Meg X570 unify MOBO crackling sound

[tobing157e02e3]

Hi Folks,

I am having trouble still with a mobo that has never supplied decent sound. If I plug in via the putput jack at the back of the mobo it is crackling. A small distortion constantly. I once got it not crackling by removing lots of things and reinstalling - it was clear for an hour till i did a restart and crackles again. So I dont think it is the speakers.

How I play my speakers is by inserting into the case output and bingo.. clear sounds. As I game mostly I have a steel series headset and wirelessly connect with them- again. no crackles. The remmote base is connected via a S/PDIF out to allow auto change of hardware when used but only worked for a while.

PC set up.
AMD Ryzen7 3700x 3600Mhz 8 core
BaseBoard Product MEG X570 UNIFY (MS-7C35)
SMBIOS Version 2.8
BIOS Mode - UEFI
MSI Armor Radeon RX580 8GB
Total Physical Memory - 16.0 GB
Windows 10 for the moment.

Recently installed and updated all drivers on MSI Live Update 6. BUT the crackle is still there.
Any help or suggestions please. Thanks.

 

[Alan J T]

Hi Folks,

I am having trouble still with a mobo that has never supplied decent sound. If I plug in via the putput jack at the back of the mobo it is crackling. A small distortion constantly. I once got it not crackling by removing lots of things and reinstalling - it was clear for an hour till i did a restart and crackles again. So I dont think it is the speakers.

How I play my speakers is by inserting into the case output and bingo.. clear sounds. As I game mostly I have a steel series headset and wirelessly connect with them- again. no crackles. The remmote base is connected via a S/PDIF out to allow auto change of hardware when used but only worked for a while.

PC set up.
AMD Ryzen7 3700x 3600Mhz 8 core
BaseBoard Product MEG X570 UNIFY (MS-7C35)
SMBIOS Version 2.8
BIOS Mode - UEFI
MSI Armor Radeon RX580 8GB
Total Physical Memory - 16.0 GB
Windows 10 for the moment.

Recently installed and updated all drivers on MSI Live Update 6. BUT the crackle is still there.
Any help or suggestions please. Thanks.

Have a look in bios for Spread spectrum and if you have it enable it
If you do have it should be found here

 

[tobing157e02e3]

Took a day to get on my PC and check the info. I snip my view.
I dont dabble in the bios at all but i tried to get to the place you indicated but it looks nothing like your details so i maybe in the wrong place. I tried turn on a-xmp to see if initiated new options to enable - but no,

I also attached the recent driver installation from MSI 6 updater in case that might be useful.

 

[Alan J T]

I would try a Bios update as your is some what outdated the newer BIOS did do several Fixes for that board and you board may not have Spread spectrum as it is a Higher speck board and may not need it.

MEG X570 UNIFY | Motherboard | MSI Global

Best AMD AM4 X570 ATX gaming motherboard, lightning PCIe 4.0, three lightning M.2, Frozr heatsink, WiFi 6, aluminum cove with extended heatsink, USB 3.2 Gen 2, M.2 heatsink, excellent overclocking, pre-install I/O, MSI GAMING

www.msi.com

Use this one for WIN 10

7C35vAA

 

[tobing157e02e3]

Hi Alan JT
I got to do that last night. Succesfully flashed the bios. I was a bit wary of doing it. First time- Mflash worked well though.

It didnt work.
Jack plugged into the line out (red jack)

Sound still has a contant hum and lower than other option. That is plugging into the headphone jack of my case.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

[eqwebbie_with_PC]

Could be a ground loop.

Ground loop (electricity) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

There are filter adapters for this, but I would first try removing all cables from the machine except power, monitor and mouse, and check if it gets better. Then I would reconnect everything and check with each device if it causes the ground loop.
And spread spectrum is a good idea, too. There should be a search function in your bios, mostly depicted as a magnifying glass, where you can search for this option.
Good luck!

 

[tobing157e02e3]

That was great- Got a chance to clean my desk. Detached everything but even at low connectivity with just power monitor and mouse i have the buzz. No music playing just a buzz from the system.

I continued trouble shooting though.
It sounds like a fan when going well. But a loud crackle when a notification comes in. So I thought perhaps it was the fans- i disconnected each from the mobo to see if the hum stopped. Nothing.
I have a wifi mouse. Took out and connected a wired mouse.
Quite a few drives.- I disconnected each.
Disconnected power to the case- fans - usb ports- audio jacks.
Checked all connections on the mobo.
Checked GPU slotted- and RAM.
Nothing worked- still a buzz.

I returned to the vague solution i had before.
Device manager and removing items. Attached is my list of audio drivers and bits and bobs. Nightshade is just my mobile name. HG364xxxx is my monitor which has speakers. I was able to remove all the items on the second list and still a buzz.
As soon as I unistall device on the realtek(R) Audio the buzzing stops. Deleted the software. But of course i cant play music at this stage.

I then plugged in my wireless mouse again - I suppose accessing the usb loaded a bunch or check and all the items appeared again in my devices list but still no buzz.
Playing out of my case jack sweetly after windows fixed a few things.
Plugged speakers into the rear jack and very muted. Played with volume and actually the buzz is there again- but only when playing music now.

I restarted my machine and sadly the buzzing is still there.

Ok so not bios- It doesnt appear to be a ground loop? ( <---- I could be wrong). And when i delete the realtek sound video and game cotroller is stops.
Is there something in my software components or is the realtek driver? If realtek driver, why is it so crap?

Thanks for help so far.

 

[Alan J T]

And your issue is why I gave up on Motherboard built in sound long a go and went to USB audio devices only.
Umm Sound options for windows try setting audio quality drop down or go up may have to try a few different settings.
Along with Sound enhancements settings

 

[eqwebbie_with_PC]

And your issue is why I gave up on Motherboard built in sound long a go and went to USB audio devices only.
Umm Sound options for windows try setting audio quality drop down or go up may have to try a few different settings.
Along with Sound enhancements settings
View attachment 155793

Thats my exact solution, too.
I bought myself a soundblaster X3, one or two years ago, and everything works fine. Very good quality, no buzz, just crystal clear sound.

 

[tobing157e02e3]

Playing with this doesnt seem to have much effect....

I noticed though when looking at driver details i have a list. Is that normal or do i have too many and a conflict? How can i clean them out and do a clean install?

 

[Alan J T]

Playing with this doesnt seem to have much effect....

I noticed though when looking at driver details i have a list. Is that normal or do i have too many and a conflict? How can i clean them out and do a clean install?

View attachment 155800

I would say that is what it should have about the same as my USB sound device.

Fixing sound problems can be tedious and is why I won't use onboard sound.

 

[hookerja156c02e4]

I used to get crackling and "hot" sound from Creative sound cards ranging from the Audigy all the way to my current ZxR, and the solution was to disable the preamp completely. When you're using amplified speakers, there's no reason to have the preamp enabled. That just overdrives the sound, and introduces "clipping" that the human ear interprets as white noise. This is also true of cheap onboard audio. The preamp slider is usually buried in the equalizer settings.

 

[tobing157e02e3]

Thanks Hookerja,
The speakers are a high quality - old style Bose bass and two tweeters, left and right. Hmm... is that the correct terminology. Tweeters has different context these days and usually related to rage
Not the best modern high tech speakers but good enough for me.
Based on the cost of the the meg 570 unify (a year ago)- i would hate to think it is cheap production, but it is still causing problems. Very sad that it isnt working.

Anyhow I think i will close this query.
Alan JT and eqwebbie were banging on about usb sound connection etc and thanks to the reference to a soundblaster x3. I looked into them on the net.... Sure they are just a standlone version of the "wireless transmitter" I have with my steelseries pro wireless headset. Well I am sure they are better for sound.
Steelseries Arctis-pro-wireless So i checked out the manual and replugged it in- messed around with settings and have the speaker working well and headset auto changes as all controlled in the transmitter.

Because of this work around with expensive kit I am fixed but sadly the mystery of the hissing MSI MEG x570 remains.
I have seen many posts about it but none solved it. I thougth i could keep tweaking analytically till it was resolved. I am happy to keep testing if anything in particular to check and help the community but I am sorted. This is a MSI support forum afterall.

Thanks Alan JT- eqwebbie and Hookerja.
CarrnageESO

 

[hookerja156c02e4]

I've been using a Creative Inspire 4.1 speaker set for about 20 years, and at the 10 year mark, I was starting to get unbalanced sound whenever the subwoofer was nudged by my feet. Replaced all the 3.5mm male wires going from the sub to the Creative sound card(s) solved that problem. Sad irony is I've been wanting to replace these speakers for years, but they only cost me $45 back in the day at Office Max ... and you can't find a good 5.1 speaker set for that price anymore. You have to spend $120 to $150 and that's way too much for me ... LOL!

But I hear you regarding on-board sound ... especially Realtek ... just absolutely atrocious!
I could never EVER for the life of me wring good sound quality out of the Realtek audio on my old Gigabyte GA-B85M-DESR ...
That experience made me long for the days of nVidia Soundstorm from the nForce2 or even the venerable Turtle Beach Santa Cruz!