Computer Audio Question

Comments

• Brenelael Member UncommonPosts: 3,821

  June 2009

  First off all audio is analog by the time it is output to your headphones/speakers. There is no such thing as a digital audio output. When they talk about digital audio they are referring to the recording medium and not the output itself. Secondly a lot of things can cause a hissing sound. Most of the time it comes from internal interference from the audio equipment itself. There are a lot of signals buzzing around inside of your computer especially in the power supply and not all of them are shielded. This can cause bleed over and create that hissing sound. Another culprit can be a bad connection in either the headphones themselves or in the wiring inside the audio device. I've never owned a piece of audio equipment that didn't have a hiss to some extent. It's just something you have to live with unfortunately. It's the nature of electronics. There are ways to reduce it but nothing eliminates it entirely.

   

  Edit: It can also be caused by the audio amplifier too. More expensive amps have internal circuits to negate most of it but it will still come through to some extent. Cheaper amps will have a really loud hiss. There are just so many variables that can cause a hiss in audio output that there is no way of eliminating it completely.

   

  Bren

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• Reklaw Member UncommonPosts: 6,495

  June 2009

  Originally posted by War_Eagle
  
  
  I bought these headphones (a supposedly good pair) to game and listen to music on my computer.  I've got a question though.
  If the sound coming out of my computer is digital, then why am I getting that hissing sound even when nothing is playing?  Especially when I turn the headphone volume all the way up.
  Shouldn't I get no sound at all when there is nothing coming through the headphones?  And if not, then what is the cause of the hissing?
  When I say hissing, I'm not talking about crazy loud hissing.  Just the kind you hear like when you listen to music through your cd player and there is a pause between songs.  You know how you can hear that sort of background static-y sound.
  If it's normal, then do you think they'll ever get rid of that phenomena someday?   I mean if it's digital then only pass through the digital sound signal.  Or am I so much of an audio amateur that I am completely off base?
  

  
  
   

  First would like to know what type/kind of audio card you have or on-board? Also the type of your headphones could be usefull.
• War_Eagle Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 472

  June 2009

  Originally posted by Reklaw
  
  Originally posted by War_Eagle
  
  
  I bought these headphones (a supposedly good pair) to game and listen to music on my computer.  I've got a question though.
  If the sound coming out of my computer is digital, then why am I getting that hissing sound even when nothing is playing?  Especially when I turn the headphone volume all the way up.
  Shouldn't I get no sound at all when there is nothing coming through the headphones?  And if not, then what is the cause of the hissing?
  When I say hissing, I'm not talking about crazy loud hissing.  Just the kind you hear like when you listen to music through your cd player and there is a pause between songs.  You know how you can hear that sort of background static-y sound.
  If it's normal, then do you think they'll ever get rid of that phenomena someday?   I mean if it's digital then only pass through the digital sound signal.  Or am I so much of an audio amateur that I am completely off base?
  

  
  
   

  First would like to know what type/kind of audio card you have or on-board? Also the type of your headphones could be usefull.

  Got a Sound Blaster XFi XtremeGamer

  Headphones are Turtle Beach HPA2

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