Headphone buzzing during specific game

[tikker]

My headphones (Sennheiser RS170) have a strange issue as of late. During Fortnite the right ear produces a crackling/squeeking sound. Not the usual buzz, but more like coil whine, I guess? So far it's only during Fortnite, not in other games and not when just listening to music or watching YT.

While I'd love an excuse to go shopping for some new cans, my wallet would appreciate it if not  plus it's only in that specific game... What could be causing this?

[AAJoe]

See if it goes away when you unplug various devices (monitor, usb hubs, etc). It probably IS coil whine, but its worth checking all the possible things that may be under load during your session. You can potentially even unplug your graphics card and see if that fixes it (though Fortnite wont be playable I suspect, you should still be able to boot it up).

[tikker]

8 hours ago, AAJoe said:

See if it goes away when you unplug various devices (monitor, usb hubs, etc). It probably IS coil whine, but its worth checking all the possible things that may be under load during your session. You can potentially even unplug your graphics card and see if that fixes it (though Fortnite wont be playable I suspect, you should still be able to boot it up).

Headphones have coil whine? Didn't know that. If I take them off I don't hear it. GPU's a bit difficult, given I have a hardline loop, but I'll check if something causes interference that it picks up on.

[Guest]

Here are some troubleshooting guides to help you figure out a plan of attack...

 

...a 2017 article....

https://www.howtogeek.com/298252/why-are-my-pc-speakers-making-weird-noises/

 

...a 2016 article....

https://www.howtogeek.com/285429/how-to-fix-crackling-or-popping-sound-on-a-windows-pc/

 

...if you’d like a local guide, @SSL assembled the following guide for troubleshooting audio noise (SSL’s “sanity check” is a must-do)...

 

[AAJoe]

@tikker It isn't the headphones that have the coil whine, its that they're picking up the coils (or something, I am not an engineer so some kind of resistor or weird RF frequency from your monitor, etc.) Point is it is coming from your PC somewhere and being picked up as sound by your headphones. I guess check the links above, though I think your problem may be a bit unusual and possibly not covered there. Or see if my solution works to ID the problem-part.

[tikker]

3 hours ago, PrometheanCat-1970 said:

Here are some troubleshooting guides to help you figure out a plan of attack...

 

54 minutes ago, AAJoe said:

@tikker It isn't the headphones that have the coil whine, its that they're picking up the coils (or something, I am not an engineer so some kind of resistor or weird RF frequency from your monitor, etc.) Point is it is coming from your PC somewhere and being picked up as sound by your headphones. I guess check the links above, though I think your problem may be a bit unusual and possibly not covered there. Or see if my solution works to ID the problem-part.

Thanks for the tips, I'll check those links out. Yeah the issue is weird. Time to hunt then.

[tikker]

On 11/06/2018 at 6:51 PM, AAJoe said:

@tikker It isn't the headphones that have the coil whine, its that they're picking up the coils (or something, I am not an engineer so some kind of resistor or weird RF frequency from your monitor, etc.) Point is it is coming from your PC somewhere and being picked up as sound by your headphones. I guess check the links above, though I think your problem may be a bit unusual and possibly not covered there. Or see if my solution works to ID the problem-part.

It has moved to the speakers as well as other games now. Although I don't hear the coil whine physically when putting my ear next to the PC, it must be picking up something.

I think it has to do with the motherboard audio ports. Plugging in my headphones in the front panel headphone jack has no problems whatsoever, whereas the back panel audio has that typical audio hiss for both headphones and speakers.