Question High-pitched screech sound problem

[WitheredRose]

Lately I had some sound problems with my right ear cup in Hyperx Cloud Alpha(had them since end of october 2020), so I'm very sensitive to any foreign sounds.

I've heard a very high-pitched screech that is a little painful to ear, yesterday there (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1030023352) at 2:10:28 minute mark and today here (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1031189958) at 3:42:48 and 3:44:52 minute mark, both in right ear cup. So those problems appeared lately(a little more than a week ago) and now one day after another I hear the most unpleasant sound so far combined with whole week of problems in right ear cup, anyone would guess that problem lies in the headphones, right? Well...

• I found an option in Windows 10 that activates mono sound, so I've been using it to hear if problem lies in video audio(so some sound abnormality, if in video, would be now be hearable in both ears), in this case, the high-pitched screech was still only hearable in right ear. So again, that would mean the problem lies in headphones, but.
• I checked it in my previous headphones (Razer Kraken 7.1) and the high pitched screech was also there in right ear cup! In that case this would be either motherboard on-board audio that I use (highly unlikely) or twitch.tv itself. I clipped those moments and downloaded them, they were MP4 files and when listening to them in Windows 10 player there wasn't any high-pitched screech!
• I also checked it on mobile and neither in phone speakers nor on headphones was there that high-pitched screech, but I don't think that change a lot cause it's only a phone.
• Volume affects the loudness of the high-pitched screech
• So last thing I checked was different browsers. The main one I use is Opera GX, so I checked Microsoft Edge(no high-pitched sound!), Internet Explorer(high-pitched sound!), Mozilla Firefox(high-pitched sound!), Google Chrome(no high-pitched sound!), Tor Browser(high-pitched sound!), that's weird, right?

To sum things up:
Mono-sound option in Windows 10: high-pitched sound.
Different headphones: high-pitched sound.
Downloaded clip(windows 10 player): no high-pitched sound.
Mobile speakers and headphones connected: no high-pitched sound.
Different browsers:
Opera GX: high-pitched sound.
Microsoft Edge: no high-pitched sound.
Internet Explorer: high-pitched sound.
Mozilla Firefox: high-pitched sound.
Google Chrome: no high-pitched sound.
Tor Browser: high-pitched sound.

So I would really appreciate if you guys could check those 3 moments and see if you hear those sounds, and maybe advise what should I do next, I was personally thinking about sending them to warranty but if I can also hear it on different headphones, but can't hear it on some other browsers then I really don't know what's the problem, headphones, twitch itself, sound card, browsers, maybe me, or even something else?

Additional info: Both videos were on max twitch volume and 1080p60. Audio drivers doesn't seem to matter, the problem was in both older ones and the newest ones. Opera GX, Explorer, Edge and Tor were alreday on PC for few months, Firefox and Chrome were clean installed to check. The same on both front and rear audio ports. If I record the audio and listen to it, the high-pitched screech sound is there.

Components:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX
PSU: Corsair RM550x
Ram: Patriot 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 Viper 4
SSD: Crucial 500GB 2,5" SATA SSD MX500
GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 5600 XT PULSE 6GB GDDR6

 

[UsandThem]

It sounds like you are getting audio interference in your case.

Are you plugging the headphones into the case's audio port in the front? If so, the audio cable that connects from your motherboard to the audio port are many cheap and unshielded (and can pick up interference inside of the case).

Try connecting the headphones directly to the (red) audio out port on your motherboard and see if you still pick up the interference.

 

[crashtech]

I got myself a Topping DAC and optical cable to isolate my sound from the PC. Most of that kind of noise comes from interference inside the PC as UsandThem says.

 

[WitheredRose]

It sounds like you are getting audio interference in your case.

Are you plugging the headphones into the case's audio port in the front? If so, the audio cable that connects from your motherboard to the audio port are many cheap and unshielded (and can pick up interference inside of the case).

Try connecting the headphones directly to the (red) audio out port on your motherboard and see if you still pick up the interference.

I actually have my headphones plugged to motherboard's audio port, I've tried the front audio port and the high-pitched screech appear even there so that doesn't seem to be the case.

Somewhere else someone forwarded me to this specific Windows 10 issue, but it specifically targets only users using 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, and I'm using stereo so I think that's also not the case.

 

[UsandThem]

I actually have my headphones plugged to motherboard's audio port, I've tried the front audio port and the high-pitched screech appear even there so that doesn't seem to be the case.

Somewhere else someone forwarded me to this specific Windows 10 issue, but it specifically targets only users using 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, and I'm using stereo so I think that's also not the case.

You might have a component giving off interference, or maybe even a ground loop from your wall power.

You can look at these articles to see if they help:
Ground loop
From PC components

The easiest way to make sure the issue isn't from inside your PC/motherboard audio problem, is to use an external DAC like crashtech mentioned. There are plenty of options that don't have to be high-end/expensive. Here's one for under $20: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-70SB173000000-Sound-Blaster/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ

 

[WitheredRose]

You might have a component giving off interference, or maybe even a ground loop from your wall power.

You can look at these articles to see if they help:
Ground loop
From PC components

The easiest way to make sure the issue isn't from inside your PC/motherboard audio problem, is to use an external DAC like crashtech mentioned. There are plenty of options that don't have to be high-end/expensive. Here's one for under $20: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-70SB173000000-Sound-Blaster/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ

I have some new info:

• I checked all the browsers again and the screech appeared in every one of them. Yes, even on Edge and Chrome, so I think that pretty much means browser is not a problem.
• I reversed audio channels today so right channel would play in left ear cup and left channel would play in right ear cup. I could hear the screech in left ear cup so I think that pretty much excludes headphones as a problem.
• I was also able to find the high-pitched screech here (Spoilers to anime My Hero Academia Season 3) "https://www.breach.tv/video/8938/mha-s3-ep-4-theflamingshark-s-reaction" at 15:40 minute mark, but the same video was also uploaded here "https://streamable.com/ec3utc" and here "https://mega.nz/file/NUhACDbY#nXu9F22Qg5Iv_vjuI6HVMxPd8L5an-NFOG4z2hQM6Zk", however on the streamable at the same minute mark I could hear only a screech(not high-pitched) while on MEGA there was no screech at all. Maybe there is something that conflicts with some websites? I'm also using youtube a lot(much more than those other sites) and I'm yet to hear a screech there.

I'm pretty sure its not the drivers. I'm not sure about the Windows 10 itself.

Not sure if we can move forward without checking external DAC just like you and crashtech advised. But I'm not sure if I'm keen on spending $20 on that, I found few cheaper options in my country, do you think they'll also do the test?

 

[crashtech]

Sometimes USB cables can carry noise, so DACs that utilize an optical cable are best. Unfortunately, your motherboard does not have this capability.

One other inexpensive test would be to boot from a live Linux distro like Peppermint to see if the noise is different or goes away. I think it's probably hardware related, but this is one more free thing to try before buying something.

 

[WitheredRose]

Sometimes USB cables can carry noise, so DACs that utilize an optical cable are best. Unfortunately, your motherboard does not have this capability.

One other inexpensive test would be to boot from a live Linux distro like Peppermint to see if the noise is different or goes away. I think it's probably hardware related, but this is one more free thing to try before buying something.

I'll definitely try that on a day when I have more time(I guess at weekend).

There is one more thing I wonder about, if I were to record those screeches would you be able to hear them?
I've put them on google drive cause I couldn't attach mp4 files here. I'd like you to listen to them if you have nothing against it of course!
I've put in their title which screech they are, from what site and at which second the screech happens.

 

[crashtech]

@WitheredRose , I was not able to hear anything out of the ordinary in those clips. My hearing above 10KHz is severely impaired, though.

 

[WitheredRose]

@WitheredRose , I was not able to hear anything out of the ordinary in those clips. My hearing above 10KHz is severely impaired, though.

Okay, thank you. So my next step will be checking the Pepermint you've mentioned this or next week. If something new happens along the way I'll mention it here.