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A comment on Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter. Parent comment

Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by baxuz on Thursday April 15, 2021 @08:57AM (#26819878)
Not really easy to be honest. Depending on the day, I am getting horrible static in my desktop microphone(s). This might be caused by no grounding in the outlet.

I'm living in a really old house with no ground for most rooms (yes, I know), with only a bootleg ground to prevent _really_ bad noise and occasional static zaps. Though I've read of many people having the same issues with properly grounded machines (as far as it goes for domestic use. I'm not talking about studio-grade grounding).

My Macbook, on the other hand, doesn't have any static, even though its charger doesn't even have a ground pin, nor does my Steelseries Arctis 1 wireless (which uses a non-bluetooth dongle. Might be because it's wireless, or just because it's an external device.

In any case, I don't feel comfortable shelling out upwards of 400$ for an audio setup.

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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by elisaado on Thursday April 15, 2021 @09:28AM (#26820195)
I don't recommend the following but in our old house I used to tie my outlet ground (that was free floating) to the radiator which was grounded. It worked until my mother reported the shower water was feeling "very harsh".
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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by Cerium on Thursday April 15, 2021 @10:29AM (#26820938)
Sounds like the radiator was not actually grounded and the device plugged in had a ground fault.
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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by doubleunplussed on Thursday April 15, 2021 @10:11AM (#26820718)
If the radiator was actually grounded, why would there be any effect on the water?
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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by baxuz on Thursday April 15, 2021 @09:29AM (#26820204)
Yeah, I could theoretically tie my outlet ground to the gas pipe. Doesn't sound like a good idea.
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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by XorNot on Thursday April 15, 2021 @08:59AM (#26819905)
This shouldn't be a problem from what I understand: "real" ground is just tied off to a rod buried in your backyard, but it's also bonded to neutral at the switchboard anyway.
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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by ferongr on Thursday April 15, 2021 @10:17AM (#26820801)
>but it's also bonded to neutral at the switchboard anyway

Depends on the country. Over here protective earth is entirely separate from neutral, and there's a separate earth stake for each consumer. This is the TT system.

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Re:Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter by elisaado on Thursday April 15, 2021 @09:32AM (#26820245)
Yes, but with a certain resistance meaning there will always be a voltage difference between neutral and ground.
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