent pops and crackling when playing music (doesn't happen so much with games).
For a while, I'd been running the speakers on my ASUS monitor. I thought it could be a problem with them, so I switched to headphones - still there was crackling. I switched speakers again, this time to an old set of Labtec speakers in my old tech box - still, there were popping noises.
My next thought was that it was a problem with my MB's onboard sound (here's my motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265 ), so I decided to get a dedicated sound card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270008 ) that had good reviews but wouldn't burn a hole in my pocket. After installing it and running my sound through it, there was still crackling (I've tried multiple PCI slots). I've made sure that the drivers for both the SIIG card and my motherboard are fully up to date, just in case that had something to do with it.
With that, I feel like I've exhausted the possibilities that are easily identifiable. I hope I'm not overlooking something stupid. Does anyone have an idea as to what's causing this problem?
Thanks a lot.