[SOLVED] Weird speaker issues? Sometimes one drops out, sometimes white noise?

[denniskuz]

I have a weird variety of issues:


1. I get what sounds like electrical noise that come from the HS5's when I move the mouse, highlight text, something is downloading from the internet (file from a website) or when videos play on youtube. Pretty much anything besides the computer doing nothing causes there to be some sound. It's rather quiet and not too bad. However if I play any games or do any intensive task etc. the sound is probably about as loud as a normal conversation so I'm forced to turn the speakers off and use headphones or something.

• I have tested the speakers themselves outside of my PC and they have no issues, so it's related to the PC. Nor do I think it's the cable connecting them to the PC.
• Previously I have been suggested to use an external sound card to fix this particular issue. It doesn't bother me THAT much so I haven't been willing to dump the money into a decent one - but if a sound card will fix my other issues I will do so.

2. When listening to any audio, one speaker, (always the left), drops out and only outputs something like 10% of it's original volume, so it's not totally silent but the quality of the audio has degraded. What happens is: the sound works totally fine, both speakers are equal in volume (still have the buzzing i mentioned above though) and then if I pause a video on youtube and press play again, it'll drop out only then. It never drops out while sound it actually being output, it must happen from just after whatever it is gets paused up to me pressing play again. It's pretty random so can happy after 5 mins of the PC being open or 30 mins but it WILL happen.

• I use a 3mm (plugs into sound card) to 2 XLR connectors that plug into each speaker. When I swap the XLR connections around, the other speaker then "drops out" most of the volume.
• This can be fixed only be restarting the PC. Restarting drivers, reinstalling them, turning off the speakers, unplugging all cables etc. doesn't work.
• If i plug in earphones (Shure SE846's) into the front IO of my PC, the earphones have no issues so it's not a universal thing to the PC. I haven't tried plugging in my earphones to same jack as the speakers though as it's very hard to get back there with my desk setup.
• This is the most annoying issue that i need sorted as I need to restart my PC all the time to fix it.

3. Quite a bit more rare (once every couple weeks) but sometimes when there is no sound being output from the PC, then I press play on a video or anything that causes sound the be output, the speakers will, at full volume, emit white noise. If i pause whatever programme is emitting the sound, the white noise stops. Besides being terrifying, it has no fix, as above, besides a restart.

• I usually have my windows sound settings/speakers icon (bottom right of the start bar) at 100%. If it turn it down to 3%, the white noise doesn't happen but if I play anything with sound, it is weirdly slowed down, has an odd oscillating white noise over the top of whatever sound is meant to play..

(Relevant) Spec list:

i7700k
AX860 PSU
16gb DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RAM
ASUS Strix 270F Gaming Mobo
Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Sound Card (pretty old hardware now)
960 EVO M.2 SSD
2TB SATA Drive
1TB SATA Drive

(Plugged into the ASUS DX Soundcard)
Yamaha HS5 Speaker x2
Yamaha YSTFSW100 Subwoofer

Drivers/Software:
Win 10 (latest update as of 15/10/2021)
Asus Xonar DX Audio Centre and relevant driver (latest update as of 15/10/21)



I'd appreciate any help! If you need more info, let me know.

 

[geofelt]

Try switching to the motherboard sound.
See what happens.

It may be time to replace the sound card.

 

[denniskuz]

Try switching to the motherboard sound.
See what happens.

It may be time to replace the sound card.

I'll have to give that a go and yeah, may well be time. Any recommendations?

 

[geofelt]

Sound cards seem to be quite problematic with driver issues.
They are more tightly tied to the motherboard than other classes of cards.
I read about issues more often than I think I should.

I am no expert on them and have no recommendation.
Modern motherboard sound is quite good to my ears,
But I am told that if you are an audiophile or a competitive gamer, a good sound card can make a difference.