Weird sound problem > SSD?

[idata]

- when I use a simple speaker set or the T20 from Creative > the sound is ok. - when I use highend speakers I get problems: ticks, noise etc. A solution could be this. It's about Speedstep and energy-saving options of the CPU. I have to disable them... (there is more) For some reason and if these options are not disabled you hear interferences. (cracks, ticks, noise etc.) It seems the SSD get's not enough power.... There is more. When you disable Speedstep and energy-saving that's not so good for de cpu. The CPU is getting a bit too hot... and will not last long as he sould be. My SSD is connected with a led and that led is flashing every second. Each flash is a tick you hear in the speakers.

What can I do?

Regards,

Theo (Belgium)

[idata]

It is quite an interesing issue.

However, I can assure you the issue is definitely NOT due to the SSD not getting enough power. SSDs draw less than 5w on the +5v rail... any PSU can provide this without issue.

[idata]

It's about Speedstep and energy-saving options of the CPU.

My friend did this in an other pc-system and it worked.

But, as I told before I did not change this in my pc.

My new option > S/PDIF he.

But I need a connection to my speakers.

My speakers have only rca.

I could try with an adapter: S/PDIF to RCA output.

What do you think?

[idata]

theokus, Unfortunately, it is not possible to change the SPDIF signal, which is a purely digital signal (the digital data stream from a CD or DVD) into an analog signal from an RCA jack with a simple adaptor, that part does not exist. To use the digital SPDIF signal, you must use a Digital to Analog Convertor (DAC.) A DAC takes the SPDIF signal as it's input, and it's output is an analog stereo or 5.1 channel surround sound signal on RCA jacks. A DAC can also be built into a receiver or amplifier, and you only need to connect your speakers to the amplifier.

Where can you find a DAC? Any modern Home Theater Receiver (Surround Sound Receiver) has a DAC built into it. The receiver will have SPDIF inputs, either on TOSLINK fiber optic cable connections or a single coaxial cable with RCA plugs (not to be confused with analog RCA cables, which will be two for stereo.) If you have a receiver like this, you simply connect the SPDIF output from your PC to the receiver's SPDIF input, and your speakers to the receivers amplifier outputs.

You can also get separate DAC components. They are not a common as Home Theater Receivers and many of them are expensive, as they are found in the High End audio world. A separate DAC has the digital SPDIF inputs and analog outputs like the ones on a CD or DVD player (of course a CD and DVD player has a DAC in it, but most of those do not have digital inputs, unfortunately.) You must connect the analog outputs of a DAC to a receiver or amplifier or amplified speaker, which you seem to have. Separate DACs do not have volume controls (or most don't) so you must have a volume control somewhere in your system.

The link below will take you to a retailer that has many DACs, so you get some idea what they are all about. You'll find some are meant to be used with PCs or iPods, etc. This is a retailer in the US, and I believe you are not from the US, but this will at least give you some examples of what products exist. I am not aware of any PC hardware companies that make DACs.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=90 http://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=90

This is an example of self-powered speakers that have digital SPDIF inputs for it's built in DAC. You would just connect the digital output of the PC to these speakers:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-641 http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-641

So does this make sense? Any questions? Good luck!!

[idata]

Thank you parsec!

I do understand and it makes sense indeed.

It was too good to be true he

I have 2 active speakers from Quad.

(but no spdif in those speakers)

I have 2 options then he: an AMP or a stand alone DAC.

Thanks again!

[idata]

You are very welcome theokus.

I want to mention one more thing about using the SPDIF output of a PC. You will find that you can use the volume controls on your PC with the SPDIF output. Those range from the volume controls of the audio software, or Windows Sound options, to the volume slider on the Task Bar. But there is a problem with them, or I should say a shortcoming or a compromise, which needs some explanation.

Analog volume controls work by simply reducing the voltage of the analog signal going to the amplifier. When you "turn up" an analog volume control, more voltage is allowed to go to the amplifier. Digital signals allow no change in their voltage, it is constant at about 0.5 Volts. A digital audio signal is really just data, the audio signal is encoded into numbers and all differences in volume are a part of those numbers. So how do digital volume controls work? By changing the digital data numbers. That is usually done by "bit shifting" (if you are familiar with binary numbers) or "right or left shifting" of the bits in a digital data word.

A simple example of this is a byte of binary digital data set to all one's, looks like this, 11111111 and is equal to 255 in decimal. If you "right shift" the bits in this byte over one bit, the result is, 0111111 which is equal to 127 in decimal. If you "left shift" our original example we get 11111110, or 254 in decimal.

When the digital data is interpreted by the DAC, using my simplified example, 255 is louder than 127 by a large amount, while 254 is a tiny bit less loud than 255.

But notice what happens when you shift bits around, the data changes, of course. Since the audio signal is translated into numbers, when the volume level is changed (always lowered actually with digital signals) by changing bits, you also "throw away" some of the musical information. The more you lower the volume of a digital signal, the more musical data disappears. That is just the nature of digital volume controls.

So my point is (finally), always set the volume controls on your PC to 100% when using the SPDIF output, and use the analog volume controls on your amplifier (if you can, that is.) That way you won't lose any of the music's information. Some people may argue that the loss of data is not audible and insignificant, and my example is highly simplified, but digital volume controls function by bit manipulation and inevitably change the musical signal, and not for the better.

Of course feel free to experiment and use whatever you like or need to get the results you want.