Got my OLED LE yesterday and I’ve noticed with IEMs that I’m getting this steady static noise/feedback sound from the new deck. Did not have this issue on my original deck, but I’ve seen a lot of older posts discussing this kind of issue on the original deck after searching. So…just a heads up, test your audio jack. I am probably just going to use a USB C audio adapter, NO way I’m going through the RMA process for this.
Although there is some surface-level truth to this, it’s way more convoluted and not as linear as that. There are plenty of audiophile-grade headphones which are more sensitive and easier to drive than cheap ones. The fact is that both impedance and sensitivity levels affect how easy it is for headphones to pick up distortion, interference, etc. Referring to my comment above with some tests, my 250ohm Beyerdynamic DT-770 are the only pair which currently hides the problem 100%. They are usually quite difficult to drive and yet the Steam Deck doesn’t seem to have an issue with volume with them. This leads me to think they messed up the pre-amping/ level of current which is always being output, making it way too high for more sensitive gear and leading to that obvious and obnoxious electrical floor noise.
I would really like to think that this is maybe a driver/ software-level issue, since I’ve had problems with noise before with wireless headsets, audiophile DACs, etc. which were made better with updates and switching drivers. I’m still waiting for Valve’s response to my support ticket. In the meantime, I’d suggest everyone affected by this would also complain to them so we can maybe start to figure this out.