Noise Coming From Studio Monitors Connected to PC

hobbes713

Estimable
May 7, 2014
2
0
4,510
Hi everyone,

I am currently experiencing a problem where my studio monitors (Mackie MR5 MKIII) produce white noise when plugged into my PC. I am using a Y-shaped RCA to 3.5mm cable which is electromagnetically shielded to connect my studio monitors to my PC. The white noise appears to get louder when I turn up the level knob on my monitors. Additionally, the noise becomes more high pitched and significantly louder when I run GPU intensive tasks such as playing a game.

I have made several attempts to troubleshoot my problem:
- Tried plugging in headphones (no noise from the headphones when doing this)
- Connecting my studio monitors to my laptop which is currently charging (no noise from studio monitors)
- Using an external DAC with line-out instead of a soundcard (noise still persists)
- Lifting my studio monitors off the ground (noise still persists)
- Disabling the MIC (noise still persists)
- Plugging in my computers power cable to a different outlet (noise still persists)

I am a bit perplexed as what is the producing the noise. Is it a ground-loop ( I still do not understand the term very well)? Is it a cable problem? Maybe EMI? Could the power supply be the culprit?

If anyone can help me diagnose the problem and provide a solution it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Solution
First of all great information provided. But we could use some more like what PC, motherboard, what DAC, what gpu and etc.

It isn't a ground loop problem. Ground loops make a humming noise.

IS this a new problem or has this been going on since you bought the speakers, or did you change out components?

It could be EMI, gpu or a power supply problem since the noise ramps up while playing games. And it could be a wire in your PC that is near or touching something like the PSU. Check inside the PC and make sure all the wires are well organized. This isn't an uncommon problem. I think we can fix this.

be seeing you, the Prisoner...
First of all great information provided. But we could use some more like what PC, motherboard, what DAC, what gpu and etc.

It isn't a ground loop problem. Ground loops make a humming noise.

IS this a new problem or has this been going on since you bought the speakers, or did you change out components?

It could be EMI, gpu or a power supply problem since the noise ramps up while playing games. And it could be a wire in your PC that is near or touching something like the PSU. Check inside the PC and make sure all the wires are well organized. This isn't an uncommon problem. I think we can fix this.

be seeing you, the Prisoner...
 
Solution

hobbes713

Estimable
May 7, 2014
2
0
4,510


Thanks for the suggestion! I managed to resolve the problem by completely rewiring and reseating everything in my computer. I build my computer myself and the initial wiring was pretty terrible. I'm not quite sure what the source of the white noise was but the issue is resolved in either case.