Removing front panel audio interference (Antec P180)

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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sundevil_1997
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Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 2:48 pm
Location: When it gets unbearably hot...you're there.

Removing front panel audio interference (Antec P180)

Post by sundevil_1997 » Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:50 pm

I got a nice pair of headphones for my birthday, and so was using the front panel audio connector for the first time (had been using a pair of USB headphones before that). But I noticed some serious audio interference (buzzing, static) that made it unacceptable for normal use. I had to basically choose between my normal speakers and using my headphones using only the rear audio jacks on the motherboard.

I found this older thread on this site when I was searching for a solution.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=58830

and, not wanting to resurrect and old thread, I thought I'd just post here what I did.

I removed the right side panel and disconnected the small grounding wire that grounded the front panel to the case. One small screw, and it was done, and the audio sounds great. I covered the hanging wire with tape so it wouldn't make intermittent contact.

Dunno if that's the best solution, but the older thread said people had to bust open the front panel connector and clip the shared ground, so I thought I'd try this first, and it seems to work great.

edh
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Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Removing front panel audio interference (Antec P180)

Post by edh » Sat Jan 03, 2015 6:11 am

I don't really think that's the proper solution. You're only getting noice through it because some electrical current is going to earth all of the time. The lowest resistance path it took caused interference along your audio cabling. This just shows that something elsewhere on your system is not properly earthed.

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