Sound card help!

[liambulmer]

Hello everyone,

im having some trouble with my sound card (i think). whenever i plug headphones into my PC or speaker jack, i get a fuzzy feedback sound immediately, its fairly loud, but it doesnt over-power the normal sound from audio files. However, it does seem to crackle/fuzz after every sound played through them, for example: you can hear a drum kick, and a low fuzz will follow it for about 5seconds, which gets quieter. During this, there is still an under-lying fuzzy sound.

Now, here is the question; is my sound card crap/broken? & do i need to get a new one?

My speakers (plugged into 3 different jacks at the back) work fine, and there seems to be no problem. It is particularly annoying because i produce music using software for fun, the fuzz is damned annoying!

some spec:
iQon - 6 years old
AMD athlon 64 processor 3200+

cant find model numbers etc.

any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks, liam.

 

[Zilpha]

Do the headphones work fine in other devices? Usually we see this sort of thing with the wiring of the headphones - lot of companies skimp out on good wiring and they end up "loosening" over time and you'll have issues like this.

If they work fine in another unit (an iPod or whatever) then it's probably your card. If not, get a new set of headphones.

 

[liambulmer]

yeah all the headphones ive tested work fine on ipods, radios etc, so it must be the card, cheers!

have you got any tips about getting a new card, ie requirements that i should look for in a new sound card? and does my PC have to be compatible with the card? i know nothing about them...

 

[Zilpha]

I'll leave that for someone else to answer since honestly, I have always just used whatever was integrated into my mobo lol

Where's all our audiophiles!!!!

 

[liambulmer]

haha cheers anyway

 

[Route44]

Sounds cards at one time were essential for gaming, etc., because onboard audio offerings were poor at best. Today many people would say that for the average person, even the high end gamer really don't need a dedicated card because onboard audio has improved greatly.

However, I'm still old school and with your cpu I am sure your motherboard onboard sound has a lot to be desired (I have the same cpu in our family computer).

Therefore, look into HT Omega offerings. Excellent cards at various price ranges and their customer support is excellent.

Another to consider is Asus Xonar series.

If neither fit your budget research into Diamond or Creative.