A/V Asus Xonar D2X Click

[sparkyboy22]

Does anyone else with one of these get a fairly loud click from their card when starting up or shutting down?

[GeorgeStorm]

My Essence ST does the same.
A friend said it sounded like a relay clicking?

[lp rob1]

That's the relay in the card switching.
The relay is to stop a sudden surge of power going to the speakers during boot - it can sometimes stop damage to the speakers. You will find that the front panel output also uses a relay for switching.

[fdbh96]

My dg does it too.

[GoodBytes]

Does the click sound occurs on the speakers or the card itself?
(just trying to see what you are talking about exactly, just to be sure).

[Jasio]

It's perfectly fine- it happens on the Xonar Essence ST/STX as well.
Nothing to worry about.

You will also hear it when it switches outputs using Asus Audio Center (3.5mm <-> RCA for example).

[longweight]

Mine does it too, I also get an annoying background noise similar to white noise through my D2X. Too lazy to do anything about it though.

[GoodBytes]

Originally Posted by longweight

Mine does it too, I also get an annoying background noise similar to white noise through my D2X. Too lazy to do anything about it though.

That is not normal.
You probably have Line In or Mic or Aux ports not muted. I would lower the volume to 0 and mute them.

[sparkyboy22]

Phew. Thanks, it does sound like a relay. I was panicking something was going to go!
Had a BSOD that seemed to be software related but couldnt get into windows long enough to find from what so did reinstall and then noticed the clicking.

I'll stop worrying now.

[fdbh96]

Originally Posted by longweight

Mine does it too, I also get an annoying background noise similar to white noise through my D2X. Too lazy to do anything about it though.

Is it when the gpu is under load? As I had this problem but only when my gpu was under load. I just plugged my headset in the back of my pc instead of the front panel.

[lp rob1]

Originally Posted by fdbh96

Is it when the gpu is under load? As I had this problem but only when my gpu was under load. I just plugged my headset in the back of my pc instead of the front panel.

Ah, the classic case of ground loops. The Antec 1200 Case has a really bad ground loop. The front panel audio jacks' ground is connected to the case, the ground of the USB and the ground of eSATA. And I can assume that somewhere along the line the ground of the USB and/or eSATA is connected to the ground of all the other components on the board, which slightly changes when my PC does something. So the Xonar (DX in my case) has a nice stable ground which feeds to the audio ports, but it is 'corrupted' by the unstable ground from the other components. I couldn't stand the whining, so I unplugged the USB and eSATA headers from the board, and detached the case ground.

[fdbh96]

Originally Posted by lp rob1

Ah, the classic case of ground loops. The Antec 1200 Case has a really bad ground loop. The front panel audio jacks' ground is connected to the case, the ground of the USB and the ground of eSATA. And I can assume that somewhere along the line the ground of the USB and/or eSATA is connected to the ground of all the other components on the board, which slightly changes when my PC does something. So the Xonar (DX in my case) has a nice stable ground which feeds to the audio ports, but it is 'corrupted' by the unstable ground from the other components. I couldn't stand the whining, so I unplugged the USB and eSATA headers from the board, and detached the case ground.

Got a bit lost there, so is there anything I can do so I can use my front panel again.

[lp rob1]

Originally Posted by fdbh96

Got a bit lost there, so is there anything I can do so I can use my front panel again.

Hehe, sorry. A ground loop is where you have two or more different 'ground' points (0V) connected together. Most of the time a small fluctuation doesn't cause any problems, but it can be heard through an audio device. Antec cases are notorious for ground loops...

To fix a ground loop, you need to disconnect the audio ground from the other grounds that may be attached (USB, eSATA, the case). I took the easy route and disconnected my front panel USB ports and eSATA port, then used a screwdriver to remove the case ground connector. This removed the ground loop problem, but means that I have no eSATA and lack 2 USB ports (thankfully my card reader has one).

A real fix is to cut the wire that links the audio ground to the other grounds. For some cases the front panel assembly is bare, and that makes it much easier to find and cut the offending wire. In other cases (Antec, I'm looking at you again...) the front panel assembly is in a box, filled with that white coaxial stuff (plastic?) - which makes it much more tricky to find the wire.

[GoodBytes]

I simply recommend to NOT use the frontal audio ports. Plus, usually teh wires for teh audio aren't shielded, so you get all the interference from the computer. Use your speakers headphone jack instead. This also allows you to have a consistent volume between your speakers and headphones, so you won't jump form your chair because your volume was set to next max for your headphones to hear something, as you unplugged your headphones.

The great majority, if not all (except the crap) PC speakers have a headphone jack on either one of the speakers front or sides, or on the wired remote.

[fdbh96]

Originally Posted by GoodBytes

I simply recommend to NOT use the frontal audio ports. Plus, usually teh wires for teh audio aren't shielded, so you get all the interference from the computer. Use your speakers headphone jack instead. This also allows you to have a consistent volume between your speakers and headphones, so you won't jump form your chair because your volume was set to next max for your headphones to hear something, as you unplugged your headphones.

The great majority, if not all (except the crap) PC speakers have a headphone jack on either one of the speakers front or sides, or on the wired remote.

This is what I ended up doing, but I use both headset and speakers, but for some reason, the speaker don't make a sound when in the front audio ports.

[Mighty Yoshimi]

Mine does it on occassion!

[sparkyboy22]

Thanks all. I am no longer panicking about it!!

Rep all round.

[shankly1985]

I get it on my xonar ds when shutting down. It dont play the windows shut down sound so it clicks. Its fine starting up tho I hear the sound.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by lp rob1

Hehe, sorry. A ground loop is where you have two or more different 'ground' points (0V) connected together. Most of the time a small fluctuation doesn't cause any problems, but it can be heard through an audio device. Antec cases are notorious for ground loops...

To fix a ground loop, you need to disconnect the audio ground from the other grounds that may be attached (USB, eSATA, the case). I took the easy route and disconnected my front panel USB ports and eSATA port, then used a screwdriver to remove the case ground connector. This removed the ground loop problem, but means that I have no eSATA and lack 2 USB ports (thankfully my card reader has one).

A real fix is to cut the wire that links the audio ground to the other grounds. For some cases the front panel assembly is bare, and that makes it much easier to find and cut the offending wire. In other cases (Antec, I'm looking at you again...) the front panel assembly is in a box, filled with that white coaxial stuff (plastic?) - which makes it much more tricky to find the wire.

Hi there. I have registered here so I can ask for your advice.
I have a very similar setup to you. I have an antec 1200 case, asus p6t deluxe, i7 920 clocked at 3.8 ghz 9gb of ram, 680 Gtx and an asus D2X soundcard.
I am goin out of the soundcard to 5.1 using active mackie mr5 and mr8 studio monitors and the ground loop noise is unbearable!
Is there anyway you could explain in more detail how to stop this damn noise!
I have thought about buying ebtech hum eliminator or the behringer hd400 but it's a lot of money to buy hum eliminates for a 5.1 setup.
Is it dangerous removing the ground on the case for the front audio ports? I don't even use them anyway.
Any response would be greatly appreciated as I have been looking for so long to an answer to this problem.
I thought it was the motherboard or my house wiring. Never thought of the case.
Thanks in advance.

[lp rob1]

Originally Posted by The Duke

Hi there. I have registered here so I can ask for your advice.
I have a very similar setup to you. I have an antec 1200 case, asus p6t deluxe, i7 920 clocked at 3.8 ghz 9gb of ram, 680 Gtx and an asus D2X soundcard.
I am goin out of the soundcard to 5.1 using active mackie mr5 and mr8 studio monitors and the ground loop noise is unbearable!
Is there anyway you could explain in more detail how to stop this damn noise!
I have thought about buying ebtech hum eliminator or the behringer hd400 but it's a lot of money to buy hum eliminates for a 5.1 setup.
Is it dangerous removing the ground on the case for the front audio ports? I don't even use them anyway.
Any response would be greatly appreciated as I have been looking for so long to an answer to this problem.
I thought it was the motherboard or my house wiring. Never thought of the case.
Thanks in advance.

So the studio monitors are connected to the rear audio outputs, aka the ones directly on the soundcard? The problem listed above is about ground loop noise from the front panel audio connectors, not the rear ones. Although, thinking about it, the ground loop could feed back into the soundcard then back through the rear connectors...

You will need to do some testing. Headphones usually work best, connected directly to the soundcard (so no monitors). If you get ground loop noise through the back connectors, then try unplugging the front panel audio connectors from the sound card, inside the case. Then test for the noise again.

• If the noise has not gone away, then there is a problem with the card and ground loops are not your problem.
• If you got no noise from connecting the headphones directly to the soundcard, then there may be a problem with the monitors (assuming I know audio topology ).
• If the sound went away by unplugging the front panel audio connectors, then you must make a decision. Do you ever use the front panel audio connectors? If not, then just leave it unplugged from the soundcard. If yes, post back here.