[ElysiumAB]

  Hey guys, this is my first post here. I've owned the E5 for about 4 months and have been using it with a pair of Koss Porta Pro and have recently got a pair of hifiman he-400i to get some better use of it. However I get an annoying hissing sound when it's plugged in via USB, it's the same when plugged in with the lightning cable to my iphone 5. Toslink works perfectly fine on my computer but I lose volume control :/. Is the problem the actual cables or is it the output on the iphone/computer? Any way to get the same volume control using the Toslink as USB? Would be very thankful for help.

 
I'm using my second E5 (returned the first one to Massdrop after it became defective after 6 months or so).
 
While I was trouble shooting the defective unit I tried several different USB cables (the one it comes with, Amazon Basics, etc.) On both the defective unit and new one I do hear the hiss. I only hear about 5% of the hiss when I plug in my IEMs via headphone jack directly to my Macbook Pro. The hiss remains constant even when I turn the volume on the DAC all the way off, or increase it significantly.
 
I suppose I always just thought this was standard when amplifying an output from a computer and I've never thought much of it since I don't notice it while audio is played. I also thought I had the same hiss on my previous FiiO DACs. I had never noticed before now that the hiss would remain constant regardless of volume.
 
I'm using a Macbook Pro and Noble Django IEMs.
 
If anyone knows why this is or has a solution, I'd be interested.

 

[OldDude04]

That sucks that you both are having that issue. I use my E5 on both my PC laptop and PC tablet and get no noise, so maybe the units are defective? HERE is a USB noise filter you can buy to quiet noise from your USB port. If that isn't something you want to spend on, you can try THESE, which are noise filters you can clip onto your USB cable that should quiet the noise a bit for you. Good luck gents.

 

[ElysiumAB]

  That sucks that you both are having that issue. I use my E5 on both my PC laptop and PC tablet and get no noise, so maybe the units are defective? HERE is a USB noise filter you can buy to quiet noise from your USB port. If that isn't something you want to spend on, you can try THESE, which are noise filters you can clip onto your USB cable that should quiet the noise a bit for you. Good luck gents.

 
Thanks for the info, I had no idea those products existed. I ordered the EMI suppressor, I'll give it a shot.
 
Honestly, the hiss has never bugged me, it's just light white noise that I actually enjoy a bit when I don't want music on but people are talking around the office. I just assumed it was standard.
 
I also just prepared myself to be embarrassed after I realized it could be caused by boosting the level in the VOX equalizer or creative software (I keep the volume on the DAC at 1 - and boost the volume on the media player a bit - to avoid any terrible OS sounds). Anyway, kind of happy to report that had no effect whatsoever.
 
I can try the suppressors and trouble shoot some more when time permits.

 

[HotIce]

My E5 is likely the DAC+AMP with the lower floor noise I have.
It is literally dead silent (feeding from PC, via a powered USB hub).

 

[ElysiumAB]

So far the only thing I've found affects the hiss at all is changing the gain on the device from low to high, which increases the hiss slightly.
 
Not sure if that provides any leads to look into?

 

[Forty6]

Hello , like old dude04 , I'm not getting any noise , hissing experience with the E5 on use with a PC with my various pairs of IEM asg2.5 . nor did I experience any losing control on any volume control with the USB / Toslink cables , playing through spotify and playing off YouTube videos .
Works flawlessly well on the pc . Zero issue for me . Top notch .
The E5 make the Realtek high definition looks like trash .

Having said the abovementioned , it's a complete opposite compare to PC when i pair up the E5 on Bluetooth with my HTC mobile , the Bluetooth pairing with my mobile , E5 , iem , gives out a tremendous hissing noise , the only way to eliminate those annoying hiss is to tune down both the speakers , Bluetooth volume bar to 50-60% on the mixer which could be found within the sound blaster central .

 

[Zotar]

Well it's not that big of an issue anyway as said it goes away when playing music. It surely beats the realtek onboard sound that I used before it in terms of sound quality. I think it would be hard to find any device that beats it in terms of price point/functionality. I am still happy with the purchase. It sounds really good paired with the he-400i to me.Feels like a big upgrade going from the porta pro headphones. I figured out why the toslink volume was always so low, I just had to increase the SPDIF in volume in the mixer so it was just a noob misstake by me
 
edit:

  My E5 is likely the DAC+AMP with the lower floor noise I have.
It is literally dead silent (feeding from PC, via a powered USB hub).

 
Thanks, I plugged it into the usb hub I use for external drives and now it's practically dead silent as well. Noise must have been coming from the motherboard not the device itself.

 

[ElysiumAB]

I just noticed I get the slight white noise even when the USB is unplugged from my Thunderbolt or laptop, meaning it must be coming from the device itself in some way.
 
Anyway, not a big deal.

 

[Zotar]

Mine does not do that unless I crank the volume up to inhuman levels.

 

[ElysiumAB]

Strange.
 
Zota

  Mine does not do that unless I crank the volume up to inhuman levels.

 
Zotar - are you using IEMs? I'm wondering if I was using something less sensitive than my Noble Djangos if I'd hear it at all, no time to experiment more right now unfortunately.

 

[Zotar]

  Strange.
 
Zota
 
Zotar - are you using IEMs? I'm wondering if I was using something less sensitive than my Noble Djangos if I'd hear it at all, no time to experiment more right now unfortunately.

Not right now but I can use it with my hifiman re-0 IEMs without this trouble, noise only starts with volume above 50% with those and that would not be a very comfortable listening experience anyway lol.

 

[ElysiumAB]

 
Not right now but I can use it with my hifiman re-0 IEMs without this trouble, noise only starts with volume above 50% with those and that would not be a very comfortable listening experience anyway lol.

 
Ah, good to know. It's very subtle, I can really only tell it's there when I unplug the IEM, but there is a slight white noise present at all times - even with the volume turned all the way off.

 

[moophus]

this may be obvious but just in case - did you turn down all the analog line in / microphone levels? (or mute them)
also bluetooth levels as well as any other ones not being used can be turned down/muted as well.

 

[ElysiumAB]

  this may be obvious but just in case - did you turn down all the analog line in / microphone levels? (or mute them)
also bluetooth levels as well as any other ones not being used can be turned down/muted as well.

 
I hadn't (I'm not too familiar with audio settings on a Mac) - anyhow, just played with all the input volumes on low and no affect.
 
And as I said, even completely unplugged from the machine there's the same white noise, so it's not coming from the OS.

 

[MareNostrum]

Perhabs a loop of ground? Many PCs have benefit if isolated from the ground wire of the power supply. If the background noise does not feel with your PC with only battery power, it is ok, then most likely the sound is captured by electricity of the house from the ground wire. I was several years that I follow this trick.