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Harman Kardon HK 3490 receiver. Unlimited power for your phones and a nice DAC to boot? - Page 3

post #31 of 54
8/16/12 at 1:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brando View Post

That's really weird because I don't hear any more hiss than i did with the stx amp or the gilmore lite I used to own and this is at a higher volume.

Are you getting a bit of electromagnetic interference from your SoundCard? The only reason I tried moving away from my SC is because I hear chatter coming from the graphics card(only when I'm using the Valhalla; otherwise, the EMI is incredibly hard to pick up)

Also, if you're plugging your headphones in from the jack on the front of your case, try going directly from the card; most peripheral jacks arent shielded right and will usually pick up interference

 

Edit: oh wow, its so much worse with the T1's.. Q.Q


Edited by aleki - 8/16/12 at 2:08pm
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post #32 of 54
8/16/12 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 

I always plugged straight into the card.  It was easy to tell it was hissing because if I put the phones on before booting up I heard nothing until I heard the stx make that click that signaled that it had turned on.  As soon as the card clicks on I can hear some low background hiss but it's no worse than the hk3490 or gilmore lite.  Could my surge protector have something to do with it?  Not sure why it would but I don't know what else is different between our setups unless you have bad power in your part of town.

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post #33 of 54
8/16/12 at 3:24pm
Thread Starter 

I found another thread about this.  Maybe you got this guys return?
 

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=311687

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post #34 of 54
8/16/12 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brando View Post

I always plugged straight into the card.  It was easy to tell it was hissing because if I put the phones on before booting up I heard nothing until I heard the stx make that click that signaled that it had turned on.  As soon as the card clicks on I can hear some low background hiss but it's no worse than the hk3490 or gilmore lite.  Could my surge protector have something to do with it?  Not sure why it would but I don't know what else is different between our setups unless you have bad power in your part of town.

I'm starting to regret having just bought this HK 3490. It just doesn't sound good, especially compared to the Onkyo SX-TR606 that inspired me to get a receiver to use as a DAC / Headphone Amp in the first place. It has the audible hiss, as you've pointed out, and the soundstage is worse than my D1 and not even close to being as good as the Onkyo. Also, the Dolby headphone mode sounds like the bathroom sound effect on the old sound blaster cards from 10 years ago. It's really cheesy sounding.

 

I'm thinking about sending this back and just picking up a used Onkyo... Am I just not hooking this thing up correctly? Or missing something?

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post #35 of 54
8/16/12 at 3:46pm
Thread Starter 

Beats me dude.  Mine sounds great to me but I've only had one receiver before this so maybe I haven't heard enough equipment to know the difference.  As far as headphone hiss, mine has no more than anything else I've tried.  I don't use dolby headphone so I can't comment on that.  Maybe try making sure that you don't have any of the cheesy effects on and run an optical cable straight to the back of the unite with your pc sound at 100% and make sure windows is outputting all types of frequencies instead of defaulting to resampling to 48hz by default.
 


Edited by Brando - 8/16/12 at 4:00pm
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post #36 of 54
8/16/12 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brando View Post

Beats me dude.  Mine sounds great to me but I've only had one receiver before this so maybe I haven't heard enough equipment to know the difference.  As far as headphone hiss, mine has no more than anything else I've tried.  I don't use dolby headphone so I can't comment on that.  Maybe try making sure that you don't have any of the cheesy effects on and run an optical cable straight to the back of the unite with your pc sound at 100% and make sure windows is outputting all types of frequencies instead of defaulting to resampling to 48hz by default.
 

I'm actually using a mac. Got everything set at 24-bit / 96 kHz. I've hooked my imac up to an Onkyo receiver the same exact way and get amazing sound quality, but the HK just sounds compressed and squeezed. I don't get it.

 

I wish someone here who owned an Onkyo TX-SR606 could chime in as to why I prefer that sound so much. Maybe it just has really good synergy with my Denon D5000's?


Edited by whereas - 8/16/12 at 5:07pm
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post #37 of 54
8/16/12 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whereas View Post

I'm actually using a mac. Got everything set at 24-bit / 96 kHz. I've hooked my imac up to an Onkyo receiver the same exact way and get amazing sound quality, but the HK just sounds compressed and squeezed. I don't get it.

 

I wish someone here who owned an Onkyo TX-SR606 could chime in as to why I prefer that sound so much. Maybe it just has really good synergy with my Denon D5000's?


There's nothing wrong with having a certain taste.  You like what you like.  Just for fun maybe try outputting at 44.1hz so there's no resampling.


Edited by Brando - 8/16/12 at 5:14pm
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post #38 of 54
8/16/12 at 5:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brando View Post


There's nothing wrong with having a certain taste.  You like what you like.  Just for fun maybe try outputting at 44.1hz so there's no resampling.

Ok, I just tried that and don't hear any apparent difference in the sound. Thanks for the suggestion though...

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post #39 of 54
8/16/12 at 5:36pm
Thread Starter 

Well hell, if this sounds good to me I guess I should try an onkyo.  I'll be blown away.
 

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post #40 of 54
8/16/12 at 5:38pm
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Originally Posted by Brando View Post

Well hell, if this sounds good to me I guess I should try an onkyo.  I'll be blown away.
 

Yeah dude, if you get a chance to hear that particular model (or a similar one) please let me know what you think.

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post #41 of 54
8/17/12 at 6:08pm
Thread Starter 

Can someone tell me how there can be a difference in sound between receivers with .07% thd?

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post #42 of 54
8/17/12 at 6:55pm

Man, I'm very conflicted.. While there's a bit of hiss on my unit, the T1's sound soo authentic. Drums sound bouncy and clean, treble has a very silky tone to it; very "liquid"..

Meanwhile, just going off the e9, the T1's sound a bit mid-focused. Drums have a little more kick, but are missing that subsonic presence, and treble comes off a little glassy, in a brittle sort of way.. I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the dac, or amping... I will try my Valhalla next, but may take a while since the tubes are new.

 

I can see why these are great for towers.. I just wish the headphone out wasnt so damn noisy frown.gif

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post #43 of 54
8/17/12 at 7:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aleki View Post

Man, I'm very conflicted.. While there's a bit of hiss on my unit, the T1's sound soo authentic. Drums sound bouncy and clean, treble has a very silky tone to it; very "liquid"..

Meanwhile, just going off the e9, the T1's sound a bit mid-focused. Drums have a little more kick, but are missing that subsonic presence, and treble comes off a little glassy, in a brittle sort of way.. I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the dac, or amping... I will try my Valhalla next, but may take a while since the tubes are new.

 

I can see why these are great for towers.. I just wish the headphone out wasnt so damn noisy frown.gif

Well, the T1 is a 600ohm headphone, so maybe the HK 3490 is a high impedance, low current headphone output? And maybe the Onkyo I'm listening to is a low impedance, high current?

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post #44 of 54
8/17/12 at 8:08pm
Thread Starter 

I'm getting the urge to try an onkyo, maybe a used 2 channel one, the one with 80w x2 whatever it's called.  I just can't get over the fact that the idea of receivers with almost no distortion sounding different spits in the face of science.  I'm so curious that I may actually spend the money to try one but it shouldn't make a difference.  Unless there are really loose standards for establishing the thd of a unit and the makers are fudging the numbers or something.  Is there an independent agency that tests these things or can they just make numbers up at will?

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post #45 of 54
8/17/12 at 8:23pm
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Originally Posted by whereas View Post

Well, the T1 is a 600ohm headphone, so maybe the HK 3490 is a high impedance, low current headphone output? And maybe the Onkyo I'm listening to is a low impedance, high current?

I would be really surprised if the Onkyo, or any A/V receiver (like 98% of them), comes with a low impedance headphone jack.

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