Question / Help Static noise when splitting the sound-only when game is open

[CrazylikE]

Hey there.

I am really frustrated atm, so if I forget something or whatever, please ask me.

Ok, first my setup.

PC#1(Gaming): Used for gaming obviously. Has Asus Xonar Phoebus and Realtek chip on motherboard.
PC#2(Capture): This one has a capture card. Only Realtek ship on motherboard.

The capture card is connected to PC1 from PC2 through HDMI.
The sound from PC1 is being split by an y-splitter from PC1's sound card (Realtek or Xonar, same result with both) and is connected to PC2's line in (sound card or capture card, same result with both).

This is my setup and it is fairly basic I think. The video part of it works without any issues, and as long as I don't start a game, the sound is also without issues. However, as soon as I start a game, static noise shows up. When the game is loading up, no static, as soon as the loading over, it is there. This includes the in-game loading between zones and what not in games like Path of Exile, the static goes away during loading.

I have updated drivers. I have tested old drivers. I have tried a different y-splitter. I have tested different cable (the one that connects PC2 to the y-splitter). Tested both sound cards in PC1.

This ONLY happens when I connect PC2 to the splitter. If I connect 2 headsets, no problem. As soon as I plug in PC2, static (if game is open).

I'm getting a headache just thinking about it, so please please, anyone.. heeelp!! :p

Edit: tested more. I can shut down PC2 and the static is still there, even if I unplug the power to it. When I unplug the cable though, static goes away. Plug it back in, static is still there. But only if I have it connected to PC2, even though it is shut down and has no power... what the crap is going on here?!

 

[Lain]

Re: Static noise when splitting the sound-only when game is

Sounds really weird. Not sure what to suggest about it -- very confusing. Just so I can be clear, OBS itself cannot generate that static -- the static issue is external to OBS itself, so it's definitely something else. Usually when I hear about static it's from having too many devices plugged in or too many devices active at once on a system, tends to be a weird motherboard issue for some reason.

As to what to do to fix the problem though, unfortunately your setup is a rather rare so your guess would probably be as good as mine at the moment.

 

[CrazylikE]

Re: Static noise when splitting the sound-only when game is

I think I made it pretty clear that this isn't related to OBS. Maybe I should have posted this somewhere else.

Anyway, I have discovered something. When doing various stuff in the game, the static noise changes, from high to low and so on. Just opening the chat window in Path of Exile is enough to change it. A friend told me he was a hundred percent sure that this was related to voltage somehow when he heard the noise on my stream. Especially how it changed when I did stuff.

Somehow we came to the conclusion of fiddling with the balance of the PC1 sound output. I adjusted the sound down on the left side and up on the right side etc. and with that, the static was gone. I fiddled with it some more and the static came back, I continued doing it more and the static went away. Makes no sense to any of us, but now the static is gone. Not sure if it will come back on its own eventually or not, guess I will have to see. Very odd indeed.

If someone could shred some light on this issue, it would be very much appreciated, but for now it works anyway.

 

[Lain]

Re: Static noise when splitting the sound-only when game is

No you're in the right forum, I probably should have read more closely. My apologies