• Pingu
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Topic: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

Hi - brand new RME user. I just bought the HSSP AIO Pro, and the balanced breakout cable. Before buying I did research it, and discovered it had been known to have issues with noise on the outputs, created by internal activity of the PC - but most of the threads I found ended with an RME support suggesting this problem had been rectified in later stock of the card.

For me this turns out to be not true. If I operate the card with just headphones plugged in it seems fine - so far. Also I can operate it with just the main analogue outputs connected, and there's no noise. But as soon as I plug in both headphones and speakers there is a noise (not white noise - more of a whine) in the headphones, which changes pitch with every interaction in windows - ie drag the mouse and it changes, open a program and it changes, etc.

Did anyone ever find a definitive solution to this issue? Obviously I can just unplug the speaker cables if I want to work with headphones, but I'm going to be switching a lot, because my wife and daughter both work in the house, and getting round the back of the machine constantly isn't ideal.

  • vinark
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

If it is only in the headphones, this will sound weird, you are grounding the phones through your head and body, that is what you are hearing. At least that is what I understood by previous posts about this.. not all headphones are sensitive for this. Do you have a different pair, as this would confirm it. Als does you touching metal change anything? There was a solution to this in the other posts I think but I am not sure what it was.

Vincent, Amsterdam
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BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Pingu
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

vinark wrote:

If it is only in the headphones, this will sound weird, you are grounding the phones through your head and body, that is what you are hearing. At least that is what I understood by previous posts about this.. not all headphones are sensitive for this. Do you have a different pair, as this would confirm it. Als does you touching metal change anything? There was a solution to this in the other posts I think but I am not sure what it was.

Thanks - I'll definitely experiment with that. I did find a thread that offered the solution of putting electrical tape everywhere that the card touches the PC tower. I'm guessing that will leave the card quite a mess if it doesn't work - and it didn't work for a lot of people - so it's my last resort. Different headphones coming up.

  • vinark
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

If I remember correctly it is not about isolation, but giving the headphones a proper earth connection so it does not go through your head/body, that is if that is the issue.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • ramses
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

I think you refer to these threads, vinark:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 00#p224400
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 35#p208335

Extended forum search, subject body, from MC.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • vinark
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

ramses wrote:

I think you refer to these threads, vinark:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 00#p224400
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 35#p208335

Extended forum search, subject body, from MC.

Yes great

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632

7 Reply by ra.david1 (edited by ra.david1 2024-11-19 04:55:07)

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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

Pingu wrote:

Hi - brand new RME user. I just bought the HDSP AIO Pro, and the balanced breakout cable. Before buying I did research it, and discovered it had been known to have issues with noise on the outputs, created by internal activity of the PC - but most of the threads I found ended with an RME support suggesting this problem had been rectified in later stock of the card.

For me this turns out to be not true. If I operate the card with just headphones plugged in it seems fine - so far. Also I can operate it with just the main analogue outputs connected, and there's no noise. But as soon as I plug in both headphones and speakers there is a noise (not white noise - more of a whine) in the headphones, which changes pitch with every interaction in windows - ie drag the mouse and it changes, open a program and it changes, etc.

Did anyone ever find a definitive solution to this issue? Obviously I can just unplug the speaker cables if I want to work with headphones, but I'm going to be switching a lot, because my wife and daughter both work in the house, and getting round the back of the machine constantly isn't ideal.

I Just got a new HDSP AIO Pro and I'm having the same exact issue. I put the PCIe card in a PCIe to TB3 enclosure, added a backup battery and I'm using the RCA harness. The noise is minimal now but still there. The noise doesn't happen with my Fireface UCX II. I Hope fully RME comes up with a solution because this is really annoying.

8 Reply by MC

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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

The OP's issue must come from the ground connection in the balanced XLR cables. That is known as Pin1 issue - removing the pin 1 (GND/Shield) connection on one side of the cable would solve it. Of course this is not possible with unbalanced connections.

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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

MC wrote:

The OP's issue must come from the ground connection in the balanced XLR cables. That is known as Pin1 issue - removing the pin 1 (GND/Shield) connection on one side of the cable would solve it. Of course this is not possible with unbalanced connections.

Hi,
Yes, I switched to the XLR harness and cut the shielding wire (pin1) inside the XLR cable connected to the left speaker and the noise is gone completely. I thought I wrote an update here but I might of done it on another thread. Any ways thanks for the support.

  • Pingu
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

MC wrote:

The OP's issue must come from the ground connection in the balanced XLR cables. That is known as Pin1 issue - removing the pin 1 (GND/Shield) connection on one side of the cable would solve it. Of course this is not possible with unbalanced connections.

Maybe. I'll confess to not knowing nearly enough, but this isn't the only way the problem manifests. For instance - with my speakers completely disconnected - I tried connecting the MIDI out of the RME card to the MIDI in of an interface installed on another machine. The MIDI connection is the only link between the two - and MIDI connections are optically isolated, so there is no ground loop there - yet the headphones pick up all digital activity in the second machine as well as the machine the RME card is actually installed in.

11 Reply by waedi (edited by waedi Yesterday 21:26:25)

  • waedi
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

A Midi connection that is optically isolated ?
What is that ? Never heard before.
A Midi cable to other equipment is a good reason for having noise.
The AIO Pro has optical toslink connectors...

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue

12 Reply by Pingu (edited by Pingu Yesterday 22:54:09)

  • Pingu
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

waedi wrote:

A Midi connection that is optically isolated ?
What is that ? Never heard before.
A Midi cable to other equipment is a good reason for having noise.
The AIO Pro has optical toslink connectors...


As I understand it the MIDI protocol specifies that MIDI IN ports have a diode, which transmits the signal via light, thus breaking the direct electrical connection between devices. The specs for the RME card, for instance, say that the IN is octocoupled. It's possible that this isn't implemented on my other interface (Echo Layla) - hard to find out, since the company folded a long time ago, and the specs quoted in reviews aren't as specific as that.

  • waedi
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

If you hold a Midi cable in the hand you can see in the connector the pins are surrounded by a metal housing on both ends of the cable there is no light involved in MIdI.
You are messing this up with ADAT or SPDIF optical.
May you do a test and disconnect the Midi cable to see if the noise gets less ?

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue

14 Reply by Pingu

  • Pingu
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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

waedi wrote:

If you hold a Midi cable in the hand you can see in the connector the pins are surrounded by a metal housing on both ends of the cable there is no light involved in MIdI.
You are messing this up with ADAT or SPDIF optical.
May you do a test and disconnect the Midi cable to see if the noise gets less ?

I realise what a MIDI plug looks like - but the protocol seems to specify that the diode is somewhere in the receiving device, in the path of the IN port. It's something I also wasn't aware of, until I mentioned this ground issue at the soundonsound forum, and one of their editors suggested something had to be seriously wrong, as there was no way a MIDI connection should be causing a ground loop. So I googled, and he was right. Not confusing it with ADAT at all.

15 Reply by waedi

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Re: Noise issue with HDSP AIO Pro

Whatever may be inside behind the input (there is for sure no optical diode !) it has no influence to the fact that the Midi cable connects two devices with metal and is a good reason for ground loop or any noise.
You did misunderstand what they told you.

Here is a image of a Midi cable.
You see the metal housing on each plug, it is connected to the metal shield of the cable and the Midi sockets are typically grounded.

https://thumbs.static-thomann.de/thumb/padthumb600x600/pics/bdb/_12/129093/18242125_800.jpg

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue