Reason for audio distortion?

[Mas3nk0]

I will be switching from my current ASUS P55DLE to a ASUS H97 PLUS to support my upgrade from an i5-760 Lynnfield to an i5-4670 Hasswell. Now for the last year or so I have noise/distortion on my audio jack located at the front of my Antec Three Hundred case while playing games/video streams. Turning the header of the connector of the headphones/earplugs decreases or increases the buzzing sound but the problem persists.

I wanted to ask the community if this issue will be resolved by the motherboard swap (or other cable management) or if this can be related to the connectors of the Antec case itself. In which case I might want to consider an upgrade of my case as well. In this respect I was looking at a Corsair 300R. (Regardless of the issue is a case upgrade valuable?)

Thanks in advance for possible feedback.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

It is highly unlikely a bad connector can cause distortion, but it can induce noise if the connection cable between the front case panel and the motherboard is damaged (check for cable integrity, maybe the ground wire/shield is interrupted). You have experienced the same behaviour with the back audio plugs (the ones from the motherboard) or only with the front audio plugs?

 

[Mas3nk0]

Only the front audio plug on the antec three hundred has the issue. So assuming it is cable related then with the mobo upgrade and rewiring it could be fixed?

 

[Cristi72]

Only the front audio plug on the antec three hundred has the issue. So assuming it is cable related then with the mobo upgrade and rewiring it could be fixed?

Before doing any rewiring, check if the front jack plugs are OK (take out the front cover, dismantle the USB + jack enclosure and see if the jack is not broken).

EDIT: by chance, I stumbled upon this:

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=208880 , it could be a solution (I had an Antec 300 a while back, but I rarely used the front audio and I didn't observe any problems).

 

[Mas3nk0]

That link was a very interesting read and I will try that out tonight as it seems the most likely culprit is that ground connection.

Thanks for the find!