Hey everyone! I've been dealing with this annoying low hum in my headphones that only shows up when my monitor is connected. I tried to unplug everything systematically, and the hum stopped once I disconnected the monitor. I even noticed that if I touch the headphone jack to the metal part under the monitor where the display port cable connects, the humming comes back. Interestingly, disconnecting the power cable from the monitor also eliminates the noise altogether. I attempted to plug the monitor into a different outlet in another room, but the hum persists. I'm really looking for insight into what might be causing this and how I can resolve it.
4 Answers
This is likely noise coming from the monitor's audio circuit or grounding, not from your PC. If it hums with just the power connected and no display port cable, that headphone jack is probably leaking noise. A quick fix is to avoid using the monitor's audio jack and just plug your headphones directly into your PC or a USB DAC. If you prefer the monitor's jack, consider getting a 3.5mm ground loop isolator, or think about an RMA for the monitor.
It seems like your monitor might be causing some electromagnetic interference (EMI) that's being picked up by your headphones. Is your monitor an older model?
It's around 4 or 5 years old at most, but I have two of the same model, and only one has this issue.
You might have a ground loop issue. Are your headphones plugged into the motherboard's aux port? If you have another aux port on your monitor or the front of your PC case, you could try those instead.
If I plug my headphones directly into the monitor's jack, the hum is still there, but it's gone when the monitor isn't connected to the PC.
Make sure your headphones are directly connected to the back of your PC's motherboard instead of using the front case jacks. Monitor manufacturers often overlook the quality of the headphone output. Connecting directly to the motherboard should avoid these kinds of issues.
I usually use a Yamaha AG-06 USB mixer for my microphone, so I'm not using the monitor jack normally. But now that I know what's causing it, I might try to RMA the monitor.