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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Crackling/Popping Sound regardless of output method! USB-Soundcard.

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    sound problem3.5mmusb sound card
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    • Y
      Yuke
      last edited by

      Hello again... anyone tried this out:

      Troubleshooting!
      If you're using a Raspberry Pi and notice the output isnt totally clean, some USB Audio
      adapters don't like USB-1.2 and produce crackling in the output. You can work around the
      problem by adding dwc_otg.speed=1 to /boot/cmdline.txt and setting the USB ports to USB-
      1.1 mode.

      ?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • edmaul69E
        edmaul69 @Yuke
        last edited by

        @yuke for the headphone jack in /boot/config.txt i think it is:

        disable_audio_dither=1
        
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Y
          Yuke
          last edited by

          Hello, im using

          disable_audio_dither=1

          and also

          audio_pwm_mode = 2

          I dont understand why the usb soundcard jack is exactly the same mess as the pi 3.5mm jack. I dont know much about software and hardware used when creating sound but this doesnt make sense to me ... everyone else is claiming to solve all the sound problems with the use of an usb soundcard...

          Can i trash my usb soundcard if it try out forcing usb 1.1? (troubleshooting quote from my last posting)

          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mituM
            mitu Global Moderator @Yuke
            last edited by

            @yuke said in Crackling/Popping Sound regardless of output method! USB-Soundcard.:

            Can i trash my usb soundcard if it try out forcing usb 1.1? (troubleshooting quote from my last posting)

            Not likely. You can try removing all the sound related settings from you config.txtfile and re-try to see if the sound improves when using the USB soundcard.
            What USB soundcard are you using ?

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            • E
              EctoOne
              last edited by

              I had the same issues where an USB soundcard wasn't better then the build in headphone jack. But that was after I tried different ways to enhance the headphone jacks output. After I did a clean install of Retropie, the quality was way better.
              It almost looked like that the clean install noticed the USB card and adapted the settings.

              Another thing I noticed, when I got my second Pi last month, was that any extra cable reduced the quality of the card. I had it plugged in into a cheap, passive hub with a short cable at first. And I could hear it buzzing whenever I accessed my hard drive or on heavy network traffic.
              On my second Pi I was able to plug it directly into one of the USB ports of the Pi, and now the quality is almost perfect.

              I don't know if this is helpful in any way, because I changed nothing in my setup other then having the card connected directly to the Pi.

              Y 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Y
                Yuke @EctoOne
                last edited by

                @ectoone said in Crackling/Popping Sound regardless of output method! USB-Soundcard.:

                I had the same issues where an USB soundcard wasn't better then the build in headphone jack.

                What do you mean by "wasn't better" ?

                I dont have problem with background noise or low volume for example but i have crackling/popping sounds (especially with high tunes). I dont want to reinstall it without being sure it could help...sadly my game library is also on the SD card...

                @Mitu

                Im using the one of my HyperXcloud2 Headset. It has support for PS4, Mac, Linux and Windows

                Also ordered a cheap one (advertised with retropie support) which isnt here yet (waiting for it before doing something drastic)

                E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • E
                  EctoOne @Yuke
                  last edited by

                  @yuke I meant that I thought buying an external soundcard was a waste of money, because there barely wasn't any difference between the build in jack and the one from the soundcard. But like I said, that was when I already messed around with different settings to fix the issues with the build in jack.
                  I'm using a Speedlink Vigo by the way.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Y
                    Yuke
                    last edited by

                    Yeah but what sound issues did you have?

                    And btw i was testing out three different 3.5mm cables between 20 and 50 cm and there was no difference at all. I think everything under 1 meter will be ok...

                    E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • E
                      EctoOne @Yuke
                      last edited by

                      @yuke Oh, i was having random crackling sounds and constant buzzing. After the new installation, the crackling was gone, but there still was a slight buzzing.
                      And I don't think that the length of the 3.5mm cable matters, mine is 3 meters. Although I'm only using some cheap in ear headphones so there still might be some noise but I'm happy now.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • FruitybitF
                        Fruitybit @Yuke
                        last edited by

                        @yuke If your sound card is being powered by the pi it could well be a simple ground loop. You can get a 3.5mm jack ground loop eliminator which would solve that for a few quid on eBay. You’d need to try powering the sound card from a separate power supply and see if that confirms?

                        DorkVonWaterfallD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Y
                          Yuke
                          last edited by

                          thats a good idea i guess and worth trying out

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Y
                            Yuke
                            last edited by Yuke

                            in case i decide to reinstall my pi2scart retropie image:

                            this is the way to go for usb backup (+ starting games from usb stick in the fture)?

                            https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive (automatic mount method)

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DorkVonWaterfallD
                              DorkVonWaterfall @Fruitybit
                              last edited by

                              @fruitybit said in Crackling/Popping Sound regardless of output method! USB-Soundcard.:

                              ground loop eliminator

                              that saved me a couple of times now

                              01001110 01101111 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01110011 00100000 01101001 01100000 01101101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110011 01100010 01101001 01100001 01101110 00100001

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Y
                                Yuke
                                last edited by

                                ok funny thing i noticed while backupping my sd card to usb.

                                the sound problems got worse while the data was transfered to my usb stick. what does that mean?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Y
                                  Yuke
                                  last edited by

                                  Ok can please anyone just tell me if my Pi is just broken?

                                  I found an hdmi splitter in the darkest corner of my room and did output the sound over its stereo jack (Its and HDMI -> Component/RCA/Stereo-Jack Splitter) and i still have the sound issues.

                                  Anyone? Please?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Y
                                    Yuke
                                    last edited by

                                    retropie image reinstallation helped. what can i do to prevent this from happening tho?

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Y
                                      Yuke
                                      last edited by

                                      Well. Here i am again. Was playing the whole evening and the soundproblems have started again. Its like a degradation over time or something. I know it was perfectly fine after reinstalling the image, was testing it for quite some time out.

                                      What can be the reason for such a weird problem? Like gimme anything you have. Far-fatched or not i dont mind.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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