Buzz from Xonar DG soundcard in new PC

swechsler

Frog Whisperer
My system is as follows:

Lenovo Thinkcentre M Windows 10 Pro PC (circa 2012) core i5, low profile
Xonar DG PCI soundcard
Aphex interface 124A (converts unbalanced signal to balanced)
Genelec 1030a monitors

The PC has two internal hard drives plus two external USB drives.

I get a low level buzz in the speakers when the Aphex is connected to the sound card. This happens whether or not anything is playing. When I remove the connection no sound is heard (except for an extremely low hiss from the Genelec amps, which I can deal with), so it appears that the PC is the issue. I recently moved the Xonar from a much older (Core 2 duo) HP tower, which did not have this problem. I have tried moving the internal cables around inside the PC's case, and I've tried the other PCI slot. Neither one seems to have made a difference. The buzz also seems to cause distortion at low levels.

Now, I can get around this issue by either installing an attenuator between the Xonar and the Aphex (the output of the card is way higher than I need; both the Aphex and Genelecs have attenuators but they're at minimum already) or by using an external DAC. However, I'd really like to resolve the issue properly. Any ideas?

ETA: I should also mention that I get the same buzz if I try the Lenovo's built-in soundcard.
 
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