Thankfully you can buy $400 AudioQuest cables that do absolutely nothing to stop the hissing!

Idk man maybe it's a cat

You forgot about gain stage. If you for example have an amplifier connected to your computers 3.5mm output and have the amplifier at max volume and the computer at low volume that amplifier is going to amplify the noise of your computer by a lot even if the music is playing at low volume. So if you instead lower the volume on your amplifier and turn up the computer you won't have the same amplified noise.

How to stop the people hissing tho

oh no the audiophiles are here! run!

Fun fact, you can also create ground loops even within the same wall circuit if you are connecting multiple computers audio outputs together in a mixer. This is especially a problem for computers that may not have a proper ground to start with, like laptops, smartphones, basically any audio source with a battery and doesn't have a proper ground via its charging cable. Ive noticed this especially with battery powered devices charged over USB-C, all of them give off static noise that is completely eliminated by putting an audio ground loop isolator in between the device and my audio mixer

damn, many years watching this channel, and now 2 years into a audio engineering internship and still learning stuff from this channel. 🔥🔥🔥

As a ham, if his equipment is causing problems, he should probably be told, because it could also be hurting his equipment! I haven't ever heard of anyone causing any problems if the radio/antenna has a reasonable SWR... Although not computer "tech"--there's a LOT of really awesome tech in radios, LMG should take a look into them! A great one to start is CHIME Fast Radio Burst experiments--there's one semi-local to BC :)

My favourite mystery noise was that one time my computer's audio would make noise when I moved my mouse or scrolled a window.

Ground hum isn't caused by using different outlets. It's from using outlets grounded on different circuits. Outlets across the room from each other can be on the same circuit while outlets right next to each other can be on different circuits. Think in terms of which outlets share the same circuit breaker. It isn't just audio devices that cause the problem or experience hum. Hum can also be seen in televisions and projectors as a line slowly crawling from the bottom of the image to top. Hum is induced when devices connected to each other through audio and/or video cables are plugged into different circuits. When you're using multiple devices connected to each other through audio or video cables, you want to get them all grounding in one place. If you can't get all your devices on the same circuit, there are devices that can be installed in the system to fix the problem. The most common method is called a ground lift, which is cheap adaptor placed on the end of a power cable or in an audio line. Install the ground lifter on one of the interconnected devices and it disconnects the ground wire from that device and prevents it from grounding through the circuit it's plugged into. This forces it to ground via the video or audio cables through the other device it's connected to which doesn't have its ground lifted. Ground lifts are quick fixes but can damage equipment in the event of power anomalies. Still, you will generally find them in the toolkits of professional technicians and used regularly. I've been doing it for twenty years and never had a problem. There are more expensive electronic devices like isolation transformers that condition the power without having to lift the ground. Some devices have it built in and offer a switch to activate it. I work in convention audio visuals and this is an extremely common problem as we work in different venues every job, are at the mercy of whatever power is available at those venues, and generally divide our audio, video, and lighting systems up over different legs of power. A lot of audio visual technicians don't understand ground hum or know how to fix it and can be the hero of the day when they do.

I found it sad that you portrayed the ham operator as an inconsiderate neighbour. Most hams will happily assist in solving any kind of RF problem be it from their transmitions or something else.

Speakers : I'm a snake a sneaky snake

This video couldn't have been more perfectly timed for me.

If you have identified EMI as the source of the noise, try switching to a balanced connection. Short circuit has covered it before, but the TLDW is it works by sending an inverted signal along with the regular one. When it gets to the other end, it is inverted again. Any differences can be filtered out by comparing it to the original signal. Anything professional like XLR, TRS, or Twist-lock cables can be set up for balanced signaling.

giving audio/tech tips to vinyl enthusiasts is like give audio/tech tips to amish.

A good quality 'Ground Loop Isolator' is the easiest way to eliminate ground loop noise. Any time I encounter a loop issue, that is my goto solution.

Can we have a video on Why do we Exissst?

Your local Ham Radio enthusiasts isn't likely to be a source of interference. But they'll know how to track it down, or as least get you some ferrite cores to help cut down on RF induced interference... You should get a ham radio license.

Ground Loops also can be removed by placing a device called "Directon Box" ("DI-box" for short), which has a feature called "Ground Lift". Cost around 200$+, so not a first thing home users will buy, but regurarly used by event and music profesionals.

i like these straightforward and meaty presentation. built-in ad is a welcome plug compared to youtube multi inserted ads at various times in the video. learned lots of infos, calm demeanor, clear voice of host is very much appreciated. ten thumbs up❤

The RF filters shown at 3:36 are indeed RF filters - just for professional wireless microphone systems. They are UNSUITED to fix any home audio issues. I would strongly recommend to put a disclaimer at this part of the video. It creates the impression that you could buy these to fix your issues at home. Additionally the most common problem is not part of the video: gain staging You should go through each component of your setup individually and check, where the noise is coming from. Hissing powered speakers might be perfectly usable, if you turn them down a little bit and increase the volume in Windows or on your interface instead.

The easiest way to eliminate a ground loop problem is to use a ground loop isolator in the audio connection. They cost a bit but are generally a good solution.

2:19 A ground loop isolator has saved me many times, especially when connecting my N. Switch or Steam Deck to external speakers using the handheld's headphone jack.

Wrapping wires in a ferrite bead, or put on a ferrite clip can reduce significant noise at times

I once swapped an HDMI cable in my setup, and got a hum in my active monitors (speakers). Swapped back to the old HDMI cable, and it remained. And that was actually the only change I did. It was all powered by the same wall outlet as well. Incredibly frustrating. Had to move the speakers to another outlet for some reason.

Years ago, I had a Sound Blaster 5.1 sound card with a bad amp on the subwoofer/center channel. I went through 4 sets of PC surround sound speakers before I realized the issue.

I don't know why but I love cassettes. I am 17 and now own a walkman, boombox, and a cassette recorder like you would see in old cop movies when they record conversations

Balanced cables will help with noise (XLR for example. Thats one reason why its loved for professional applications). And the filters that were mentioned in the video also help amazingly and you can get for like 20$ in your online shop of choice.

I have a ground loop problem with our audio receiver being plugged into a subwoofer amp. The fix for us was using the Subwoofer Isolation from Blue Jeans Cable. They work pretty well but, they aren’t perfect! Lastly, a nice trick was turning the bass output of the amp out as high as possible so that the subwoofers don’t need to be turned up as much.

Talking about speakers... I'd love for some of these videos to be in 5.1 surround sound. My AVR does a decent job up-mixing the audio but it would be even better if the video already had the voices and music were properly separated in 5.1. I'm always watching all LTT videos in my little home theater system.

as a person who plays guitar, using distortion or overdrive, this problem multiplies (literally) and can be a great source of frustration but if you know what you are doing, a lot of interference can be mitigated. the only part you are stuck with is the internal components picking up natural background static (they grey snow on a TV with no cable) and amplifying that. (we don't live in faraday cages.)

i just realised the ecc squad part at the end lmao do all audio vids have that, i recognise a few names like joelmerrifield , goldensound and mad_economist

Another common problem, at least in Argentina, is that many houses do not have an electrical installation with a ground connection, which exacerbates the amount of interference.

Ham radio: Power line adapters (Ethernet over mains wiring) causes more problems to us than we do to everybody else. Also, they mess up shortwave radio receivers.

I was just going to do some research on this 😮

4:15 ' A Love Supreme' let's goooo

I actually like the imperfections a vinyl record has. I find that noise kind of soothing.

The hissing is caused by a bad Signal-to-Noise Ratio, typically in amps or DACs (Noise floor) and not interference. Also ground loops can be caused inside a device too, you dont need a seperate wall socket to get that. Often caused by bad power supplies and/or flipped phase on one device. The correct solution is a star-type ground point combined with ground lift on the affected devices - almost always power amplifiers. Most even have a switch on the back for this exact purpose.

4:05 I did not expect to James in the background of the record store stock footage clip

Switched to USB speakers, couldn't be happier. Never want jack back!

I knew about ground loops but never knew why they happened and how to solve it. Such a simple solution.

So are balanced audio cables to professional for techquickie? They eliminate everything electrical noise wise(including ground loops) before the amplyfier thus lowering your nosie floor.

What he doesn’t tell you is GSM can also interfere with the speakers. There’s a cool little trick here on some GSM networks if you have an external speakers that connect to a computer just before you receive a ring on your smart phone the speakers will start humming it appears that speakers can pick up the signal seconds before your phone rings and on GSM and CDMA networks if you have a digital antenna can interfere as well because in some instances the network and the digital antenna station are running on the same frequency this is important as to why you should buy a digital TV antenna that has 4glte RSD shielding or as it’s usually filtering. The box will say something like 4glte filtering or shielding

Oh damn, I seem to have a ground loop on my speakers. Will try to connect them to the same outlet. Though not sure if it matters, but my building's wiring isn't grounded. Still, hope it helps to alleviate the annoying droning.

Damn I didn't know this ground loop ...was a thing! I need to look into it. Time to plug everything into one power strip. Couldn't figure this out for the longest time.

great video. say, have you seen any good movies lately?

Ground loop forms because the connected equipment are grounded at different potentials - even though they are technically "grounded", if they are grounded at two different points and these two points are at different potentials, you've got yourself a voltage. It only needs to be 50 mV and you will hear it if it's amplified by your amplifier. It's why the hum is 50 Hz or 60 Hz, the same frequency as your mains. That's why they tend to go away if you ground both equipment at the same physical point, because that minimises the potential difference. I haven't ever heard of an explanation for ground loop that includes magnetic interference.

Measurements and instrumentations courses in college have taught me designing amplifiers with low noise is a nightmare with subpar parts 😆

I wish you covered the technical, electrical reason behind hissing. Like what does it look like in an oscilloscope / what component cause it, etc.

I was waiting for the “ You are hearing the after effects of the big bang through your speakers” 😭

I used to hear frequencies on my Logitech PC speakers, where people ate having conversations, like some sort of foreign language. It specifically at nights when volume is either on min or max.

I'm using SPDIF from the PC, but the biggest thing I've found helps is to turn up the volume on the PC and then turn down the gain on the amp. I still have a problem with his when I restart the PC as the spdif box puts out noise when there is no signal going into it.

Dude, I install home theaters and always ask for a dedicated circuit for the rack and a separate one for the subwoofers. I had ground loop once. Maybe that’s why.

I’ve always wondered what people mean when they say that vinyl has a “warmer” sound. Is it just a mouthful or does it actually mean something specific?

O your god .... The episode of your staff under 25 using record players or 8 tracks would be boss

Can also happen with electronics not connected to the loop indirect inductance from a lamp cord can cause issues even if it's in the loop or out of the loop if you have the cord near your speak wire

Whats weird is shielded network cable and shielded RCA cables have the shild terminated at both ends. That inherently makes a ground loop. In every other cable, you ground that shield at a single end to prevent this. Cisco switches actually had a problem with this and they could be destroyed by it. Since then, network gear started useing isolation capacitors so there would be no path to ground for DC ground loops. But there would be a path for AC. Noise is almost purely AC. However the capacitors add impedance to that path to ground so they sacrifice slightly higher noise for not destroying itself with standard shielded network cable.. all because they terminate the ground at both ends.

I never heard of Ground Loop. Can I plug the speaker and PC to the same UPS to avoid it?

Are they experimenting with the end cards at earlier times? Is it a mistake? Or am I dumb and they've been doing it that early far longer than I realized? I've only noticed over the last few days..

Is this the reason why back in the days speakers could predict phone calls

I had a Samsung A71 that would hum when not out putting a song, the second it would start the song it would stop the hum and then start that song, no other phone of equipment did it, and it was and still is considered a mid-end set up from the late '80s early '90s.

A ground loop can also form between your house's electrical system and your cable television provider. If the ground potential differs between these two and you connect them, say, in a home entertainment cabinet with a television and amplifier, you will get nothing but buzz. This can be solved by using an inexpensive ground loop isolator on your cable coax.

I would highly recommend a DAC, or even better just get a USB mixer like the Behringer Xenyx 302USB. With the added benefit of buying an auxiliary extension lead, you will never have to worry about damaging your headphone connection.

Had a really cheap set of USB speakers that would go nuts when my old GSM/2G phone received a call

Thank you for this video, it will save me a lot of time to provide the link and not having to explain it myself.

Ground loops are the bane of my life.

YOU didn't talk ONCE about the importance of correct Gain structure of the equipment in the setup.

It sure drove me crazy one time, and best of all, we didn't know where it came from.

Use XLR or LAN cables that are balanced and well shielded, if you have the right connectors available on your equipment. It makes a world of difference and really should just be the standard.

I have this issue but it becomes very apparent to my 5.1 surround when I turn off my PC. I think it has to do with my shitty receiver. There's just isn't any good and moedrately affortable 5.1 system for PCs. I was searching for the RF filters you mentioned and led me to Ferrite Beads. Are those a cheaper solution than adapters?

Also a ground loop is why when you connect a bluetooth module to the same source as the amp you hear the high frequency noise of the bluetooth mcu

Back when I was living in a dorm room for the longest time I had no idea why the heck I was getting insane buzzing when using Bluetooth headsets. Felt really dumb I didn't realize the microwave right next to my PC Build might have been the problem... Switched to a wired headset and fixed the problem.

Due to a small room, I can only have the volume low enough to prevent the speakers acoustically feeding back to the turntable stylus and howling!

Doesn't ground loop happen from outlets on different circuits, not just because they are different outlets?

JDS labs atom amp is probably the only amp the majority will ever need and changes output to speakers when nothing is plugged into headphone jack. No more fighting windows defaults 😊

my apartment is a house turned into three units i have lived in all three units the top and middle floor gave me real bad hissing buzzing. now that im on the main floor my 5.2 home theater and 70 inch tv are finally comfortably usable lol

Any ideas for why I'm getting "ground hum" on my laptop when another wire is plugged in like a USB C hub or charger, but on other devices there is no hum whatsoever? It's clearly my laptop. I've used 2 separate sets of speakers and they're dead silent for another device but loud with the laptop even when running everything through a power strip. It's driving me crazy

The low quality aux cable i used was amplifying the coil whine of my gpu which drove me absolutely bonkers, i just changed that cable and its all good now

Get an optical external dac such as smsl su-9

The other noise most people have forgotten about is the 2G interference noise,

I just use optical audio cables. Never had an issue with hissing while using them.

Screw ground loops. TOSLINK for the win.

Ground Loop?

my external amp (two midwoofers) when the preamp (2.2 music system) is connected to PC does it, the external amp is crossovered at 15-100Hz, the hum changes tone depending on the fps being displayed via framelimiter (3~120fps). Lifting ground helped, but same outlet or entirely different pc didn't help, iirc geraldundone had a case that was the cause but I also ran my system on cardboard but it didn't help me.

Ground loops are due to improperly wired electrical systems (i.e. the electrician screwed up). If you have one, you'll get that awful humming even from a single device connected to a single socket.

Okay, one of the most obvious reason was omitted - POWER SUPPLY! The cheap chinese switching ones are one of the worst and can ruin the best audio electronics listening experience. Btw ever heard of audio-graded switching and non-switching power supplies? Transformator ones for example? Still used, for very good reasons. LP filters as well are very much needed. And yeap, that would be nice to mention why there are these "weird thick cylider things" over cables in some electronics.... ;)

refering to 2:05 for me in the eu i had this problem on to solve it i just had to plug the usb power in the computer it self and it fixed it

I'm surprised they didn't mention the usefulness of ground loop noise isolators.

Balanced cables are an easy solution to ground loops, but it seems like some noise floor is just a fact of life with powered speakers. Neither my Yamaha HS8 or Presonus Eris E5 XT are silent.

I've had a samé problém with my USB speakers, the small ground loop via USB and 3,5 audio connector. The solution was powering these speakers via external non-grounded phone adaptor.

2:25 lets say, my pc is in one room with its own (good) speakersystem, my old tv is in directly nearby via hdmi in the bedroom, my vr setup ist in the living room along with my new tv and bose soundsystem, i dont know how to plug everything into one outlet which would be big enougth for this whole setup.... but at least i ever bougth good quality 🙃

Tme for an audio review channel James. Remember "WhatHifi" magazine back when it was good?

If you want good quality active speakers just buy studio monitors, they are tuned to be relatively flat and they prioritise audio quality over rgb and all that crap.

If this is a clue, I am completely completely isolated and was just playing Fallout Quietly

Can we talk about that sound that you used to get when you're receiving a text message and your phone is nearby computer speakers?

GSM cellphone noise bugged me for many years. I could hear packet bursts on my speakers about 3s before my N5190 phone rang or got an SMS.

30 y.o. people: What are you talking about?

How about a video about ethernet over coax / MoCa, I think that could be kinda interesting!

I have a really old Onkyo amplifier hooked up to my PC and that thing produces basically no hissing. There is a little bit (barely noticeable) at a very specific volume but that's so far up i can't play at that volume without getting evicted. So it's practically nonexistent.

My issue was electrical interference caused from a Dell motherboard's USB port connecting with my audio interface. It was so annoying to deal with and figure out. I just lived with it until I finally upgraded to a new PC. Warning to anyone working in audio, definitely don't use a Dell. Probably good advice for anyone, really.