Why are my headphones buzzing whenever I run my game?

Post by distances » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 8:18 PM UTC

pyrolistical wrote: post #83

distances wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite a flashback. I switched to optical TOSLINK maybe about 20 years ago, which solved all those issues obviously. It's a bit weird how rare optical outs are on motherboards even today -- clearly less than half have them -- when it is such a useful interface. Just ordered a hat for my Raspberry Pi with optical out, with a plan to make that my main music streamer. Excited to see if that works out!

Ditto. It’s is hard to find non-wifi motherboards with toslink. All the cheap boards have neither. Most of the high end boards have both

Post by mrob » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 8:32 PM UTC

LM358 wrote: post #54

Gracana wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're a bit handy, you can assemble a line filter using a part like this https://enerdoor.com/products/fin27/ for a heck of a lot cheaper than you can buy a filtered power strip. You may also be able to solve the problem with a simple common mode choke, either the clip-on type, or a toroid that you wrap the cable through a couple-few times. https://palomar-engineers.com/rfi-kits/acdc-power-line-choke...

A filter like that will have very little attenuation in the audio spectrum. I agree however that indiscriminately throwing ferrites at problems can be a good solution!

Post by ck2 » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 8:44 PM UTC

Night_Thastus wrote: post #42

I run into a similar problem. I have a power-hungry GPU (3080) and CPU (9800X3D). All my audio equipment was on the same UPS (and therefore outlet) as my gaming PC. The result is that any time a particularly stressful game would be open, I'd get buzzing in the speakers. (Especially if the framerate was at 360) If you ask audiophiles online they will swear up and down that a cheater plug, balanced cables, or optical i…

Post by mrob » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:02 PM UTC

saltcured wrote: post #86

Night_Thastus wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about pure sine wave - it's double conversion. Only double-conversion would actually isolate the equipment from EMI on the line. Without that pure sine wave won't do squat for EMI. And one of those, even the cheapest ones, run for about ~$900. And they are LOUD.

I wonder if modern motor and power control tech could be adapted to make a desk-side motor-generator set that is efficient enough to rival an always-active, dual conversion AC-DC-AC UPS. How efficient could a small AC->motor->generator->AC chain be with a modest flywheel mass to provide cycle-to-cycle stability? Could it ever make sense to put one of these after a standby UPS so the output is always filtered by the m…

Post by gwbas1c » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:33 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #23

I remember 15+ years ago reading about certain laptops (Dell?) that you could 'hear' scrolling on websites, somehow the video chip was interfering with the sound chips. I had one at the time it was pretty weird.