Hacking Is my NDSL's audio messed up?

[tackle]

Hi guys

I used to have a GBA, and when used headphones with it I often thought about how noisy and low quality everything sounded. I told myself that it sounded pretty "old-school" and all was fine

Anyways, I just got myself a NDSL, and I tried plugging in headphones to it and I noticed the same thing here. Let me give you an example:

I start the DS without any games in it, I click picto-chat. When I get the list of available chatrooms, there's this loud electronic humming emitting from the audio-jack into my headphones. I would ASSUME this is normal, but considering this is quite modern age high tech stuff I think it's weird that Nintendo wouldn't be able to produce something better than this, audio-quality terms.

Could anyone verify if they have the same experience, or did I get a crappy copy? It was bought at one of the largest electronics warehouses in Sweden where I live so there's no chance of fake product or whatever.

Edit: Btw, could someone just try what I explained in my scenario? Listen in some headphones, preferrably high volume and good quality headphones, and then click pictochat, and listen if there's any difference

 

[Kenzya]

I plugged in my expensive audiophile headphones and didn't hear anything.
I plugged in my ipod earphones and didn't hear anything.
I plugged in some shitty MPIO earphones and heard a slight electronic hum.

I would say it's cause of your headphones.

 

[imgod22222]

i agree, it happens between headphones, if i would say anything, it sounds like your headphones are going to die soon. OR: Your headphones have that advertised "bass boost" which really is a lie for as much as i know.

 

[tackle]

Well not so sound rude or anything, but you can't be right about that.
I'm an audio engineer so I know my gear, these are a pair of Sennheiser HD200 headphones, among a collection of other Sennheisers.
I don't have any problem with these whatsoever in any other application.

edit: I've come to the following conclusion -
by turning off the audio completely, I still have this issue, so it's related to starting up the wifi-function. wifi drains more power, thus an electronic hum

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case with all samples of the console
I'll see if I can get a nice recording of the noise for you to listen

 

[Psyfira]

I use dirt cheap headphones and heard nothing. Definitely quieter than a GBA.

 

[lagman]

I use dirt cheap headphones and heard nothing. Definitely quieter than a GBA.

Absolutely right, and it´s a shame ´cause some of the "Surround" effects in some games are really good.

 

[Kenzya]

I went out and tried those three pairs just for you. I can't say anything else about it. The humming definitely exists but between 2 out of 3 pairs of headphones I couldn't hear it.

If you turned off the sound and still heard the humming wouldn't that be even more proof thrown towards headphone problems? Oh, and don't play that guitar game for the DS, it will sound like absolute shit with nice headphones.

 

[skullstatue]

I hear it too, I use Koss Sparkplugs (very, very nice headphones for the price) and get a very noticeable electronic humming (always the same level no matter the volume) when I change screen brightness, load an image, play a game, when icons are shifted, and especially while loading ROMs. I have noticed it on my sister's G6/DS also, it's not really bad. You just need to turn the volume up to drown it out, Nintendo didn't need to worry about Audio all that much since it was designed for gaming, and gaming only (since the system has so very little RAM I don't think Nintendo really worried about the "quality" of the system, they just cared if the games were fun with what was at do).

 

[tackle]

Yeah it's no big deal really, since it's not loud enough to really be an issue. The reason I was even remotely worried was that I wanted to make sure I just didn't get a bad example of the DS.
Thanks for the help guys. That includes you Kenzya, it was appreciated!