[geeks] audio issue with PC case

[Joshua Boyd]

On February 22, 2014 5:44:18 PM EST, Shannon <shannon at widomaker.com> wrote:

>
>Aluminum did not help.
>
>I suspect the motherboard traces, which run to a connector right under
>the graphics card, are picking up the noise.
>
>Too bad, the front panel would be convenient.
>
>I partially solved the issue by putting a Sound Blaster Z in the
>machine. The front panel is still noisy, but it has a headset connector
>on the back so I can have a headset and still route sound through my
>KVM.
>
>The KVM adds a lot of noise so I only use it if I have to.
>
>Sometimes with PC audio you just can't completely win. They are so
>noisy
>inside and unlike Apple, most do not do anything to shield the analog
>signals in the case.
>
>They also don't watch things like placement of connectors (i.e. keeep
>them away from big noise sources), and so on.
>
>If this were purely audio, like professional stuff, then I'd be using
>optical connects to some external audio hardware.

What are you doing that isn't purely audio in this day and age?  

I gave up on using a PCI sound card in my desktop for general use.  When I tried the audio on the back panel it was very noisy. My solution was to use the S/PDIF connected to  FiiO DAC that cost about $20 on amazon. Problem solved.  But, I was already using an external headphone amp, or else I might not have found this so satisfactory. That DAC also supports Toslink optical for mother boards without S/PDIF.