Hissing noise on FLAC files

[mikeway2000]

Hi, a question from a forum newbie here. I listen to mostly classical music on FLAC (downloaded) on the rather modest system that I'm just putting together. On many of the tracks, I'm somewhat bothered by the hissing sound that accompanies the music. The hissing sound is not constant, it accompanies the music in a different frequency from the music (the hiss seems to be mid-frequency). - Files: Hi-res FLAC- Playback software: Foobar with ASIO4all, on Windows7- Soundcard: Onboard Realtek soundcard- Output to Amp: SPDIF optical- Amp: PM6005 with built-in DAC (input directly from PC with SPDIF optical)- Speakers: KEF Q300 Could you please suggest how I could go about determining the source of the problem and what upgrades are necessary? From my research, it looks like some possible source of problems are below. Many thanks in advance! - Needs better playback software. Or Foobar is not configured properly- Needs proper soundcard instead of onboard- Needs to bypass soundcard entirely. i.e. Needs to output through USB -> USB to SPDIF converter -> input to PM6005 DAC- Either amp or speakers defective. But doesn't seem likely because some files sound fine

 

[cheeseboy]

I'd bet that the hissing is coming from the onboard soundcard. Happens quite a bit if there are grounding issues and suchlike.

An easy option, and one that's used by a few people on here is getting hold of a Behringer uca202 http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA202.aspx

can be had for around 20 odd quid.

 

[mikeway2000]

Thanks for the reply. I swear my original post had line-breaks in it so it was easier to read. Now for some reason I cannot edit the original post...

 

[mikeway2000]

Re-posted with line breaks - thanks!

Hi, a question from a forum newbie here. I listen to mostly classical music on FLAC (downloaded) on the rather modest system that I'm just putting together. On many of the tracks, I'm somewhat bothered by the hissing sound that accompanies the music. The hissing sound is not constant, it accompanies the music in a different frequency from the music (the hiss seems to be mid-frequency).

- Files: Hi-res FLAC
- Playback software: Foobar with ASIO4all, on Windows7
- Soundcard: Onboard Realtek soundcard
- Output to Amp: SPDIF optical
- Amp: PM6005 with built-in DAC (input directly from PC with SPDIF optical)
- Speakers: KEF Q300

Could you please suggest how I could go about determining the source of the problem and what upgrades are necessary? From my research, it looks like some possible source of problems are below. Many thanks in advance!

- Needs better playback software. Or Foobar is not configured properly
- Needs proper soundcard instead of onboard
- Needs to bypass soundcard entirely. i.e. Needs to output through USB -> USB to SPDIF converter -> input to PM6005 DAC
- Either amp or speakers defective. But doesn't seem likely because some files sound fine Top Quote edit delete reply

 

[cheeseboy]

worth noting that the behringer I linked to above also has spdif output, so you can test if you prefer the dac in the behringer or the amp.

 

[AnotherJoe]

try removing asio4all - its pointless anyway for playback unless you are doing some sort of mixing.

 

[mikeway2000]

Thanks everyone. I would have had to get the Behringer UCA202 delivered, so I went out and bought the Xonar DSX sound card for US$45.

Long story short, using the WASAPI driver on Foobar and SPDIF optical output, the hissing decreased significantly.

I did wonder aboutchoosing between the DSX card and the more high-end D2 card (US$100). The DX/D1 card was out of stock in most stores in my city. The general advice on the various forums seems to be that if I'm using SPDIF, then the quality of the sound card would not matter much. I do not know if that's true or not, but I'm reasonably happy with my PC + PM6005 + Q300 system now.

Thanks again!