Picked up a "New" unopened Ultrabase 3, great except noise from audio out.

[Digitalhorizons]

I managed to pick up a NOS ultrabase 3 still sealed in lenovo tape made in 2013, everything on it so far seems to work great, except the audio, there's static noise coming out, especially on headphones, I'm a avid music listener and was hoping one thing the ultrabase would do would spare the original port so I wouldn't wear it out so fast, I didn't know such late models ultrabases even had a noise problem until I looked it up and apparently someone else on reddit was having the exact same problems with theirs, is there a way to fix this? Bad caps? Improper shielding, can't the base even be dismantled? I never looked for screw holes on it. Probably should have bought one already tested from a member here. I don't want to have to switch to bluetooth headphones cause I don't have any and the ones I'm using have are much more comfortable with better range than BT headphones.

[RealBlackStuff]

I would check for corrosion inside.

[Digitalhorizons]

I looked inside the jack, I couldn't find any, moving.rotating the cord doesn't change the sound, all the connectors are squeaky clean like it just came out of the factory. Plugging in the PSU adapter causes the noise to get louder. This person essentially has the same problem. I just didn't expect it on one that was new. https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... ck_static/

[Digitalhorizons]

I did some more testing, seems almost anything I do on the laptop produces some specific noise thro the audio port, holding down a key to cause it to repeat like this "ffffffffffffffffffffffffffff" makes a corresponding repetitive sound with each "f" or letter, like brrrrrrrrrrrrrttt very low-fi machine gun sound. Unplugging the power brick makes the noise volume way down, if I plug the PSU directly into the laptop but not the Ultrabase the noise level stays the same as if it was unplugged from the Ultrabase, still noise, but less, still real noticeable on attached amplified speakers.
Also I get a warning about the PSU being disconnected from the base, can the Ultrabase get all it power from the laptop being connected to the PSU and not the ultrabase itself or will problems arise? I see the the base has a rating for 4.5 amps which is what my 90w genuine lenovo PSU can supply.

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you got a 2-prone or 3-prone mains cable on that charger?
Do you have a grounded outlet?
Have you tried other charger(s) and/or outlet(s) in other rooms?
Have you tried lowering the volume?

[atagunov]

Purchase one of these? If you got an ultrabase then a little more space used by an external audio card should be ok. I'm very impressed with the quality of audio output of my UCA202 but would have purchased an UFO202 now instead because UFO202 got a pre-amp and I could have used the microphone on my cheap gaming headset for audio conferencing. All of these have a normal 3.5mm output for headphones duplicating 2 RCA-s outputs (left/right) if you have a better audio device. Support under Linux out of the box, supported under Windows 7 and 10.

BEHRINGER UFO202 (if you'd like to plug a microphone in, you'll still need adapter cables to plug microphone into a couple of RCA inputs)
BEHRINGER UCA202 (that's what I have, I can't plug a microphone in)
BEHRINGER UCA222 (seems to be similar to UCA 202, not sure what the difference is)

These should be around £20. Or get a wired Jabra for 3x-4x the price

[axur-delmeria]

Can you check the docking connectors for signs of corrosion?

[Digitalhorizons]

Have you got a 2-prone or 3-prone mains cable on that charger?
Do you have a grounded outlet?
Have you tried other charger(s) and/or outlet(s) in other rooms?
Have you tried lowering the volume?

I have both the official lenovo 2 prong 90w PSU and the 3 prong 90w PSU that's sold on ebay and amazon now as the "official adapter" but actually isn't. Used both on tested grounded and ungrounded outlets, no difference between any of these variables, even added snap on ferrite chokes to the output of both PSUs, no difference. I will list the tested configurations I've done with the results. I'm pretty sure it's the audio circuit inside the ultrabase being improperly shielded or filtered picking up noise from the laptop, but I would like some other's input cause I'll probably need another ultrabase. There is zero corrosion on the connectors including audio, ultrabase seemed to be keep sealed in it's original box in a very low humidity environment.
Adjusting volume with the volume keys on the laptop does not affect noise coming out of the audio on the base. Muting has no effect either.
1. x220T connected to ultrabase with no PSU connected, powered by battery only. Ultrabase Audio out connected to external speakers or heaphones Noise is present, not horrible, but noticeable and a bit annoying when compared to dead silence when speakers or headphones are connected directly to the audio out on the laptop.
2 x220T connected to ultrabase with either either 90w PSU connected directly to the laptop power port, tested on multiple outlets included line filtered ones exact same noise/ interference pickup as in case number 1
3 x220T connected to ultrabase as above but with either 90w PSU connected directly to ultrabase, noise/intereference pickup MUCH louder, atleast 5 times. noticeable static and interference pickup from operations happening inside the laptop, HDD accessing, scrolling in windows, opening files, moving cursor at times each have their own corresponding "noise "note" that's being picked up and amplified by the ultrabase. Someone on reddit mentioned the DACs in some of these ultrabases are cheap, or have bad filtering or shielding, this appears to be the case in my situation. In this instance if the speakers or headphones are connected directly to the laptop's audio output instead of the base's there is no noise, it's dead silence. This seems to further confirm there is noise intereference being picked up by the base that's not supposed to be occurring.
All these setups were tested on both filtered and ulfiltered, grounded and ungrounded mains with two different 90w PSUs, no difference, also added snapon ferrite chokes to see if that had any effect but it doesn't. The base is amplifying/not filtering noise coming to it from the laptop I'm certain.
Oh, also if I just use the speakers BUILT IN to the thinkpad there is no noise coming from those in any of these configurations either.
Can anyone else with similar equipment test this out to see if they get the same problem, you'll need powered external speakers atleast. I'm disappointed as a put out for a NOS ultrabase hoping I would get good quality without any wear, but maybe I got a fluke bad one off the factory floor. And a ultrabase is pretty essential for my setup cause it allows me a 3rd storage medium/DVD writer, extra USB ports. and a extra audio and ethernet and DP jacks so I can avoid putting anymore wear or strain on the built in ones in the laptop which would be much harder or impossible to replace.
Thanks.

[axur-delmeria]

If it's not corrosion, my next best guess is a malfunctioning capacitor somewhere in the Ultrabase, either on the power rails, or the audio passthrough.

[dr_st]

Can anyone else with similar equipment test this out to see if they get the same problem, you'll need powered external speakers atleast. I'm disappointed as a put out for a NOS ultrabase hoping I would get good quality without any wear, but maybe I got a fluke bad one off the factory floor. And a ultrabase is pretty essential for my setup cause it allows me a 3rd storage medium/DVD writer, extra USB ports. and a extra audio and ethernet and DP jacks so I can avoid putting anymore wear or strain on the built in ones in the laptop which would be much harder or impossible to replace.
Thanks.

Edit: I have tested two different Ultrabases with my X220, using powered speakers (Creative 2.1 set) and also headphones which I plugged into the speakers.

For one of them, the base level of noise is a bit higher when plugged in through the Ultrabase line-out than through the laptop's line-out, while for the other one it is actually a bit lower. In any case, it is nowhere near enough to be considered a problem. When there is silence, I can only hear it when the speakers are above 50% power, and any sound played completely drowns it. It also does not change whether the Ultrabase is connected to AC or not. Therefore, I do believe your particular unit may be a lemon.

As a workaround, until you can find a better Ultrabase - if you have a DisplayPort/HDMI monitor with line-out, you could route the audio through the DP on the Ultrabase, and then from the monitor to the speakers/headphones. DP being digital, I don't expect you will experience the same interference that you have on the analog audio jacks.