Slight buzzing/static in front panel headphone jack

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction here. I'm trying to figure out where I can start troubleshooting a slight buzzing/static noise that I'm hearing from headphones when plugged into the front panel jack on my case.

A bit of background on the hardware:
Antec P183 case
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P motherboard
AMD PhenomII X3 720 CPU
Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card

Just for comparison - the speakers don't exhibit the same buzzing sound using the speaker out on the actual card itself - only from the front panel output. My instinct is the front panel cable or maybe grounding? While it isn't a super big deal it's annoying when I hear the buzz when the scene is supposed to be quiet.

Any suggestions? I'm not exactly sure if the cable itself can be replaced as it's wired to the front panel of case...

Isn't the headphone output on the backslot for the STX? I have the Essence ST - PCI version, but I don't recall if there was a front panel connection. (Sorry, I never use the FP and I can't check, I'm on my laptop.) If you're still connected to onboard - there's your problem right there. Also there might be some EMI problems if your sound card is too close to another PCI/e card. Space them out if you can.

very likely the FP cable, especially if you've routed it under or around something like the mainboard or power supply (the shielding on some internal wiring jobs is a joke)

as far as the EMI gremlins, wouldn't pay them much mind, if you've got no interference from the rear outputs, card itself is fine, issue is somewhere between it and your transducers

fss69 said:

Isn't the headphone output on the backslot for the STX? I have the Essence ST - PCI version, but I don't recall if there was a front panel connection. (Sorry, I never use the FP and I can't check, I'm on my laptop.) If you're still connected to onboard - there's your problem right there. Also there might be some EMI problems if your sound card is too close to another PCI/e card. Space them out if you can.

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There is a headphone jack at the back, but there's also a connection internally on the card for the front panel. I believe the front panel jack is the one that is amplified. It's definitely not connected to the on board sound as I can toggle the sound on the Xonar app between the speakers/rear headphone/front panel with the app and it routes it to the right place. The sound card is right next to the video card. Unfortunately it's the only mounting option on my board so moving the sound card is not a possibility.

obobski said:

very likely the FP cable, especially if you've routed it under or around something like the mainboard or power supply (the shielding on some internal wiring jobs is a joke)

as far as the EMI gremlins, wouldn't pay them much mind, if you've got no interference from the rear outputs, card itself is fine, issue is somewhere between it and your transducers

Click to expand...

That's what I'm suspecting. I'll have to check where it's routed through. I don't think it's under the MB, but it's been a while since I've cracked the case open to see where the FP I/O cables go. I know it's not near the power supply since that's at the back of the case but in any case I'll make sure it's not running near any power. I kind of wanted to use the front panel since that's where I'll be plugging in my headphones. The cable is a bit too short to use the one at the back.

I haven't seen any "higher quality" front panel I/O replacements so I guess replacing the cable is out of the question as well...

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

syee said:

That's what I'm suspecting. I'll have to check where it's routed through. I don't think it's under the MB, but it's been a while since I've cracked the case open to see where the FP I/O cables go. I know it's not near the power supply since that's at the back of the case but in any case I'll make sure it's not running near any power. I kind of wanted to use the front panel since that's where I'll be plugging in my headphones. The cable is a bit too short to use the one at the back.

I haven't seen any "higher quality" front panel I/O replacements so I guess replacing the cable is out of the question as well...

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Click to expand...

why can't you replace it? just buy something thats respectably shielded and wire it in (or do the lazy thing and get a TRS extension cable and run it from the back)

obobski said:

why can't you replace it? just buy something thats respectably shielded and wire it in (or do the lazy thing and get a TRS extension cable and run it from the back)

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I guess what I meant to say is that I don't know of a plug and play solution for the front panel I/O. I could get a TRS extension cable from the back, but I'd have to check to see if the rear output is amplified or not. I was looking for the amplified output to drive my headphones.

syee said:

I guess what I meant to say is that I don't know of a plug and play solution for the front panel I/O. I could get a TRS extension cable from the back, but I'd have to check to see if the rear output is amplified or not. I was looking for the amplified output to drive my headphones.

Click to expand...

the rear TRS output on the STX/ST is connected to the headphone amplifier circuitry, yes

I had the same problem with my Antec Three Hundred case. I ended up changing the wiring and made it long enough so so it wasn't draped over my graphics card. Still not completely quiet but better than it was.

hey folks. i have seen this issue with Antec cases that use the moulded front panel connectors.

From my testing its a grounding issue with the other front panel devices. To confirm this, try disconnecting the other USB/FW on the front panel from the motherboard so only the audio component is connected to the motherboard.

If your results are anything like mine the buzzing should stop. Reconnect any USB/FW header to the board and its back again.

Id be interested to see if anyone else can duplicate my findings.

h4rb1ng3r said:

hey folks. i have seen this issue with Antec cases that use the moulded front panel connectors.

From my testing its a grounding issue with the other front panel devices. To confirm this, try disconnecting the other USB/FW on the front panel from the motherboard so only the audio component is connected to the motherboard.

If your results are anything like mine the buzzing should stop. Reconnect any USB/FW header to the board and its back again.

Id be interested to see if anyone else can duplicate my findings.

Click to expand...

I'll give it a try tonight when I can shut down my PC and give it a shot and let you know what i find out.

I have an Antec 900 and have never really used the front audio jack before. I recently picked up some 595 headphones and can pick up the same slight static noise through it. I am just using onboard sound, but when I plug it into the back I have no problems. Just the wiring I guess to the front. I plug my headphones into my speakers now which use the rear jack, no distortion now.

I apologize for the thread necromancy, but I'm having this issue now and looking for a solution. I have the same case: Antec P183. When I use the front audio jacks, both the headphones and microphones have some line noise. I'm not sure if it is just crosstalk or a ground-loop, but either way, it's pretty awful. I've considered contacting Antec support but I'm not sure what they could possibly do.

I have also considered shielding the entire front-panel audio connector and cable using aluminum foil-tape, but I would need to then ground the shielding, probably to the case, and I don't have an easy way to doing that in mind.

Has anyone come up with a solution to this problem? Is it just a USB grounding issue that could be solved with a better soldering job?

I just started using the front audio jacks on my Antec 900 and noticed this same thing. Poking around with it today I noticed that as well as the individual ground wires in the audio, USB and firewire jacks there is a case ground as well.

Disconnecting the front panel case ground (single black wire with a crimped eyelet screwed into the top of the case) minimized the noise to the point where I can no longer hear it. I just unscrewed it from the case, wrapped the eyelet and exposed metal on the wire in electrical tape to protect from shorts and tucked it out of the way.

As far as I can tell there should be no need to remove anything else. The front panel connectors are all sealed in a molded plastic housing that would be a pain in the ass to crack open to play around in and this appears to have completely fixed the issue for me. YMMV.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am planning on either fixing this problem or replacing the antec p183 case. I want to be able to use the front panel audio.

I believe there are 3 possible solutions:
1. Contact Antec for a front panel replacement. I found a thread where an Antec support rep offered to replace the front panel on a p180 case for this reason (p180 is one of the predecessors to p183). Antec has acknowledged this is a design flaw in the case. See link:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=514612

My case is 4 years old, warranty is 3 years, so I am not sure if this is an option for me.

2. Open the front panel and cut the grounding wire. See link for how to do this on Antec 300:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=208880

I would be inclined to do this if I could find instructions with pictures for the p183.

3. Deactivate or disconnect front panel usb. If the usb grounding is interfering with the front panel audio, this should fix the problem.

Here is my question: if I select option 3, do I have to disconnect the usb wire inside the case? Or is there a way to turnoff the front panel usb in system settings somewhere?

3. Disconnect the front panel USB header from the motherboard.

As for 2, that is a horrible design, and I would hope that they changed it with the release of the P183. On the other hand, I like that they keep the jacks separate and don't use a PCB. This would make for a very clean cable replacement should 3 not fix your problems.

TESLA said:

3. Disconnect the front panel USB header from the motherboard.

As for 2, that is a horrible design, and I would hope that they changed it with the release of the P183. On the other hand, I like that they keep the jacks separate and don't use a PCB. This would make for a very clean cable replacement should 3 not fix your problems.

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I tried disconnecting the usb from the motherboard and it did not do anything. It seems as though I would need to disconnect something contained in the front panel. How do you get inside there?

Actually, forget it, this is too much hassle. I will consider switching to a usb sound card or switching cases. Main problem is that I moved my desktop PC recently and it is too hard to get back there to switch the 3.5mm cable from speakers to headphones.