Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

[RPGWiZaRD]

I really like the sound of the ALC1150 config equipped on these new Z87 boards but unfortunately it has a bit more static noise than I can handle without getting bugged when using in conjunction with a headphone amp. On my previous motherboard with an ALC889A chip using the same amp it was borderline acceptable, this new one here has a bit more noise but it may be due to the driver, I noticed the official R2.71 realtek driver had maybe slightly less noise (to the point borderline acceptable) but the sound quality was much worse.

Would there be any way to get Realtek R2.71 drivers static noise levels with the ALC1150 specific optimized drivers? *yes I'm pointing at you devs to try and look into it for next driver update* :p

Bit dissappointed that all this shielding on the components and "excluded PCB space" and yet it still has this much noise. I do have a SoundBlaster ZxR but I don't get the same nice open soundstage as if using 5.1 speakers on Realtek onboard (something about Creative's drivers how they handle speaker config won't allow me to get the same results) why I wanted the best onboard audio solution. I'm really satisfied how this config sounds but the static noise when browsing around internet pages etc just bugs me quite a bit.

[wazza300]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

where are you hearing the static? through headphones,speakers or both? or just from the side of the case?

if from front panel headphone socket try disconnecting the front panel usb ports/headers from the motherboard and see if noise stops

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

Any idea what's up with that in Google Chrome the text editing place when replying isn't showing up. New to this forums so wouldn't know the specifics with this forum software.

where are you hearing the static? through headphones,speakers or both? or just from the side of the case?

if from front panel headphone socket try disconnecting the front panel usb ports/headers from the motherboard and see if noise stops

I'm connecting at the backpanel, haven't installed front panel and only using headphones but like I said it's connected via an headphone amp, of course the amp will strengthen the noise and it would be fine if I didn't use it but I'm looking for ways to reduce it as with the previous ALC889A chip motherboard it was a bit less.

I'm getting interference from HDD and mouse activity.

[wazza300]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

notsure what the issue is with chrome,im using ie10

not sure how much a headphone amp would affect things either,its usually down to motherboard/graphic card/psu emi leakage,and its hard to pinpoint the main cause

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

notsure what the issue is with chrome,im using ie10

not sure how much a headphone amp would affect things either,its usually down to motherboard/graphic card/psu emi leakage,and its hard to pinpoint the main cause

Well the headphone amp surely amps the noise too but of course the noise is still there without amp too (not disturbing with my 64 ohm headphones anyway if amp isn't used, with IEMs perhaps it would ampless too), it's just much less silent. Cheaper amps tend to not filter EMI noise, expensier ones may do so. But the point here is an older ALC889A worked ok and I'd like this new setup to be on similar levels. It's not so fun chasing another mobo just in hope the EMI will be less (maybe the onboard TI NE5532 opamps adds a bit for example and I should rather have picked an ALC1150 solution without those opamps). Wonder if there's any way to test that how it would work without the opamps used like is it possible to redirect the ports so that black would be the headphone jack instead of the green one for example.

[wazza300]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

you can remap the ports in realtek sound panel

it can be down to early drivers aswell,and close any asrock monitoring software

there's also some cheap inline resistors you can add in the line,or ones that ground can't remember now

if it was ok before and not now with this new board then it only leaves the board or drivers at fault

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

you can remap the ports in realtek sound panel

it can be down to early drivers aswell,and close any asrock monitoring software

there's also some cheap inline resistors you can add in the line,or ones that ground can't remember now

if it was ok before and not now with this new board then it only leaves the board or drivers at fault

resistors may work if added after the amp between the headphone maybe, not sure how much it would affect sound though but a 32 ohm one shouldn't be too bad one would think. It will alter the sound slightly possibly so not sure that's a good solution, most likely checking the impedance curve of the headphone I have it result in stronger bass and less highs which isn't what I'd want.

I'm not able to remap the ports in this driver at least, double clicking on them and nothing happens.

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

I managed to improve things by installing a newer driver from MSI's webpage (they use the same DAC), it got also slightly louder 16% -> 14% volume provide about equal output volume now. In the current ASRock provided driver the output is somewhat on the low side especially for something advertised to be able to drive up to 600 ohm headphones. The noise is slightly less but turning amp volume down slightly will take away the last bit of noise but the thing is the amp performs best at a max~high volume level and the Realtek onboard set to a lower volume but anyway at 24% windows volume (if using max volume on amp I'd be at 14% in windows for comparison's sake) and then matching amp volume to suitable levels and it both sounds pretty fine and barely any noise at all.

ASRock, please update your drivers on your site too. :)

[parsec]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

What headphone amp are you using?

So you have a headphone amplifier's input connected to the headphone output of the mother board?

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

What headphone amp are you using?

So you have a headphone amplifier's input connected to the headphone output of the mother board?

Yea I'm connecting headphone jack from motherboard to the amp's input. I have a digiZoid | Portable Audio Enhancement Products & Technologies and it was made to be used this way, the first version didn't even support LOD and it was hotfixed later on due to people's requests. According to instructions in the manual you should start out with like 25% vol on the source and adjust thereafter, I actually found it to sound best with the amp maxed and the source volume set thereafter as low as possible and used it that way on the ALC889A (gigabyte P55-UD5 board) but of course it will be the noisiest at max volume on the amp too (but it was borderline acceptable on my previous motherboard with Realtek ALC889A chip and it's a little more noisy on this new Z87 Extreme6 motherboard).

This amp what I understand is fully analog and doesn't involve any digital to analog conversion (I'm very interested in this product so gotten quite close in touch with the devs) so it's a bit different than typical amps, in fact some people even "double amp" with this one with good results with for example a FiiO E11 and use this device mostly as a "bass boost" adjustment because it does it better than other bass boost amps around (it also has 32 levels of adjustments!!) but yea it does boost volume too but it's not overly strong by any means, the version v2.1 I have has a bit higher gain setting and has a somewhat noisy component which was exchanged later in ZO2.3 but I prefer the sound of ZO2.1 with this particular headphone (results in more forward mids). So realistically I can't crave a lot from ASRock / Realtek developers in my case but I just happen to love the sound of this particular setup (headphone + amp) and I'm a bit dissappointed in the sense the ALC1150 solution on this motherboard despite having shielding and excluded PCB space and also offers onboard opamps, neither seems to provide any louder output versus my old ALC889A chip and is noisier too! I don't think it's too much to ask if at least getting it to the ALC889A chip in those aspects (noise versus output volume) for something ASRock advertises as "Premium sound" solution so "HIFI enthusiasts" doesn't need to buy a separate source... Don't get me wrong the sound that is output is very nice for onboard but the EMI is a bit too much, it's like all that shielding and excluded PCB space does zero to avoid the issue, it's probably no better than unshielded ALC889, ALC898 solutions.

Anyway having installed the more recent driver from MSI's site for the onboard solution I'm pretty satisfied now, if I was 75% satisfied before now I'm 90~95% satisfied (since I'm still not able to max the volume on the amp without getting too much EMI as a result I'm not 100% satisfied but at least for now it seems 24% source volume + slightly reduced amp volume works pretty good and the sound quality seems still very nice, better than with the driver ASRock provides at least)

[RPGWiZaRD]

Re: Any way to decrease static noise on my Extreme6 Z87 ?

Hmm, now I noticed when connecting it to the front panel it seems it goes MUCH louder, shouldn't the green port at the back and the front one be the same volume wise? I always wondered how it could state capable of driving 600 ohm headphones with the volume I was getting...something I've missed?