Does components in the computer affect the sound?

Pretty late to this thread, but absolutely, especially the analog outputs. It's one reason why some Asus ROG boards have an isolated sound section on the motherboard. It's why I can literally hear the computer activity from my Linux box when I was using the analog outputs.

Personally, I am unsure about the digital side, unless there is something out of spec and malfunctioning.

If you do not hear any noise, then there is nothing to correct. You always run the risk of adding something bad. Powered hubs have other uses, like better recharging ports (if designed that way), able to handle more USB-powered devices before crapping out, etc.

If foobar2k is running in WASAPI, then there shouldn't be a problem unless you are running at 100% cpu or a process decides to lock a core up. Then, you MAY get drop outs as the computer cannot read the bits and send them out fast enough. If the only application you are running is foobar2k, any modern (last 5 years!) CPU can easily handle the I/O and minor processing needed to spit out bits to the DAC. I see DeadBeef using 6.3% of my CPU when playing, but then I have Spectrum Analyzer and Waveform Seekbar, Killing both dropped Deadbeef to use ~1.0% when just playing a track. My CPU is an i7-3770 "Ivy Bridge" with SpeedStep turned on. So it is 1-7%, but in low frequency mode (<1.8GHz out of 4.3 GHz). The output is USB to Gungnir Multibit. Basically, audio does jackschiit to a modern CPU. My CPU is barely awake.

I've had some bad CPU lockups that I have been trying to track down (probably power related). When the computer locks up so bad that I cannot SSH in and the GUI is frozen and won't respond to the keyboard, the sound just keeps playing, loading the next track on my playlist. Eerie...

 

It doesn't. Or at least not at the moment, with instruments showing ambient 27.5C, AMD CPU at 35C, and in-case 39C.

I'll try to remember to take another look as summer wears on here, but, just now, thanks to you, I now know that is is not PSU fan I am hearing.

I need to check the other fans: maybe one has started to make noise, or maybe the whole PC could actually live with a little less airflow.

Thanks for reducing the size of my worry/buy list

 

IF there's no noise, then there's no real benefit. It might measurably improve the noise floor, but that would probably not audible. See Archimago's review of the Corning USB cable.

Background programs only affect sound if they're using so much CPU cycles that it;s flushing out the CPU cache, or limiting bandwidth to storage or to the audio chipset. This tends to be very obvious, with noticeable skips and gaps in music.

 

Ahhh... The Archimago "C" for a great USB cable! (not sure that I read that review, though)

(edit: no, so I'd better go look, but, bias admitted, it sounds like a madness to me)

(Another edit: Oh, ground loops, isolation and stuff... ok, potentially not crazy at all)

But seriously... as much as I scoff at stuff like audiophile usb cables, one thing I am going to make sure of in the future is that any USB cable I buy has the larger power cables, not cheapo same-as-data size. I learnt this from the phone people (why a turbo-charging phone doesn't? Yes, the cable makes a difference) and whether it has any relevance to the power delivered by a computer USB2.0 port, I don't actually know. But hey, I'm not talking expensive, just proper cables.

 

The conclusion on the Corning cable was that it measureably decreased the noise floor, but that he didn't really hear a huge difference in his subjective listening. Thanks for the tip about the USB power lines, I'd never considered that putting the 5v whatever amp power through 28 awg might be a bad idea until I started digging. No wonder my phone charger cables don't last long and feel warm while in use.

 

Too Long But Did Read ...

OK, so the Corning thing is not an audiophile madness at all, assuming that it solves a problem that exists in reality, and not a paranoia. I'm happy to say that I have never had such a problem with my systems. My only experience of really nasty noise is with turntables, where independent grounding was necessary. Not an audiophile symptom: a real, loud buzz!

And thanks for reminding me of Archimago's blog. I'd lost touch.

In fact, I never even knew there was a difference until this turbo-charge phone thing entered my life. Now, my phone-charging cable is probably more expensive than my audio USB cables! But... it works!

 

best sounding PSU: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFJ4OBA/

 

Even if you are joking, that is actually a blatant lie, the i versions of the AX series are measurably worse and produce more sound than many lower end and even the regular AX series from Corsair.

@Thad E Ginathom, glad it worked mate at least the other search is a far less expensive one!

 

Thank you guys for the help, really apreciated. I have another question though. Just realised that my motherboard is actually MSI 970 Gaming... does it matter which USB port I use to connect to my DAC? I have 8 x USB 2.0 and 2 x USB 3.0 but some of them are different colored for some reason.

Here's a picture of it:

 

The red ports below the PS2 port on the far left are for keyboard and mouse. They have the highest priority of all ports. Don't use usb3, SA e that for stuff that needs the bandwidth. I used to used the ports under the Ethernet port, but I've since sold that computer to my room mate. It's a good mobo, you should have no problems regardless of which on you choose.

 

First, I agree with @Smitty . Don't use the red and blue USB ports. Pretty much any of the black ones will be fine.

If you really want to go hardcore, you need to look at the user manual and determine which USB ports share data lanes with other components. For instance, the 2 USB's under the Ethernet port probably share a lane. If you are like me and have heavy network traffic (VNC + Youtube, yes... crazy bad usage), I would avoid those 2 ports. If another 2 share lanes with the video card (highly unlikely, just using as an example), then avoid that too.

 

Thanks guys