Audible hum using iems

[Dogmatrix]

Oh okay I misunderstood. The hum is audible if I connect my iem into my amp, another usb soundcard, my pc casing's audio jack or the audio jack from my motherboard.

Most curious
Being present at both the case jack and the motherboards digital and analogue outputs suggests the source is the motherboard

 

[Dogmatrix]

Is the noise stable in terms of volume and frequency

 

[Dogmatrix]

Usually with a grounding issue the noise will rise and fall as you get closer to a ground kind of like someone playing one of those weird Theremin things
Also with grounding I would expect both channels

 

[RoyDaniels]

Usually with a grounding issue the noise will rise and fall as you get closer to a ground kind of like someone playing one of those weird Theremin things
Also with grounding I would expect both channels

In general it's stable but it definitely gets louder the farther I'm away from my pc, frequenzy seems stable as well.

 

[RoyDaniels]

I checked my iems again and I have to correct what I stated before. It only occurs on the ie 300 and the ie 900 which I do believe use (pretty much) the same cable.
Let's say I want to buy a new cable, what do I have to look for so I don't encounter the same problem again?

 

[Dogmatrix]

In general it's stable but it definitely gets louder the farther I'm away from my pc, frequenzy seems stable as well.

What would be your guess of frequency , is it high or low like a mains 50-60 hz hum or more of a white/pink noise mix kind of thing

 

[RoyDaniels]

What would be your guess of frequency , is it high or low like a mains 50-60 hz hum or more of a white/pink noise mix kind of thing

definitely a low hum

 

[Dogmatrix]

definitely a low hum

I think something in the PC design is allowing power supply noise into the audio (possibly a ground problem with the power supply) and the high sensitivity of the senns is making it a problem
So I don't think isolators ,toslink or different cables (unless they reduce the sensitivity but that may cause other issues) will solve the issue
Unfortunately I don't think the Senns and that PC can be made to play nice with each other

 

[RoyDaniels]

I think something in the PC design is allowing power supply noise into the audio (possibly a ground problem with the power supply) and the high sensitivity of the senns is making it a problem
So I don't think isolators ,toslink or different cables (unless they reduce the sensitivity but that may cause other issues) will solve the issue
Unfortunately I don't think the Senns and that PC can be made to play nice with each other

Maybe you did oversee what I wrote seconds before you answered me again but now you made me think if it would rather be the earphones or the cables?

I checked my iems again and I have to correct what I stated before. It only occurs on the ie 300 and the ie 900 which I do believe use (pretty much) the same cable.
Let's say I want to buy a new cable, what do I have to look for so I don't encounter the same problem again?

 

[Dogmatrix]

Maybe you did oversee what I wrote seconds before you answered me again but now you made me think if it would rather be the earphones or the cables?

I think it is the earphones , specifically their high sensitivity
The PC is not a dedicated audio device so it is no surprise it exhibits some noise in the audio , usually this would not be detected but the high sensitivity of the Senns is picking it up

 

[RoyDaniels]

I think it is the earphones , specifically their high sensitivity
The PC is not a dedicated audio device so it is no surprise it exhibits some noise in the audio , usually this would not be detected but the high sensitivity of the Senns is picking it up

Unlucky, thanks anyway.ww

 

[Dogmatrix]

Unlucky, thanks anyway.ww

No worries
I think it is luck really rather than a fault with anything in particular
Sennheiser designed the ie series to play well with smart phones and other portable low power devices and PC designers don't really look for noise

 

[Dogmatrix]

Bear in mind there is a good chance I am totally wrong
A couple of things bother me like the way the noise reacts to you grounding but not being grounded by someone else and I would have thought the JDS stack would filter it out

 

[RoyDaniels]

Bear in mind there is a good chance I am totally wrong
A couple of things bother me like the way the noise reacts to you grounding but not being grounded by someone else and I would have thought the JDS stack would filter it out

I tested again with my Blon Bl-03 iem and I hear nothing but when I turn off my amp, I hear a hum but it sounds slightly different and occurs in both channels.
Anyway, I ordered another cable for the ie 300 since the stock one is crap anyway, maybe it'll help.

 

[Dogmatrix]

I tested again with my Blon Bl-03 iem and I hear nothing but when I turn off my amp, I hear a hum but it sounds slightly different and occurs in both channels.
Anyway, I ordered another cable for the ie 300 since the stock one is crap anyway, maybe it'll help.

The Blon is higher impedance and lower sensitivity so it will be less reactive , a hum in both channels like that is much more "normal" and I think the computer power supply is the culprit
Cables have a tendency to behave like antennas but it is hard to predict and they are rarely shielded
Best of luck anyway , I had a car once with a noise problem I sold it