I’ve seen quite a few posts already about the buzzing in headphones when using the 3.5mm jack on the new SD OLED models.
Got mine yesterday and having the same issue but the effect varies quite dramatically depending on circumstances. I have 3 pairs of headphones to test:
- Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 Ohm, has no noise issue that I can detect when using the 3mm jack but also has lowest volume due to impedance so might just be below the noise floor for me to hear.
- Beyerdynamic BeatByrds 18 Ohm, slight noise and buzzing but not enough to be truly distracting, especially while playing a game. Although still a little frustrating on the Steam menus.
- Roland CS-10EM Binaural Mics/Headphones 16 Ohm, these ones have a huge amount of electrical buzzing and noise.but they are also the loudest of my headphones. They have mics in the headphones and a separate jack so I thought that was maybe causing the issue at first until I saw everyone with the issues here. The noise level is really unbearable on these.
I had previously used all three sets on my LCD model before and had no issues with noise or buzzing.
I used the Roland headphones to test where and when I heard the most noise and buzzing and strangely enough depending on what is highlighted on screen sometimes the noise disappears. When games are highlighted browsing the library the noise is at it’s worst, but if I move up to the tabs row of the library and highlight one of the heading for “installed”, “favourites” etc then there is no noise that I can hear. As soon as I got back down to highlight a game the noise is extremely loud again. And switching between menu items peaks the highest amount of buzzing.
Is anyone getting similar results? Does anyone understand why this issue might change when highlighting different menu items?
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In my experience my sennheiser ear buds buzzed incredibly loudly and that buzz changed depending on the menu just like you stated. The game menu being the absolute worst.
I almost returned it but tried my headphones I usually use (sennheiser 558 (50ohm) and a pair of blue lola’s (42ohm)) both of which had 0 buzzing even in a dead quiet room. I did get a bit of crackling when booting into a game, though that seems to have disappeared with a restart.
There doesn’t seem to be any volume or clarity difference with either pair of headphones compared to my LCD deck. My LCD doesn’t buzz with the earbuds.
On further testing in the steam menus I duplicated your results with highlighting some menus making the buzzing disappear entirely.
I’ve had other devices with whining headphone jacks, but they never changed depending on menus or headphones. It’s super weird but I’m happy I don’t have to RMA… yet.
My cheaper Sennheiser CXSomething in ear headphones have the slightest buzzing that I hear in pretty much all jacks. Lucky it’s not there in games.
That’s great to hear someone else experienced the different noise levels on the menu. Makes me hope it’s a software or firmware issue they can rectify without RMA then.
Yeah, my LE OLED has EMI as loud as normal audio when I use my IEMs. This is the 2nd post I’ve seen about it, after the one I first saw just got locked by mods. Guess I’m meant to dig through a 12000-comment megathread to talk about hardware issues here, cool cool.
I’m really doubtful this is a software issue, I can hear the EMI while my headphone jack is just half-inserted and the steam deck is still outputting to its speakers. I’ll give it 1 RMA before I refund, but unlike my dead pixel and complete inability to use a keyboard with the USB port this is almost certainly going to be a board-design issue that basically makes OLED decks a non-starter for me.
Yep, my Blessing 2 Dusks and Mangird Tops buzz like hell. Definitely an issue for sensitive IEMs. A workaround is to use a USB-C dongle for audio. Apple sells one for cheap and works wonders. It’s not a fix but I can live with it.
I’d been using mine without noticing this before reading it, now it’s been mentioned I can hear a very low level hum/static when no audio is playing but it’s so quiet it hadn’t even really registered without consciously listening for it.
I’d wager this affects all OLED Decks and the severity varies depending on your headphones.