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.
Same here :(
Only through my right earbud. Still a bummer; I feel like this issue cheapens an otherwise bangin’ device.
My OLED Deck doesn’t have any audio issues with the 3.5mm jack.
That tempts me to RMA - thanks.
Before you do that, try other headphones with your Steam Deck. Based on the comments here, I think the problem is mostly with IEM’s, and maybe this commenter is using headphones?
Really? Thanks for this comment. I think we are all trying to figure out how widespread this is. Good to hear it’s not all of them.
Having the issue on my OLED :(
I have the same problem. Setting the GPU clock to 200mhz fixes the problem, but unfortunately this is not a solution.
Does this mess with the performance?
Sure it does
I made a post about this last night but glad I found this. Hopefully it’s just a software issue, waiting to hear back from steam support. I already have a dead pixel and now this :(
What’s the discord you mention in your posts?
OLED LE.
For me it’s there but it’s faint and really only noticeable from the deck menu and hard to pick up in game. It seems to get worse if things like wifi are running so I would guess it’s bad shielding. I’ve seen this before in other lower quality PC DACs. Seems like it’s poorly shielded and there’s little to be done to fix it. From looking online this is a common issue with LCD models as well.
OLED LE with the issue here. Finally submitted a support ticket after waiting for a few days to see if Reddit turned up anything to fix it (even though it seemed likely that it was hardware).
With the number of posts it’s looking like it affects a lot of units but if it was affecting *every* unit I think we’d be drowning in them.
Both OLED models I’ve tried show this behavior, although it’s very quiet with the headphones I’m using.
not everyone uses wired headphones these days, someone doesn’t care about bt added latency.
I think it may be more widespread. 3/3 of people I know irl have this problem. Maybe most users don’t have IEMs so it doesn’t affect them. It doesn’t seem to buzz when I use my beyer headphones
For what its worth, I got the interference pretty badly with the old 3.5mm earbuds I used on my LCD deck. I honestly dont remember having that issue there. However, I used an over-the-ear headset, a Hyper-X I had lying around, and I did NOT get the interference. Like, not even a little. Maybe something to do with the nature of the cable on that set? I legit don’t have the proper technical knowledge to really get into detail on this.
I’m not an audio expert so this is just the general gist - but I think the reason it is affecting some headphones and not others has to do with resistance. Usually the nicer and larger the pair of headphones the more “resistance” it has which roughly means how much power required to drive the headphones and how sensitive they are to fluctuation in that power.
The higher the resistance the more power required and the less sensitive they are to fluctuations in power. Earbuds are definitely less than 50 ohms. The WH-MX3000s I have (a pair of regular Sony noise canceling headphones) are around 47 ohms so I noticed the noise in those as well.
I have a pair of Sennhesier 6XXs which are giant, great headphones, and they have a resistance of a whopping 300 ohms and I can’t hear the issue in those. But most headphones are closer to the under 50 range.
Your Hyper-X’s are probably somewhere in between the two.
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.
Fantastic explanation, thank you!
I suppose now I’m in the market for high-impedance in-ear headphones, lol. The hyper-x is nice around the house, but when I’m on campus it’d be nice to not need to lug around those and all my other stuff AND the deck.
after deliberating over this the past few days i am convinced it is a hardware issue that an update won’t be able to fully fix. i’ve just submitted a request return the unit for another one. it’s within the return period anyway.
Could you keep us updated as to whether the replacement fixes it? My suspicion is that it’s a financial design issue but I’d love to be wrong.
yeah, still waiting to get a response from support. will update here once the whole process is done.
for those interested, steam is aware of the issue but don’t consider it sever enough to warrant a replacement. i disagree but it seems like the best alternative is for me to return my unit. i find this rather disappointing.
official response from steam support pasted below:
Hi there,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support and reporting this to us.
We understand what you’re describing, but we expect the behavior to be within our tolerances for the product.
All units go through a factory test specifically designed to verify that they do not have an elevated “noise floor” and we’re not aware of anything that would make this issue worse during transport or shipment. We’re actively monitoring these issues to be sure there is nothing outside our expectations.
If you find the “noise floor” on your unit unacceptable, we can process a replacement for you while we bring your unit in for examination. However, we do not believe that a new unit will operate in a significantly different way in this regard.
Steam Support JoJo
I wonder if they were testing with headphones with higher resistances, or testing them in a situation where the GPU was at a lower clock speed and it was harder to hear the interference.
well regardless of how they test, i guess it’ll only start to matter if a bunch of people don’t take this lying down and start RMA returns. it’s not a problem until it hurts them financially.
If I get the same response, I’ll consider it disrespecting an informed user with a pretty obvious QC issue. I’ll be sending it back and just be happy with my 100% working Nintendo Switch and PS5 consoles as I was before.
I have the same issue. Old deck has zero noie. Oled s annoying with IEMs.
Same issue, no problem with old deck, OLED unit makes all types of noise
Same problem. I tested with bluetooth headphones and it’s not there, so it’s specifically when using the headphone jack. I’m hoping this is just a software thing.
512GB OLED model and I also have this issue. Never had this on my old Deck. Extremely annoying!
Same issue here. I found out that it seems to be related to the GPU clock. Try increasing the GPU clock manually while being on the home screen. The static should increase in volume and frequency as you go up with the GPU clock. I hope that it’s just a software thing…
I get buzz on my iem’s only, tried my Shure 535s and a cheap pair with no name and they both get buzz/static and it’s loud. If I idle on the main menu it dies down until I move the cursor again and kt whirrs right back up. If I use my Beyer Dynamic 770’s I get no buzz. Also no buzz on when using usb-c to 3.5mm adapter.
I think it has to be hardware, as I get the issue from my windows pc (basically poor shielding between the electrical gubbins and the jacks). Navigating the menus makes the sound change.
Yeah, it sounds almost like coil whine. I noticed the pitch changes depending on what you set the screen refresh rate to, as well as what’s shown on screen. Unclear if this means the noise is coming from the OLED panel itself, or indirectly from the CPU/GPU behaviour changing because of the new refresh rate.
I have noticed that it gets better (to some extent when you manually change the gpu to 200). It perhaps does not bode well, because it may well then be interference from whatever the GPU is doing - you cannot fix that by just throttling the GPU. I guess the solution is bluetooth earphones, it is annoying given many of us have upgraded from the lcd.
Yeah I also noticed the pitch changes depending on the display’s refresh rate. I guess that’s indirectly affecting GPU frequency maybe.
I’m currently using a USB-C DAC, but it would be nice not to have to use a dongle every time (and it also stops me charging my deck without a USB hub)
Yeah…end of the day it seems like this is a pretty widespread issue of the audio jack essentially being broken. Wtf.