Does your Switch produce a buzz when docked, if using the headphone jack as a line-in? Here’s a BETTER solution!

TL;DR: Get something like this: https://hyperx.com/products/hyperx-amp-sound-card?variant=41031690813597 (It’s sold out on the website but in-stock on a number of other storefronts, if you’re in the US they are in stock on Amazon)
It doesn’t have to be this exact model, but a decent USB sound card that is compatible with the Switch is what you want! Keep in mind that not every USB sound card will work with the Switch, the model I linked works perfectly but if you are looking at other models, just do a little research to see if it’s confirmed to work =D (also bear in mind that some HyperX headsets, such as the Cloud II, come with a similar sound card designed for that specific headset, these will NOT work with the Switch)

This is a known and fairly common issue across a wide number of Switch docks, where the console will produce a low but omnipresent buzz in the audio if you plug an audio cable into the headphone jack to use as a line-in for another device like a PC or a speaker system that draws external power (not headphones). This is commonly assumed to be a ground loop buzz, but most users experiencing this, including myself, cannot seem to get rid of it no matter how they re-arrange their plugs/power sources. If you Goggle this problem, the common solution most redditors or forum users suggest/settle on is a cheap Ground Loop Isolator, but those can seriously impact the sound quality unless you invest in a fairly pricey one, and sometimes require a power source like a battery or a plug.

For close to the same price, a decent USB sound card will give you excellent sound quality and NONE of the buzz produced by using the console’s built-in headphone jack as a line-in. Most of them just have a 3.5mm jack at the end so you don’t need to change your setup at all, and they also give you a bunch of extra cable length to work with if you want to plug your headphones directly into the console while playing docked!

This may seem a bit out-of-nowhere but most of the top results for Googling this issue are years and years old, a lot of them are long-closed reddit threads or archived forum posts, and the only solution I was seeing across all of the ones I looked through was something that could potentially reduce your sound quality, with no mention of USB Sound Cards at all! I just wanted to get this info out there to hopefully save someone the frustration I had while trying to come up with a better solution =3

(PS this is my first post here and I scoured the rules to make sure this was appropriate and okay to post but apologies if I have run afoul of something I missed @.@)

by CloudyObsession