Blue Snowball High Pitched Humming

[mrsomedude]

Thanks for the help. The one that you have suggested isn't available in the UK. Would this one do the same job and are there any cheaper alternatives to it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plugable-Speed- ... le+usb+hub

[kozikowski]

The research is up to you, but that one looks like it has all the pieces needed -- and the specification is for UK mains.

It says you can get a refurbished one for 10 pounds.

Koz

[mrsomedude]

Ok so the pluggable usb hub came in the post today and it has got rid of the high pitched humming which is great but now I get a low pitched hum. I've tried different usb ports but its the same each time. I have attached a sample.

[Trebor]

Ok so the pluggable usb hub came in the post today and it has got rid of the high pitched humming which is great but now I get a low pitched hum. I've tried different usb ports but its the same each time. I have attached a sample.

That's got some 1KHz harmonics from the computer and now has added 50Hz harmonics (mains hum) ...

Frequency analyses of ''Background noise,wav (922.54 KiB)''.gif (63.95 KiB) Viewed 1028 times

I'd be tempted to try a decoupling capacitor, (aka bypass capacitor), across the 5V power supply coming from the USB socket,

However I have never done this myself, so I can't tell you if it will work or is safe to do so.

Apparently if the value of the capacitor used is too high, the momentary high inrush current when it is connected can be sufficient to trigger a safety device designed to protect against short-circuiting the power supply at the USB socket ... http://www.head-fi.org/t/183358/the-hol ... st_2304520

If this capacitor idea does work to clean the 5V power supply going to the USB mic, then surely someone somewhere must already make a USB plug adapter with a bypass-capacitor in it ? , (I've never seen such a thing).

[mrsomedude]

Ok right here's the thing. That humming sound happens when I boot up my computer. After 20 mins its still there but quieter and after about 40 mins its not there but there is still a little bit of the high pitched humming. However its definitely quieter with the new hub now so its great but there is still a slight humming. Any thoughts?

[kozikowski]

This is very much like discovering Penicillin no longer cures your rash. We have a Snowball at work and it's always worked perfectly for me on many different computers, and we have several conference rooms where we were forced into the wall-powered hub trick to avoid noise and extend the USB cable reach to a microphone.

I'm not sure where to go if those tricks don't work. I assume there's not an unlimited budget.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Is the usb hub plugged into the same outlet as the computer? That's usually desirable to suppress mains hum problems. If you can reverse the plug, try that.

I don't remember if it's a laptop... Can you run it on batteries long enough to test for noise?

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

Ok right here's the thing. That humming sound happens when I boot up my computer.

Can you replace the USB cable or is it part of the mic?


Gale

[kozikowski]

The Blue Snowball has a USB B on the back. That's the square one with one rounded edge, right? It's takes a printer cable. Or at least ours does.
Koz

[straightarrow372]

I had this same issue with a blue snowball. It was ok when new but then developed a high pitch hum. It has this hum both on my mac and my PC and no matter which USB port I use.

Then I got a new snowball. Again it was ok when new, but now has developed a lower white noise hum.

Very irritating.