Page about the occasional loud white/static noise or screech issue on Xonar cards that some experience.
- 16 May 2020: Possible solution 1 updated.
- 11 May 2020: Page updated.
- 10 May 2020: Article published.
Why it happens
I personally only had such an issue only 1 time in over 10 years on my old PC, a Intel Core 2 Duo with DFI P35 motherboard, AMD Radeon HD7790, Xonar DX and Windows 7. At that moment my PC was under heavy load and I jumped to a different position on a YouTube video. Most of the reports involve playing a video on YouTube or another video site or in a video desktop application. Currently, I'm thinking it has to do with some sort of big delay in processing the sound which causes the driver to go haywire. Could be related to very high DPC latency or something else.
Some reported having this issue only after updating to Windows 10, never had this on Windows 7.
Other discussions outside this page that have been taken place about this subject #1(head-fi.org), #2, #3, #4.
Possible solutions
1. Disable all of Xonar's recording inputs and use the Microphone or Line In from the onboard audio card or buy a USB microphone
To do so, open Windows Sound (right-click on Windows Volume tray icon-> Sounds or if missing type in Windows search: “change system sounds”)-> Select Recording tab-> Right-click and select Disable for: Microphone (ASUS Xonar...), Line In (ASUS X...), ALT (ASUS X...), AUX (ASUS X...), Stereo Mix(ASUS X...) and Wave (ASUS X...). Then right-click on Microphone (HD Audio.../Realtek.../SupremeFX.../USB Mic...) and select "Set as Default" and "Set as Default Communication Device".
Thanks to Louis for sharing this solution, you can read more about this here. Here is another report that might indicate some of these cases might have something to do with the microphone input.
2. Lower your system DPC latency
- Install UNi Xonar drivers with Low DPC Latency or C-Media Panel configuration. Optionally, use XonarSwitch to control the sound card settings. Do not use ASUS Audio Center.
- Do not enable any sound enhancements in ASUS/C-Media/XonarSwitch panel.
- Disable SpeakerCompensation.
- Check this article for other tips to reduce DPC Latency.
3. Avoid IRQ sharing between Xonar card and other devices
To do so you could try switching the other devices interrupts from Line-based to MSI, see info here. Do not switch the Xonar card to MSI as it will prevent your system from booting. You can try this in conjunction with moving the card to a PCI/PCIe in which the Xonar card IRQ is shared with less devices.
General recommendations and what else can you do
As a precautionary measure, you should set the volume in Windows and applications close to 100% and control the volume from the amplifier, speakers or headphones. If you are using headphones that do not have a volume control, you should buy a headphone amplifier so that you can control the volume.
Keep in mind that nothing is worth permanently damaging your ears.
When the issue happens you can try the Xonar Driver Restart instead of restarting the PC.
---
My old answer from the UNi Xonar FAQ page:
Q: Occasionally, I get a loud white/static noise or screech. Why is that and is there something that can be done to prevent this?
A: There are at least two instances:
- It may be a issue or incompatibility between the motherboard and the Xonar audio card. Ironically, ASUS motherboards seem to be most prone to this issue. Unfortunately there isn't much it can be done. You should look into updating the motherboard BIOS to the latest version. If that does not solve the problem a possible solution would be to change the motherboard if you think the card you own is worth it.
- A Windows 10 only issue. Discussions for this case are talking place on this page. No solution has been found so far except reverting back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
General recommendations: If you run into this issues and have not found a solution you should either buy a different audio card that's not powered by C-Media audio chips (so no ASUS or HTOmega), buy an external DAC or at least take some precautionary measures like controlling the volume with a amplifier while having Windows volume always set to 100%. Keep in mind that nothing is worth permanently damaging your ears.
- ASUS Xonar DG, Xonar DGX, Xonar DG SI, Xonar DS, Xonar DSX, Xonar D1, Xonar D2, Xonar DX, Xonar D2X, Xonar HDAV, Xonar HDAV Slim, Xonar Essence ST, Xonar Essence STX, Xonar Essence STX II, Xonar Xense.
- Other C-media CMI8786 and CMI8788 audio chipset cards:
- Auzentech: HDA X-Purity 7.1, X-Meridian 1G, X-Meridian 2G.
- HTOmega: Claro, Claro Plus, Claro II, Claro Halo, eClaro.
- Razer Barracuda AC-1.
- TempoTec HIFIER Serenade
Hi Guys,
i'm the Dude who posted on the other Topic before of the none working Card on my new B550 Aorus Pro V2.
Now I've had this Issue with the loud Noise out of nowhere on my old Platform before. It was a Z77 Extreme from ASrock with a 3570k oc.
I remember the first time it happend was during a Youtube Video on Firefox and a second time on Winamp. Both times i was on my Headphones and it was so damn loud that i thought if i didn't get them off me immediately it would cause damage to my Ears.. Great stuff Asus!
After that somehow it never happend again. I didn't have changed anything i can tell back then.
Now after the 4? Years after the last time this happend it just happend again on my new B550 Aorus Pro v2 with a 5800X Ryzen. Again after i've paused a Youtube Video and restart it. Lucky i wasn't on my Headphones and i just could power off my active Speakers.
I'm realy pissed off about Asus and this hole Essence STX II Problems. I wonder if u even could start a lawsuit against this cause it got potential to permanently Damage hearing..
With this comment, your e-mail address is too made up so it was flagged as spam by the system that I use for spam. While I have another system in place that allows me to manually filter and check the spam, other websites most likely do not have such a thing and your comments would be lost. To avoid such an issue, my recommendation is to make up a more normal looking e-mail address and that ends in .com, .net or .org, and settle on using that. It does not matter if it's fake or not.
Regarding the issue. Please provide the following:
1. Which driver version have you installed?
2. Which panel configuration have you chosen in UNi Xonar installer?
3. What GPU do you have?
4. Which sample rate have you set in ASUS, C-Media or XonarSwitch audio panels? And in Windows Sound->Playback->Speakers (ASUS Xonar..)?
Hopefully you've taken a look at what I wrote in the "General recommendations and what else can you do" section.
This is the most serious issue on the ASUS Xonar cards and should absolutely never happen. It's definitely lawsuit material.
Actually it's a real but generatet Email haha
It's the latest official Asus Driver Version 8.1.11.5. I've got a Asus GTX 1080 OC, the "old" one with slower Memmory speed in the Firmware. But i've Overclocked it manually. Sample Rate is 48Khz/24bit for both. AMP Option is set to 64~300 Ohm for my Sennheiser HD650. Back in the Days when this happend the first time it was Set to the 300< option....
I may going to try to change the Pcie Slot in the Future and see if a Bios Update do smth.
But mostly im going to kick that damn thing out of my System and going for a external DAC + AMP combo.
But like i've sayed before... im pretty pissed at Asus
Thanks for your time tho
Hi guys,
i am using the latest Uni Xonar Drivers from this Site here, running Win10 21H1 currently (19043.985 build exactly) and when i do listen to youtube music videos, and want to skip a bit forward, i get a loud "tack" or "plopp" sound from my Xonar DX..since i've just upgraded after 15 Years from my Soundblaster Xtreme Music, this is 100% a Xonar Soundcard related issue - or with the OS, Win10 here...and/or the current state of (UNi) Xonar Audio Drivers - they're from 2016, so >= 5 years, way old already....why is that, no new Drivers are being avialable from C-Media or AsusTek?
Thanks
Marc
1. I don't understand what kind of noise is that. Is it a single short noise or a continuous noise which only gets resolved when you restart the Xonar driver or the system?
2. Mention your motherboard and video card.
3. Have you tried the possible solutions from the article above?
4. What sample rate have you set in the Xonar panel and in Windows sound?
See FAQ Q&A 13 about why there are no new drivers.
So last time I posted was: 30 Jan 2021
I haven't had the issue for all this time. Now today directly after updating my NVIDIA GPU drivers, the issue occurred inside of Firefox. I only updated the graphic sdrivers and unchecked everything else (disabled hd audio driver, usb-c, etc.). And BAM the issue is here again.
I have the loud white noise issue and when I disable all of Xonar's recording inputs, I have BSODs...
I think I'm better buying a Sound Blaster card 🙁
Did you test your issue under "mute" or volume level to "0" in Input mixers instead of disable them?
I assume you wanted to reply to someone else's comment. When replying to an existing discussion use the "REPLY" button floating on the right of the comment you are replying to. Please remake the comment as a reply and I will delete this separate comment.
There are reports of people fixing this issue by disabling HPET in their bios or in the windows settings.
Do you have a link to those reports?
This week I bought a new PC and put STX II in it. And I still have this issue.
Old PC: Windows 10 with latest Updates, Asus Z87-PRO mainboard, i7-4770K CPU, GTX 1080 graphic card. + UNi Xonar STXII 11.5 v1.80b r3
New PC: Windows 11 with latest updates, Asus ROG STRIX Z690-F mainboard, i9-12900k CPU, GTX 3080 Ti graphic card. + latest official Asus drivers for STX II (Version 8.1.11.5 @2019/12/25)
Irrevelant with the issue, since I saw the date on official drivers seems newer (2019/12/25) than UNi Xonar dates I though it is newer. Is that the real status? Or they just updated old drivers with driver signing and a newer date? Do you suggest UNi Xonar STXII 11.5 v1.80b r3 over official ones?
Did you try any of the possible solutions I've presented in the article above?
As for the driver questions. ASUS removed the beta tag from previous STX II 2014 driver package and re-released them in 2019/12/25. They have the same audio driver as those in UNi Xonar 1.80b driver package. In your case, install UNi Xonar driver if you want to lower your system DPC latency, which is also on the list of possible solutions.
Thanks a lot for the clarification! I'm using Uni Xonar for years, I'd this issue occasionally, but I've never used the possible solutions you listed here. After my post I decided to try them: I removed official drivers and installed Uni Xonar v1.80b r3 with dpc latency option, disabled most of the input outputs of the card that I've never used, only left Headphone output. I faced the issue once after all of these, but still seems better than before.
How often did you get the issue before and how often do you get it now?
Let me know if you will notice that a particular solution has a bigger impact on reducing this issue as this could help us figuring this thing out.
Sorry for the late reply. I've just noticed your post here. I'm getting this issue like once a week for these days, but I think it is because I'm digging deep in my system, and making some simple overclocks trials on my brand new gaming PC. I believe it will be much less with standard daily usage, like once a month or even better, as in my old PC with same card.
I'm not sure if I can find a way to fix this problem since I'm having this issue for years now and on my second PC. But somehow if I can find a way, I'll surely inform you.
Thanks a lot for your attention and great work you've done here!
I've solved this problem by setting 192KHz in "Xonar Audio Center". In Windows Sound Setting it is set to 48Khz/24Bit, but I'm not sure that Windows Sound Setting is important or not. I'm not getting this problem for more than 3 months.
I want to reply in case someone ever reads this. Disregard everything else and TRY Murat's solution first. THIS is the ONLY solution that has seemingly resolved this issue for me!!! I haven't had the loud white noise in weeks! *knock on wood*
I had tried every single uni xonar driver revision, done the recommended settings, changed PCIe version in UEFI, reinstalled countless of times, low DPC, HPET, yada yada yada...
I refused to believe it was issue in the specific drivers or UEFI settings and whatnot, as before discovering UniXonar I had used the horrendous original Asus drivers without any issue. And then I read this comment, and realised I probably had 192Khz enabled on the Asus drivers...
The white noise jumpscare used to happen so often - pretty much exclusively only when viewing video content on a chromium-based web browser - it was so bad I had conditioned myself to take out my headphones whenever I started playback, skipped, or paused. I've managed to regain trust once more.
How often did you get the issue before? Your Xonar card is? Your OS? Did you also changed the sample rate in Windows for the Speakers (ASUS Xonar...) or let that one as default?
There is at least someone for which this possible solution did not work. Perhaps there are different conditions that cause this issue to manifest. Hopefully it will continue to work for you. Let us know if this changes.
So far this fixed my problem as well, it's been working fine now for 2 weeks. Did not change any Windows Sound Settings, just setting the Card Sample Rate to 192 Khz in XonarSwitch.
Problem started when I moved the audio card to a new computer.
Occured during watching Youtube, or computer returning from hibernate mode.
It also it felt like the AMP was running at high gain all the time, even though it was configured for normal gain.
Computer Specs:
ASUS Xonar Essense STX / Driver 8.1.8.1823
Windows 11 23H2
MAG B650 TOMAHAWK B650
Ryzen 9 7950X3D
NVIDIA RTX 4060
Can you confirm that the sample rate in Windows Sound is still 48 kHz? Because XonarSwitch has the option to set also set the sample rate in Windows Sound when you set the Card Sample rate.
How often did you get the issue before?
This method has worked just as well for me. In c-media 192khz, and in Windows settings 48khz/24bit, I've been using this configuration for 4 months now, no incidents.
Before that with identical sample rates in Windows Audio and C-Media (I used 192khz/24bit, 44.1khz/24bit, 48khz/24bit) there was regular loud noise, once a week exactly, in FL-Studio, YouTube, Windows Media. Used the audio card like this for almost a year. hello PTSD when turning on Youtube video
Thank you.
Happened very regulary.. my guess is every 4-8 hours of computer run time.
I checked the XonarSwitch settings.
In my case both system and card sample rate are set to 192Khz.
Hi everyone,
Let me tell my story with this noise problem on my Xonar DX cards.
I have two Asus Xonar DX cards. First of them was heavily used on Z370 8700k computer. No problems with noise at all. Only right channel problem. The second card was on B450 Ryzen 3600 computer. Same here, no noise at all. Then I upgraded the first computer to Z590 i7 11700k (Asus ROG Strix E Gaming) and this problem with noise appeared. This motherboard has only 3 Full-Sized PCI-E slots. The funny thing is that I have tried both of my Xonar DX card on this system and both of them have noise problem. One thing, pretty strange, that solved this problem is to switch system power plan to High Performance mode, then the noise problem goes away. So, for me, it looks like it's somehow related to CPU power states maybe or whole system power saving algorithms. Those of you who have this noise problem, give a try for High Performance System Power plan in Windows and please report if problem persists. I think that those who reinstalled Windows had the Balanced Power plan by default when this noise happens.
And, the last piece of information: I have upgraded second Ryzen computer to X570 Asus Dark Hero and Ryzen 5900X. No problems with noise on DX Card at all.
Hello. I want to share discoveries regarding Asus xonar stx and xonar hdav 1.3 deluxe.
I think I'm one of the few people who can give you a proper answer! On the problem with HISS, noise problem with Xonar STX.
I have both mentioned sound cards from Asus. (Xonar STX) has a lot of HISS, the same as you experience on a cheap amplifier when you turn the volume to 100%.
(Xonar HDAV 1.3) does not have this problem!
(Xonar stx) struggles quite a bit with a lot of HISS out of the RCA. Out of the headphone output, which has its own amplifier to produce a louder sound, you hear HISS very well, also some digital noise that escapes through to the analogue side.
After trying everything like turning off all inputs and everything that has been suggested around the internet I have come to the conclusion that the (Xonar STX) is made this way and there is nothing you can do to fix this problem easily!
I don't think any drivers will fix this either. Earphones with more load will not solve the problem either!
later releases of the same (Xonar STX) may have a different hardware version and do not have as much of this problem.
I cannot confirm this. But it looks like the Xonar STX ll is also struggling with problems.
The strange thing is that (Xonar HDAV 1.3) uses the same DAC ic. and the same op-amp ic. and much of the same as
(Xonar STX) uses.Xonar STX struggles so much with HISS and some digital noise. But HDAV 1.3 does not have these problems.
I don't know what Asuis thought and did when they made it
(Xonar STX) but they have done something terribly wrong with this sound card!
Just for mentioning it, I have a CHEAP DAC. with the same op-amp ic and DAC. ic that Asus xonar uses but it has no HISS and noise and it is completely quiet.
Asus should have been sued for this many years ago.
This page is not for permanent hiss issue, it's for occasional very loud white noise. For permanent hiss you may want to read this page instead. I don't see how you are providing a proper answer, in general the Xonar STX cards do not have a permanent hissing noise on the analog outputs. Either one of those tips work in your case or your specific Xonar STX is defective.
Sorry. I am NOT from an English speaking country.
I have researched a bit on the internet and hiss and white noise are not the same thing.
I mean white noise which sounds almost the same as when you turn the volume on some bad amplifiers to 100%
You can edit and replace hiss with white noise.
I don't think there is a solution to this problem. xonar stx is made with a bug, weakness from asus. The only solution to the problem is to replace the sound card with a different type.
after testing 3 different asus xonar sound cards
(Xonar hdav 1.3)
(Xonar stx)
(xonar dx)
with old and new Asus driver and new and old UNI driver on 3 different computers and disabled all inputs and changed all settings and used the latest (ASIO4) and read a lot on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that the problem with white noise on only Xonar stx is a problem which can NOT be solved in an easy way! The only solution is to replace the sound card with another sound card. Most likely a hardware problem with xonar stx! xonar stx ll is not without problems either!
Admin notice: Comment moved by admin from an unrelated page.If anyone is interested, I found the following on an internet page.
D1 and DX are identical cards, and they both use the same c-media chipset (CMI8788) which is the root of the problem. D1, DX, ds, dsx, st and stx cards use that chip... For example DG is free of the issue as it uses different chip.
The issue has been around for ages but ever since w10 came out it has become even more common.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/xonar-essense-stx-random-loud-high-pitched-ringing-noise.494565/
Just for your information.
My build is:
CPU i-7700k (upgraded from i-6500)
MB Asus Z-170A
Windows 10 20H2
Essense ST UNI Xonar v1.81a with ASUS Audio Center
NO discrete graphics card
I've had the same issue for multiple years.
In different applications (mostly browsers, one case was with Microsoft Teams on an incoming call)
For now, I'm using headphones but used an amplifier through RCA outputs in the past and had that issue once.
The loud white noise issue was fixed on an STX II by: setting PCIe x1 slot speed to "Gen1" in BIOS, and disabling High Precision Event Timer (HPET) in Windows Device Manager. Alternatively, this issue does not occur on Linux. Workaround tested on UNi Xonar 1.80b r3 and UNi Xonar v1.81a r2. My specs for reference: Asus TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS WIFI II motherboard + AMD Ryzen 5 3500.
Thank you for the info. Before, how often would the loud white noise issue happen? You've set the PCIe x1 slot to Gen1 in hopes for a solution to this problem or so that the STX II worked with your motherboard as per the possible fixes I wrote about here? I'm not sure if PCIe x1 set to Gen1 had any effect here, but disabling HPET could very well. Have you tried without PCIe x1 set to Gen1?
Please also make a submission to the Xonar and AMD motherboards compatibility page.
Let us know if anything changes and you start getting the issues again.
The loud white noise issue happened for me on the Asus Essence STX II 7.1 in Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11. The loud white noise typically happens after 30mins of fast-forwarding through Youtube videos on Firefox and Chrome, with Firefox more liable to trigger the noise. The loud white noise issue also happened while fast-forwarding through video files on PotPlayer.
I am not able to bypass the Skia graphics rendering engine used situationally by Firefox/Chrome. EMET (on older Windows 10 versions) and the newer Windows Defender Exploit Guard did not help at all with Firefox/Chrome. Windows 7 in particular seemed to trigger the white noise in half the time it took on Windows 11.
A similar loud white noise issue also happened on an older Essence STX sometime in 2017 (possibly due to the Windows 10 Creators Update).
Although I was forced to set my PCIe slot speed to Gen 1 to get the STX II working with my motherboard (Gen 2/Gen3/Auto would cause stuttering and occasional restarts), I also believe that disabling HPET via Device Manager was the actual fix which resolved the loud white noise issue (that was incredibly anxiety-inducing due to how deafening and sudden the loud noise was).
I had also white noise problem with my STX card. I discovered that enabling ASPM Support (all of them, maybe it doesn't require to enable all of them) in BIOS on my AsRock Z370 Taichi motherboard would allow to update and install a different driver in Device Manager -> System devices. From PCI Express to PCI/PCI Bridge it would now install PCI/PCI-X Bridge driver. I have been using it for a couple of months without any problem. I run Windows 10 with Uni Xonar driver 1.75a r3, the PCIe is set to Auto on BIOS and the card is installed on the first PCIe slot. I don't know if this could also help with AMD problems. Maybe someone can test it.
Admin notice: Made corrections so that the comment is more readable. Corrected lower case product names corrected (e.g. windows -> Windows). Corrected no space after end of a sentence and beginning of another (e.g. ".I" -> ". I").I've been having this issue off and on for years, I've since replaced pretty much every component in my computer and it still happens. At one point it stopped happening for a long time, but seemed to start again after I updated my graphics card. I just disabled HPET in device manager, restarted my computer and I seeked through an entire 15 minute video in 5 second intervals and it didn't do it once. For the record I have a ASUS Tuf z790 plus wifi, with a asus tuf 3080ti and a i7 13700k, I'm on Windows 10 22H2, but this happened with my old 8700k build as well. I believe I'm currently using the latest unofficial driver but I've tried several. I'll report back if I'm wrong, but I've had this issue for a long time and this is the only thing that's seemed promising.