KVR Audio

greddin · Post by **greddin** » Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:19 pm

I'm getting an annoying high pitched whining noise. This is a dedicated DAW PC that is running Windows 10. The audio interface is a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6. I only use this PC to play pianos in either UVI Workstation or Kontakt. The whining noise is there even before I launch any application. And it's also there when the volume is completely turned down on the Komplete Audio 6 interface. The speakers are pretty much at my ear's level and the sound is definitely coming from them.

At first I thought I might have a bad speaker wire or audio cable. But I recently replaced all the cables and the noise still persists. The biggest thing I've noticed is that if I do something on the PC that "works" the hard drive like download a file or install an update, the sound will stop completely while the drive is working. But comes right back after the process is done.

Does anyone know what else I could check?

Thanks,
-Greg

jdnz · Post by **jdnz** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:01 am

sounds like a rf leakage issue - where is the KA6 (sitting right on top of the pc - if so move it), what is the cable between the KA6 and the PC like (ideally want it as short as possible - or if it's long ferrite cores on each end can help a bit).

greddin · Post by **greddin** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:06 am

Thanks for the reply. The KA6 is sitting on a desk and not directly on top of the PC. The cable between the KA6 and the PC is a USB 2.0 cable that came with the KA6. I think it's about 5 foot long. Should I look at getting a better shorter USB cable?

greddin · Post by **greddin** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:22 am

I turned the monitors off (M-Audio BX8s) and plugged in a set of headphones directly to the phones output on the KA6. The sound is crystal clear through the headphones. Something is interfering with the monitors for sure.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:41 am

Use balanced cables to connect the monitors to the KA6.

greddin · Post by **greddin** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:45 am

I'm using balanced cables. Here's the ones I'm using: http://a.co/8ZovKaq

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:48 am

Weird. Sounds like the speakers themselves are picking up interference? What happens if you unplug the cables from them?

greddin · Post by **greddin** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:04 am

I discovered what the problem was. As I was going to unplug the two monitors I noticed I had an auxiliary input being used by another source that was unbalanced. These M-Audio monitors have an extra input on them. I had forgot that I had plugged another separate computer into that source. When I unplugged it - the whining noise went away.

Thank you for eventually leading the way to solve this annoying issue.

jdnz · Post by **jdnz** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:25 am

sprnva wrote:Weird. Sounds like the speakers themselves are picking up interference? What happens if you unplug the cables from them?

can still get RF leaking in to the amps in the speakers direct - that's why I said disconnect the cables and see if they whine with nothing attached but the PC active - and then try them with the speaker cables hooked up at the monitor end but disconnected from the KA6 (see if it's the balanced cables are picking up noise)

the noise being high pitched and varying with what the PC does means the source has to be the PC itself (not uncommon) but it's a matter of systemically tracing things to find where in the signal chain it's getting in

High pitched whining sound