Audio PC

If it's 60 Hz hum (assuming you live in North America) then it's a power supply issue. Anything else is most likely interference coming from a PC component or perhaps a wi-fi router that's close by.

Try to write down the conditions when you notice any noise coming from your headphones or speakers. Were you moving your mouse? Playing a game? Accessing something from the disk drive? Note the nature of the noise too - is it steady (hiss, white noise) or intermittent (bursts of static).

Try moving sources of interference away from your setup or turning them off entirely. This includes mobile phones, Bluetooth transmitters, and wi-fi access points.

Good luck!

How important is it to make sure an audio PC is built specifically for that purpose. Is cross talk between PC parts common in terms of creating noise that will be audible through monitors or headphones.

What steps would you guys reccomend to figure out if noise is being generated by components rather than a power outlet?

Is it very expensive to hire an electrician to install audio friendly outlets in your home/studio?

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The conventional wisdom (as I have noted elsewhere) is that PCs are so electrically noisy that they degrade sound quality.  When Stereophile reviewed a PC sound card they found no evidence of this.  The way I look at it is if they can't hear it with their audiophile ears and better equipment than I can't either.

Sound quality varies among motherboards.  Try for a gaming board as they tend to be more expensive but better SQ.

Yes, it can be very expensive to install dedicated circuits for audio.  Especially on newer homes built on a concrete slab.  If you have a crawlspace under your house and the outlet is on the first floor then it might not be too bad.  If you decide to do this ask the electrician to install a 3-wire circuit using metal clad cable.  That will give you metal shielding and 2-120V circuits instead of one.  It only requires one more conductor in the cable and one more circuit breaker but will double your power and reduce the voltage drop.  This is especially nice if it's along way from the outlet to the electrical panel. 

I personally think that the so-called audio grade receptacles are ridiculous.  If you are concerned about this I would suggest a good Hubbell receptacle.  They are bulletproof.

How to tell where interference is coming from is to move your audio and power cable around and see what makes the sound go away.  Worked for me anyway.

OP,

I think we need some context to be helpful. For high quality audio you need a streamer… which is technically a PC, but designed around being nothing else… a great steamer will weigh 30 lbs or more, look like an audio component and do nothing else. The one I own is unbelievable sounding…. and cost $22K. On the other end of the spectrum is a very good sounding streamer like the BlueSound… for around what you would pay for a PC.

Unless you are an audio engineer I am not sure you are goinging to,be building a PC that sounds “good”. I have used many variants of PCs, laptops, amd Macbooks. They only get you to not sounding quit as good as a Bluesound streamer.
 

But all this is dependent on your amp, preamp, speakers… etc.  so, to be helpful. We really need to know what you have, your interest, and goals. My system has two direct lines (dedicated electrical lines from the breaker box to my audio system) and special duplex receptacles. The average cost of my electrical components is $20K… you can see my system under my user ID. Is your system worth $1K, $5K, $10K…etc. What level are you aspiring to?

I'll take that as a challenge.  A lot of streamers sold in the same range as the bluesound are not much more than a Raspberry PIs with some linear power supplies and an adapter hat. like PI2AES. (which is no longer being made.)

The reason expensive ones weigh so much are the power supplies are built into the box. 

This is WAY overkill to me but the components are available and can be purchased pretty inexpensively. 

I'm going to try to build one this winter but will probably just use Chinese linear power supplies.

I currently use a the USB out of an I5 fanless PC running Windows, Foobar and Fidelizer and it sounds better than my PI streamer running an Allo digione both are using switching power supplies.