Computer Music to Receiver Output

FittyFieFo

I've got my computer hooked up going to the receiver. Every time I want to use my receiver to play the music from my computer, I turn it up loud and hear a loud buzzing noise. What is the cause of this!? Feedback? How do I lessen this noise?

FittyFieFo

http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_hflpc.htm

OR

http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_gli.htm

Does anyone know if this product works and will solve my problems?

John K.

Fo, I've used a Xitel HiFi-Link for several years to feed the digital USB output from a laptop computer to one of my receivers. The main usage is stations listed on this site which stream classical music from the U.S. and all over the world. Although streaming audio isn't of the highest quality, of course, the Link does its job without any problems.

As to the buzzing noise that you're experiencing, it isn't likely that it's the result of a ground loop, which most commonly appears as a hum. If the buzzing is due to using an analog output from your computer which is contaminated from the noisy computer environment, then the HiFi-Link would solve the problem, since it uses a digital output which isn't affected by the noise. However, it isn't certain that the buzz is actually due to that, so that result isn't guaranteed .

FittyFieFo

What's the difference between the humming and buzzing noise? How do I figure if it's analog or not? I know my monitor is digital...and my computer is prolly the main problem for noise..

FittyFieFo

Suggestions on product?

Face

How about trying a different cable or getting a card with a optical/digital out?

FittyFieFo

I kinda don't want to do that... I mean my sound card seems to be somewhat decent without any digital output. I'm using a Monster Cable too to connect my computer to receiver (with many regular headphone jack extensions)

Face

I used a monster cable with a mini on one end, RCA's on the other, it was junk.

I have the silver version of this cable.
http://signalcable.com/analogmini.html

jimmyzen

my sound card has an 1/8" audio output and I used an 1/8" to RCA adapter to a patch cord into an aux input on my preamp. My PC was in another room and the cable was easily 40' long. there was no audio quality problem, signal degradation, noise, hum, etc. check to see if you have such an output.

the down side of this arrangement for me is since upgrading to a new preamp I don't have a spare set of inputs available any longer. i've been looking at switch boxes but everything so far seems of questionable quality. I do miss not having the PC connection anymore. I especially miss Pandora.com with its customizable radio station and all the music I (mostly) hadn't heard before.

FittyFieFo

Thank you for your input, I'm going to research on this some more. I emailed the guy from that one website with the HI-FI site, he responded to me with this:

Hi Scott,



That sounds like you've got a ground loop issue there. Here is a great website that explains why this is occurs:



http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/home_solving.html



and how to fix it:



http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/audio_isolators.html



If you do have a ground loop, our GLI will help cancel the hum that you're getting while maintaining full frequency response (some ground loop isolators result in a big reduction of the frequency response which is no good for high fidelity audio). The HiFi-Link will not cut the hum with a ground loop involved.



Best Regards,



Xitel Support.

I've read both articles, and yet..I left confused...

greg2350

I had the same problem I was using a soundblaster audigy soundcard I had a hiss hum when I hooked it up to my rig. I decided to upgrade the soundcard to the m-audio delta 1010lt http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta1010LT-main.html

WOW!!!! what a difference no hum no hiss with nothing playing I can turn the volume all the way up dead silence no hum no hiss. keep in mind I never changed cables just the card.
The next thing I noticed was the HUGE difference in sound quality, I have now unhooked my cd player and play all my cd's though my pc the SQ is that much of a difference. It sounds like I spent $5000 on new speakers and amp its that much of a diiference I highly recommend anyone who has their pc hooked up to their rig to invest in a good sound card you will be amazed.

bigaudiofanatic

Okay this is were i will shine lol Hear is what is happoning what your computer does is take the ac electric current that you feed it and transfers it into dc then feeds it "unfiltered" to all your componets in you computer and to make matters worse is if you have built in audio card "meaning the its in the motherboard" now there are some ways to clean it up the first is to to not use something like usb. a Y adaptor that transforms 3.5 headphone jak to rca conectors or believe it or not dont use fiber optic. What instead you want to use is coaxal or on the back of your computer it will be something called SPDIF it stands for sony and philps digial inital frequency. but is just coaxal. The second thing is if you can get a NEW sound car that has a coaxal out believe me its worth it. The final thing is make sure your importing your music in at least 256kbps if not better I have a setup and i use 256 and my reciver is a yamaha rx-v361 with suround sound. hope this helps if you have any more questions email me nightmarecivic@gmail.com