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DAP hiss

post #1 of 9
7/30/07 at 12:12pm
Thread Starter 
This may be adumb question, but does DAP hiss go away if you run a line out and a decent amp? I am going to be building a portable setup and I mostly listen to ambient, so absolute silence is a must.

Recommendations?

~null
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post #2 of 9
7/30/07 at 12:14pm
It does goes away on my Irivers ...
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post #3 of 9
7/30/07 at 12:29pm
Yes, and it also can be headphone out. If the hiss doesn't go up with volume, then you should be able to just take the loudest parts.

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post #4 of 9
7/30/07 at 1:26pm
Line-out is the cleanest output. Listening to it purely out of my gigabeat's dock with no amp is ok, but it's really quiet :|
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post #5 of 9
7/30/07 at 2:51pm
every dap i have used in conjunction with amplifier have taken the hiss down considerably to null. naturally, the portable amplifier you use will have its own noise however, it will be so much less than any dap. my atrio m5 do not hiss with my supermicro, but um2 did slightly.

minidisk players do not hiss at all.
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post #6 of 9
7/30/07 at 4:39pm
the line out on my NW-HD5 is usless without an amp, everything sounds artifacted for some reason
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post #7 of 9
7/30/07 at 4:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aevum View Post
the line out on my NW-HD5 is usless without an amp, everything sounds artifacted for some reason
That's because line-out shouldn't be connected directly to the transducer!
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post #8 of 9
7/30/07 at 4:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by null infinity View Post
This may be adumb question, but does DAP hiss go away if you run a line out and a decent amp? I am going to be building a portable setup and I mostly listen to ambient, so absolute silence is a must.

Recommendations?

~null
Not a dumb question at all. Impedance mis-matches and source/amp/headphone synnergy is one of the most complicated & mis-understood topics on head-fi. Add inter-connect cable capacitance and OP-amp rolling to the mix and you've got a full blown case of heaf-fi craziness on your hands.

Hiss will NOT go away if the amp you are adding is a high gain or poorly designed circuit for the impedance load presented by your particular headphones/IEMs. Contrary to popular myth... adding such an amp may even increase hiss and noise, relative to the headphone output by itself.
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post #9 of 9
7/30/07 at 5:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kramer5150 View Post
Not a dumb question at all. Impedance mis-matches and source/amp/headphone synnergy is one of the most complicated & mis-understood topics on head-fi. Add inter-connect cable capacitance and OP-amp rolling to the mix and you've got a full blown case of heaf-fi craziness on your hands.

Hiss will NOT go away if the amp you are adding is a high gain or poorly designed circuit for the impedance load presented by your particular headphones/IEMs. Contrary to popular myth... adding such an amp may even increase hiss and noise, relative to the headphone output by itself.
Thanks for the great reponse, I currently only have a crappy Sony 1gig DAP and it has a small amount of hiss, as I imagine most DAPs do. I listen at fairly low volumes and hiss drives me nuts (even worse hearing the mouse moving on my PC, or the processor clicks!). So, my plan is to buy a decent DAP with a line out (undecided), run a DIY interconnect using StarQuad and some shielded plugs, and a good amp. I am currently shopping for IEMs and would like the amp to be versitile enough to drive mid-range IEMs and a full size phone (IEMs being the priority).

A built in DAC would be a bonus, but only if it eliminates the transmission of PC noise - otherwise it would limit my choice of amps too much to be worth it.

Kramer - I made a thread about IEMs in the headphone forum, and seeing as your somewhat of a guru, I'd like your input. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=252904

~null
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