External soundcard to get around noise on microphone

[Sujalama]

Hey everybody,

 

I have the Asus Maximus VII Hero but the problem with that motherboards sound chip is that it has annoying noise on the microphone.

EXAMPLE: EDIT: I made a Video to better show you guys what the problem is.

The high sound in the background is the problem.

 

I'm using the latest drivers so that's not the problem.Microphone isn't the problem as well because I've tested this with several microphones and all have this issue.

 

Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50x

Microphone: ModMic 4.0 Uni Directional

 

I'm looking for an external sound card that costs less than 100€

Internal soundcards are not an option because I had trouble with the Asus Xonar DX.It had lots of noise (probably because of EMI) whenever the fans of my Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC (which I had back then) ramped up.

 

I'm looking at the Xonar U7 right now, how is it?

[BurstSMG]

Anyways, I would probably go for something like a Soundblaster or you can get a USB DAC instead which I would probably do instead.

[BurstSMG]

Forgot to add a couple things.

There are a few settings like noisegate and noise reduction and volume stabilizer which should never be enabled if you want your mic to actually sound good. Try disabling things

[Sujalama]

I have the whole sonic studio stuff disabled.

 

Here's a Video I made to better demonstrate the problem:

 

[m0k]

lol thats so unfortunate
Asus and their marketing team who like to boast features on overbuilt and overpriced motherboards, only to have terrible performance
And i bet they wouldnt RMA this board either and just call it user error or blame it on your audio gear. 

Yes, a decent external DAC/AMP should solve your problem

[Sujalama]

Yeah I've given up trying to solve this problem software wise.

 

Can you give me some recommendations?

 

Don't bash ASUS that hard, the ALC 1150 is a good chip.

Kind of disappointed to see this kind of problem on a 200€ Motherboard.Kind of ironic that AC Unity came with the motherboard

[m0k]

10 minutes ago, ZillaGames said:

Forgot to add a couple things.

There are a few settings like noisegate and noise reduction and volume stabilizer which should never be enabled if you want your mic to actually sound good. Try disabling things

I agree with him
try disabling all the asus-specific settings and see if it solved your problem before buying an external card

[Sujalama]

2 minutes ago, mok said:

I agree with him
try disabling all the asus-specific settings and see if it solved your problem before buying an external card

Watch the Video I linked.

I've disabled everything.

[NavyCuda]

would a filter help?

 

In the industrial world a magnet is placed over a lead, sometimes with one coil around the magnet.

[AAJoe]

Go with a 6-10 dollar USB DAC (USB Adapter). It will probably solve all your issues.

 

http://www.modmic.com/products/antlion-audio-usb-adapter

 

Or
 

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8

 

Let me know if it works (you can always return things if it doesnt, so I say start cheap).

[Sujalama]

12 hours ago, AAJoe said:

Go with a 6-10 dollar USB DAC (USB Adapter). It will probably solve all your issues.

 

http://www.modmic.com/products/antlion-audio-usb-adapter

 

Or
 

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8

 

Let me know if it works (you can always return things if it doesnt, so I say start cheap).

Can you explain to me why you think this will fix the problem?
This most likely is a problem with the sound chip.Using USB won't bypass the sound chip.

[AAJoe]

A USB DAC should bypass the motherboard sound card entirely, unless there's something I am totally missing about your particular board. I'm not the tech support guy so I am going based on what I've been told, so I certainly wouldn't stake my life on it. I would stake 10 dollars on it though

 

The U7 looks like it will work, but there's plenty of other options.  This thread has a bunch of options for various budgets. I don't think you need a DAC/AMP combo, but... at the same time maybe it doesn't hurt to have both in one. 

 

In the end we're talking the USB stick may save you 50-90 Euros, which to some people is worth the hassle and to others it would not be.

 

[Sujalama]

But a DAC only converts the signal from digital to analog, doesn't it? Therefore it can not bypass the sound chip because the digital signal has to be generated somewhere.

[Sujalama]

BUMP

That post you linked didn't really help.I'd like some recommendations from more people, not just one poster.

[AAJoe]

Sorry for the delay here  - bogged down in PAX planning

 

The inner workings of the USB stick are beyond me, but I am pretty sure it will work is all. If you want to spend more, go for it! A soundblaster card will probably work as well, or the U7 you suggested. I'm just not sure there's much else for someone to tell you here. The problem sounds to me like its EMI, and there's no way to "fix" that outside of getting one of these soundcard/DAC solutions. Again, I could be wrong (not the tech guy!) , so I wouldn't stake my life on it being EMI.

[SSL]

On 8/14/2016 at 5:11 AM, Sujalama said:

But a DAC only converts the signal from digital to analog, doesn't it? Therefore it can not bypass the sound chip because the digital signal has to be generated somewhere.

 

False. The "sound chip" integrated on your computer is not involved if an external DAC is connected. The digital audio stream goes directly to the DAC, indeed bypassing the integrated sound.

 

On 8/16/2016 at 3:15 PM, Sujalama said:

That post you linked didn't really help.I'd like some recommendations from more people, not just one poster.

 

There really isn't much else recommendable at the price point that you want. That sticky is endorsed by me and probably most of the other audio sub regulars. It might help if you can explain what you're still confused about.

[spwath]

On 8/14/2016 at 8:11 AM, Sujalama said:

But a DAC only converts the signal from digital to analog, doesn't it? Therefore it can not bypass the sound chip because the digital signal has to be generated somewhere.

Wrong, It does bypass the sound chip. The sound chip on the computer is the dac, so a new dac bypasses that dac/

[SSL]

Also, it should be clarified that a "digital signal" is not generated. It's just sitting there in the file, waiting to be read into memory.

[Sujalama]

8 minutes ago, SSL said:

Also, it should be clarified that a "digital signal" is not generated. It's just sitting there in the file, waiting to be read into memory.

Don't take it so literally lol

 

I wanted more opinions because I don't really know how what was posted in that thread came to be.Could be a random guy who just posted his favorite brands for all I know.

 

Question:
Would sound quality be negatively impacted if I used a $10 USB DAC? I'd think so#

 

Question 2:
Why do you think it's EMI?
When I google "sound quality" together with "Asus Maximus VII Hero" I only get complaints about this so it's unlikely the EMI is coming from my components.

EMI coming from the Motherboard is unlikely as well because Asus claims it is "seperated". Don't know their exact wording atm.

[spwath]

13 minutes ago, Sujalama said:

Don't take it so literally lol

 

I wanted more opinions because I don't really know how what was posted in that thread came to be.Could be a random guy who just posted his favorite brands for all I know.

 

Question:
Would sound quality be negatively impacted if I used a $10 USB DAC? I'd think so#

 

Question 2:
Why do you think it's EMI?
When I google "sound quality" together with "Asus Maximus VII Hero" I only get complaints about this so it's unlikely the EMI is coming from my components.

EMI coming from the Motherboard is unlikely as well because Asus claims it is "seperated". Don't know their exact wording atm.

That's what emi sounds like. Sound quality will probably be about the same as the mb.

[Sujalama]

10 hours ago, spwath said:

That's what emi sounds like. Sound quality will probably be about the same as the mb.

Oh really?No offense but I find it somewhat hard to believe that a $10 USB DAC would sound about the same as onboard sound.

A lot of people say something like the Xonar U7 sounds about the same as onboard sound.

 

Do you get where my distrust is coming from?Why is the Xonar U7 for example so much more expensive then?
I mean I get why the DAC should get rid of the noise now.It converts the Digital signal to Analogue outside the case where there is much less interference than inside the case.