2. pc-audio
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Clicking noise with M-Audio Audiophile USB

I just got an M-Audio Audiophile USB, and the quality of the music from my pc is definitely better than the internal card. However, no i have a worse problem than before. When i play music on my computer through my home stereo there is a significant clicking noise that comes out of my speakers about every five seconds. It's hard to decribe the exact sound in words, sort of a noisy distorted click about every five seconds. I know the problem lies with the M-Audio card cause my speakers sound perfect when i'm not playing music through the computer. Is this problem due to the fact that the card is externally connected to the computer with a usb cable. Before I got this product i was wondering whether a usb hookup is a good thing. I wonder if my suspicions were correct. The cable length is about 10-12 feet, so it's not extremely long. I also noticed, that when my CPU is working really hard, the music I'm playing on my computer sounds horrible, full of distortion and completely unlistenable. But even when all i'm doing is playing music through winamp, i get that terrible click every 5 seconds or so. What's my problem here?
eighthcircuit
arni
313 posts
 
I think it may be the USB bus on your computer. Is the M-Audio powered by the USB cable, or does it have an independent power supply? I had a similar problem using an external USB card with older VIA chipset/AMD computer, but the problem went away when I changed the motherboard and uppgraded to AMD XP processor.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Did you mean the USB cable is 10-12 feet? If so, I believe that may be approaching the limitations of the USB connection which is about 16 feet as I recall. You can use a repeater after that, but the first thing I'd try is a shorter cable. As Arni suggests, make sure if the M-Audio is getting power from the USB port, and that you are plugging directly into your computer and not into a hub or into your keyboard. I assume you are using the M-Audio as the DAC rather than to just stream the digital to an external DAC. Did the M-Audio come with software? If so have you checked all the settings? If the sampling rate were off you would not have clicking but a bunch of static. I use a Waveterminal USB device to stream audio from my computers to my DAC. I'm on a Mac and don't have any problems at all using my computer at the same time as I am streaming music. Only under the most memory-intensive applications on my laptop do I ever get a glitch now and then. On the desktop not a peep, but that is running about 1.5 gigs of RAM. I think the USB should be entirely adequate for streaming music. as there are many devices that do rely upon that interface.

Good luck! Keep us posted on what you figure out.

Marco
eighthcircuit OP
5 posts
 
Arni, the Audiophile USB has it s own power supply. My computer is a Dell 4550 (about 3 years old), so i would be extremely surprised if my computer can't support this setup.

Jax2, The 10-12 foot USB cable came with the Audiophile usb, so I doubt they would provide a cable that is too long. Also, i am plugged in directly to the computer via the usb cable.

I also want to add, it sounds as if it's "skipping" on the music. There's a sort of brief pause during the noisy click.

I forgot to mention another weird thing. When my mini-fridge turns off the sound coming off my computer through my Audiophile USB and out my speakers actually stops until i turn the Audiophile USB's power button off then on again and replay the song. The fridge motor turning back on however does not stop the sound. I don't understand this.
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