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Rampage IV Extreme Black Audio (Impedance)

SoulDragonWithF
Level 7
Hi,

Ok I am probably posting this on the wrong site but with a bit of luck there should be some gamers on here who love good audio too.

I have a Rampage IV back mobo in my system but I've been having a few audio issues. I've been getting quite annoying EMI through the front 3.5mm headphone port on my ordinary bose AE2 headphones. The thing is is that I know the black edition is capable of driving anything up to 600 ohm headphones so, will upgrading to a higher ohm impedance headphone reduce the interfere? It that the reason people go nuts over high impedance headphones?
I couldn't find a straight answer on the net and it was just an idea i thought of while thinking back to my A-Level physics, my logic was that something with high resistance (ohmege) should be less susceptible to an unintended electrical signal. I just would like some clarification on the issue as this was only basic logic and there was every chance this could be bull****. So will a higher impedance headphone setup help with interference?

FULL SPECS
MoBo= Rampage Extreme IV Black Edition
CPU = i7 4960x (Both 8 pin and 4 pin being used)
CPU Cooler = Corsair h100i (Top of case intake, 2 x 120 fans, configured in push)
RAM = 32 gb Kingston HyperX Beast black (configured in 4 channel)
PSU = Corsair AX860i
Graphics = 1x ASUS HD 7970 Matrix Platinum (Overclocked to 1230 mhz, running at 16x, 4 pin molex AUX power NOT used on board)
Boot Drive = ROG Raidr PciE SSD 225 gb
Storage = 4TB WD Black
Case = Cooler Master Cosmos 2
Replaced Fans: 200mm Bitfinex Spectre Pro (front intake), 2 X Cooler master Turbine master (side exhaust), NZXT FX120 (top exhaust), NZXT FX140 (rear exhaust)
Misc: NZXT HUE, Pioneer BluRay Writer, HyperX Ram Cooler
5,043 Views
6 REPLIES 6

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
Have you tried the rear mic jack as well?

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-impedance

http://whirlwindusa.com/support/tech-articles/high-and-low-impedance-signals/


SoulDragonWithFlow wrote:
So will a higher impudence headphone setup help with interference?


Impedance you can control impudence is going to be a whole other matter 😉

Sigh. Sorry for the spelling mistake. You know what I mean.

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
Sorry 😮 Just a joke SoulDragon no harm meant:)

Yeah I know. 😉 lol

Mike2014
Level 7
Hi There,

I notice you are using a Cooler Master Cosmos ii Case, I too own a R4BE with the same case as you. The issue your describing is something I also encountered and is not the boards fault. The issue lies with the front panel connections themselves, the front upper connections (Audio Out/Mic/USB3/2 x USB2.0) are all moulded into one plastic block, and the bottom row are also moulded into a plastic block. Inside the block is a Ground Wire, which grounds all the connections Horizontally, back to the chassis of the case. Same with the bottom row. The problem is: Audio picks up data noise from the USB 3.0 and/or USB2.0 ports. So the only solution to solving this completely is to cut out a small section of the block, in between the audio connectors and the first USB 3.0 port and cut out part of the ground wire, which is a small brown wire. Unfortunately - you cannot just unscrew the ground harness from the case either, as the issue is still there because the Audio is still Grounded to the USB ports. The whole process is actually quite easy, and my audio is completely quite now! 🙂

I found a guide from this site which I followed:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1325668/cosmos-ii-front-panel-audio-noise-fix

The only thing I did slightly different - On picture 4, I didn't cut the whole connector in to two pieces because I believe this might have caused mounting issues when re-assembling. I just simply cut out the bottom square using a sharp knife, and about halfway into the block you will see some clear plastic inside, and the brown grounding wire.

Problem solved!

On my Sennheiser HD650 headphones, driving through the front Audio Output. The on-board soundcard actually drives these better than my older Creative Xi-Fi Elite Pro!

Obviously this is temporary whilst I source a DAC and Headphone Amp.

Well Good Luck To Anyone Out There Looking To Perform This Mod!

Thanks

Mike