I
bought a nice black Mini ITX case Thermaltake VL52021N2E Element Q
case for my new computer. The sound quality on the headphones output is
just atrocious – crackling and a lot of noise.Contents:
Fix of Thermaltake Element Q front panel PCB
Related: Foam gum HDD holder for Thermaltake Element Q
I
bought a nice black Mini ITX case Thermaltake VL52021N2E Element Q
case for my new computer. The sound quality on the headphones output is
just atrocious – crackling and a lot of noise.
After a short research, I found the offender: Totally crap design of the front panel PCB, that shorts audio ground, USB ground and case shield. Such design ignores all recommendations and it causes problems of sound and may cause problems of USB or even overcurrent destruction of ground wires.
Hopefully the fix is trivial: Cut ground pad to several separate lines for audio, USB and shield. Look at the image for cut lines. After this fix, signal to noise ratio dramatically improved.
