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Short blips of static every now and then with Xonar D2X

bryanchow
Level 7
I've been using a Xonar D2X for 5 years and it's been running fine. Lately after a while I get short blips of static noise every now and then. Once it happens it will happen every now and then but rebooting fixes it (until it happens again).

Any idea what's causing it or does anyone have a similar problem with any Xonar cards? Or is it time to get a new one?

I'm running Windows 10 Pro version 1703.
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6 REPLIES 6

Korth
Level 14
Intermittently staticky bursts of noise? They might be caused by "dirty" electrical connections or "faulty" wiring on the speaker/headphone outputs. Usually easily to determine by wiggling things around, especially the connector jacks and any in-line switch/volume controls.

Your speaker/headphone wires might be picking up inductive EMI if they're nearby or cross any power-carrying wires. Although in my experience this usually introduces some sort of steady (or pulsing/oscillating) "hum", usually audible only at higher volumes.

You might be picking up electrical EMI or crosstalk or oscillations or parasitics from other things inside your PC chassis. Or even electrical EMI from AC line noise. Although in my experience this usually produces other sorts of audible distortions (weird cycles of hums and tones and clicks, even reception of radio broadcasts from power lines acting as antennae), but it doesn't produce static.

You can try re-seating the card into its slot. Although this probably won't accomplish anything if it's already working, lol.
You can check your system (PSU, mobo, soundcard, and chassis) is properly grounded. Probably already is, but always good to be sure.
You can try using an electrical contact cleaner on all your jacks/plugs. And keeping wire runs as short and clean and straight as possible.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

But the weird thing is rebooting ALWAYS fixes it, at least temporarily. It comes back hours or days later.

Korth
Level 14
If it's not a "simple" electrical fault - isolated and repaired relatively easily - then it's something embedded deeper in the hardware, firmware, software. Bad DRAM on the audio card, quirky driver behaviour, failing mobo or PSU, etc. Maybe it only gets staticky when an adjacent fan spins up or USB device gets plugged in or SSD/HDD starts moving bulk data or whatever.

If the problem is basically something in the wiring then methodically rotating and wiggling and flexing and the wires from one end to the other will be able to (momentarily) reproduce or eliminate the static.

Maybe try a different speaker/headphone for a while, determine if the static is caused by this hardware. Maybe it's as simple as a blown speaker or frayed wire or bad solder point.
Maybe try your existing speaker/headphone on motherboard audio, determine if it's caused by something else inside the machine or just by the audio card.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try reseating the card and jiggling things a bit and see if it helps.

Was also kinda hoping someone would say 'that's a sign the card is dying' so I can upgrade to the Essence STX II 7.1 😉

Korth
Level 14
It still could be a sign the card is dying.

It seems to me that it would have to be something that failed after it reaches the final output stage (the DAC or RAMDAC) on the audio card, bad data or bad logic before that point is still digital and would probably cause the whole card and audio system to fail/die with a sustained audible effect. Some some kind of dead DAC logic chip or associated cap/inductor passive or whatever. But it also seems to me this is less likely than bad electricals or blown speakers.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

It seems really unlikely to me that it is my amp or speaker or anything outside of my computer because once the problem starts appearing, rebooting Windows fixes it for the time being.