This is driving me insane.

[ghitz]

Is anybody else experiencing crackling, hissing, buzzing noise when connecting headphones to your PC. I mean having the volume about a third of the way but not actually listening to any music (although they are audible even when playing music that has quiet sections). I'm on XP pro with SP2 and Asus p5b-e motherboard. I hear these anomalies mainly when surfing the web or going through Windows explorer when there is HD activity. I have been able to pinpoint this down to my PCI Wi-fi card (I have tried a Linksys and a Belkin) I can reduce these noises to half or more when removing the wi-fi card. My laptops are dead silent.
Of course it's not as bad when just having the speakers hooked up but still you can hear. I'm using the soundMax onboard sound bit I have also tried a Soundblaster card they exhibit the same behavior.
Please try this on your machines and tell me if you have the same thing?

 

[tk11]

There's a hell of a lot of electrical noise inside a computer case so it's not the best place for a sound card. If you want clean sound use a digital output or a good sound card.

 

[rivan]

Maybe try re-routing/replacing cables and stuff - since you mentioned the HDD, move it elsewhere in the case and re-route it's cable away from any audio components & cables - either front outputs wires or the cd input wires (from the back of the cd to the motherboard/sound card).

 

[ghitz]

Yeah Thanks I will try to play around with re-routing cables see if that improves.