Thank you for answering.
I don't think the trouble lies in the hardware, because the noise is rhythmical, it seems like a track with the wrong pitch and the wrong instrument.
My DAW is a bit dated (Core 2 T9300, 64 bit) but since it's a laptop, the only cables are the ones for the soundcard (a cheap Soundblaster, but it has never given me problems in the past).
Any suggestions? Thank you again.