POPs and clicks on my USB audio after waking from sleep

[socklosk]

I built a new system using Window 7 64-bit because I was getting pops and clicks on my audio in my old Windows XP. As it turned out, the same thing is now happening on my new computer. It always happens after the computer wakes from sleep. To get rid of the pops and clicks, I usually need to shutdown the computer completely to clear the memory and then restart.

My new computer has 4GB of RAM
Using a Gigabyte H97 motherboard
My audio player is foobar (increasing the buffer did not help)
Higher quality USB DAC

DCP Latency show an increased latency when the pops and clicks appear

LatencyMON does not clearly show any particular driver to be causing the problems, but it often says that my system has high latencies even when I’m not hearing any pops and clicks and DCP Latency shows everything to be fine.

 

[digitaldoc]

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Surround-System-SB1095/dp/B0044DEDCA/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1420346563&sr=1-7&keywords=usb+audio

The issue has persisted across 2 computer systems. This points to the USB audio being the culprit. I would look at a Creative Labs USB audio solution which I linked to above.

Also, make sure that none of your wires for the audio and speakers are near any of your power cables.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you reuse the PSU from the old build? Some power supplies, especially cheap ones, have voltage regulation and other issues when waking. Are you using a power strip to plug the computer into? Are you using the same audio device and usb cable as well?

 

[socklosk]

Did you reuse the PSU from the old build? Some power supplies, especially cheap ones, have voltage regulation and other issues when waking. Are you using a power strip to plug the computer into? Are you using the same audio device and usb cable as well?

No. I'm using a CORSAIR CX series CX430 430W

The USB cable and DAC are the same.

Yes, I'm using a power strip.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Try removing the power strip from the equation and plugging straight into the wall socket, at least for the PC power. Power strips are notorious for cheap internal designs and poor quality which can in turn create voltage noise and other issues that may affect the entire system.

Try another usb cable if possible. If your motherboard has onboard sound, try to see if it has the same issues using it's sound outputs. Try updating the drivers to the most recent ones available for your device.

 

[socklosk]

The 2 BIG CLUES are:

1. The problem only happens after the computer goes into sleep

2. To get rid the pops and clicks I need to turn the computer completely off, which suggest something 'evil' is getting into the memory during sleep mode.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's probably Gremlins. I've seen it before, many times. Get a can of RAID and as soon as you hear something, spray the shit out of the tower. That'll keep 'em off. Smile.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Just kidding, of course. As I said, it's very possible to be the PSU. There are really only two things that could affect the USB circuit after coming out of sleep. The PSU and the unit itself. There are many power supplies, as I said before, that don't handle the change from sleep to wake well and tend to exhibit extensive issues after being in low load situations and then resuming. In fact, it's the whole reason only certain power supplies are recommended to be used with Haswell processors since the C6 and C7 states of the CPU are not supported by supplies without compatible internal circuitry.

Read the second line down on this linked page. Right off the bat they indicate it's generally power related and the only items related to the supply of power in this equation are the PSU, motherboard and the unit itself. My guess, without tesing using a meter, is the PSU since it doesn't do it from cold or warm boot but only after sleeping. Just for shits and giggles, look on your power supply and tell us what the model number and brand are.

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/37755-timurs-kernel-usb-rom-most-popular-thread-on-rootzwiki/page-345

 

[socklosk]

Try removing the power strip from the equation and plugging straight into the wall socket, at least for the PC power. Power strips are notorious for cheap internal designs and poor quality which can in turn create voltage noise and other issues that may affect the entire system.

Try another usb cable if possible. If your motherboard has onboard sound, try to see if it has the same issues using it's sound outputs. Try updating the drivers to the most recent ones available for your device.

OK. I'll try the power strip solution to see if it helps. Using the on board audio is an excellent idea... now I have to find the cables.

 

[socklosk]

Just kidding, of course. As I said, it's very possible to be the PSU. There are really only two things that could affect the USB circuit after coming out of sleep. The PSU and the unit itself. There are many power supplies, as I said before, that don't handle the change from sleep to wake well and tend to exhibit extensive issues after being in low load situations and then resuming. In fact, it's the whole reason only certain power supplies are recommended to be used with Haswell processors since the C6 and C7 states of the CPU are not supported by supplies without compatible internal circuitry.

Read the second line down on this linked page. Right off the bat they indicate it's generally power related and the only items related to the supply of power in this equation are the PSU, motherboard and the unit itself. My guess, without tesing using a meter, is the PSU since it doesn't do it from cold or warm boot but only after sleeping. Just for shits and giggles, look on your power supply and tell us what the model number and brand are.

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/37755-timurs-kernel-usb-rom-most-popular-thread-on-rootzwiki/page-345

CORSAIR PSU - CX430 430W

It happens with my older XP system too.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The older XP system, especially, but not only if, may also have a low end PSU. If it's originally an OEM PC it almost certainly does, unless it's been replaced with something of quality. The CX series PSUs are mainstream units, not recommended for gaming, overclocking, mission critical or professional audio applications due to the barely borderline levels of voltage noise, ripple and voltage regulation among other factors like the quality of the internal components used and build quality.

It's a great series for mainstream and office machines, but not much more. I'd recommend something with Haswell compliance, regardless that you have a Haswell CPU or not, simply due to the fact that those units have DC to DC conversion and are more reliable and compliant with the low load sleep states and are less likely to present issues on systems that require this feature.

I'd also highly recommend a unit that has more capacity than you need to limit the necessity of the fan coming on which will present additional noise to the system both through traditional methods as well as through the increased voltage draw. The hum of a power supply near it's capacity or that it's fan running due to thermal cycling can be serious problem on audio and amplification devices. Units that only turn the fan on above specific thermal designations and have noise reducing circuitry seems directly applicable here or in any high end audio arrangement as well.

Do you game or use a high end graphics card? What are your full system specs? CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, etc.

 

[socklosk]

Did you reuse the PSU from the old build? Some power supplies, especially cheap ones, have voltage regulation and other issues when waking. Are you using a power strip to plug the computer into? Are you using the same audio device and usb cable as well?

No, I did not use and old PSU. Right now I have a Corsair. But the problem may have disappeared after switching to a WASAPI audio driver.