[grant0317]

Just received my ha3a today. Xlr has a lot of noise even on low gain on my zmf vc, but strangely very little noise on my LCD2. Looks like 4.4mm will be main usage for me. Meanwhile this amp has an insane amount of power, I cant seem to get past 9 o clock with no reduction in preamp. Now I just set it to 12 o clock and do a -20db on pre.

 

[LXMc]

Just received my ha3a today. Xlr has a lot of noise even on low gain on my zmf vc, but strangely very little noise on my LCD2. Looks like 4.4mm will be main usage for me. Meanwhile this amp has an insane amount of power, I cant seem to get past 9 o clock with no reduction in preamp. Now I just set it to 12 o clock and do a -20db on pre.

Yeah this is very similar to my experience though my DAC has no volume control and XLR input is my only option right now (v226 only has RCA inputs).

 

[betula]

I think, the preferred output on the 3A depends on the DAC and headphones. With my R2R DAC, Meze Elite and ZMF Caldera I prefer the XLR out. For me it is noise free, has the largest and clearest soundstage and the best dynamics.

 

[DrDen]

I think, the preferred output on the 3A depends on the DAC and headphones. With my R2R DAC, Meze Elite and ZMF Caldera I prefer the XLR out. For me it is noise free, has the largest and clearest soundstage and the best dynamics.

I can’t imagine that noisy DACs existed. Also never experienced any noise through XLR, but my only headphone isn’t extremely sensitive. The first thing to do is eliminating possible interference.

 

[skeeb23]

Just received my ha3a today. Xlr has a lot of noise even on low gain on my zmf vc, but strangely very little noise on my LCD2. Looks like 4.4mm will be main usage for me. Meanwhile this amp has an insane amount of power, I cant seem to get past 9 o clock with no reduction in preamp. Now I just set it to 12 o clock and do a -20db on pre.

Also give the tubes time to burn in. I had a couple of noise things in the first hours or day of use on my unit but it went away. The XLR is the most powerful output and I prefer my Atrium Closed out of the 4.4. I'd definitely try the different options to see what works best.
Higher impedance headphones will carry more noise also, but I still think it will go away after tubes burn in.

 

[skeeb23]

I can’t imagine that noisy DACs existed. Also never experienced any noise through XLR, but my only headphone isn’t extremely sensitive. The first thing to do is eliminating possible interference.

I'll 2nd this too. I had a USBc to USBa extension cable that wreaked havoc on my system with noise. It can be the smallest thing at times.

 

[betula]

I can’t imagine that noisy DACs existed. Also never experienced any noise through XLR, but my only headphone isn’t extremely sensitive. The first thing to do is eliminating possible interference.

If a DAC is noisy, that's a fault with the DAC. Some DACs though with higher than average output voltage could sound a bit harsh on XLR out. SE out in general sounds a little warmer/smoother, but also less 'clear'.

 

[grant0317]

So my amp reads that it's rated for 220v 50hz. If my country uses 220v 60hz, will I be okay operating the amp?

Edit: Heard back from Cayin support and they say it's fine. (for future users)

 

[grant0317]

So I had initially had my ha-3a connected to my pc via usb. When I started playing total war wh3, there was an insane screeching noise coming from the amp. Likely noise generated from cpu/gpu. I switched the connection from my dac to spdif to pc and now there is just black background of the 4.4mm and 6.35mm. There is still noise on the xlr on verite c. Seems usb is just not the way to go.

 

[Chuy24]

So I had initially had my ha-3a connected to my pc via usb. When I started playing total war wh3, there was an insane screeching noise coming from the amp. Likely noise generated from cpu/gpu. I switched the connection from my dac to spdif to pc and now there is just black background of the 4.4mm and 6.35mm. There is still noise on the xlr on verite c. Seems usb is just not the way to go.

Interesting. Shall give it a try.

 

[Andykong]

So I had initially had my ha-3a connected to my pc via usb. When I started playing total war wh3, there was an insane screeching noise coming from the amp. Likely noise generated from cpu/gpu. I switched the connection from my dac to spdif to pc and now there is just black background of the 4.4mm and 6.35mm. There is still noise on the xlr on verite c. Seems usb is just not the way to go.

Not all USB Audio connections are the same, the USB of the digital streamer is a dedicated USB Audio output, that should be a very clean signal path to start with. The USB Audio in the PC is integrated into the general-purpose USB bus and connects to a host of devices and peripherals, hence becomes very polluted and can easily affect the operation status of your computer. In your case, it's quite likely that the interference is coming from the fan of the CPU or GPU/display card, which explains why audiophiles prefer a fanless PC when they want to use it as their audio source.

 

[Gagalactyca]

So I had initially had my ha-3a connected to my pc via usb. When I started playing total war wh3, there was an insane screeching noise coming from the amp. Likely noise generated from cpu/gpu. I switched the connection from my dac to spdif to pc and now there is just black background of the 4.4mm and 6.35mm. There is still noise on the xlr on verite c. Seems usb is just not the way to go.

First of all : congratulations to your HA-3A.

I had the same problem because my DAC is connected to the PC via USB and the DAC is the pre-amp for the HA-3A. SPdif does not transfer these, that is correct. And luckily you can use it. But what do you do if you want to transfer via USB? I've had this before, with other smaller headphone tube amps. As the volume increased, the noise also increased. When I wasn't working on the PC, it only happened occasionally, but when I moved the mouse I heard it buzzing and beeping at high frequencies. You think it's the wireless mouse, take a cable mouse, same problem. There are many sources of interference, power supply, processor, graphics card, fan and so on...
For a while I also thought that interference signals were only audible when there was no music playing and only when you turned up the tube amplifier very loudly, but that's not the case. You could even hear it in quiet passages of music. Especially since you can almost never turn the HA-3A up well above 9 o'clock, or let's say it's very rarely necessary.
A USB isolator was the only solution for me because I want to use DAC via USB.

There are also different devices and price ranges. But I wanted something high quality, I once had a really cheap one, but it didn't filter out everything 100%.
I use this one:

also see my last post:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...r-coupled-tube-amplifier.963983/post-17980739

 

[omni94]

First of all : congratulations to your HA-3A.

I had the same problem because my DAC is connected to the PC via USB and the DAC is the pre-amp for the HA-3A. SPdif does not transfer these, that is correct. And luckily you can use it. But what do you do if you want to transfer via USB? I've had this before, with other smaller headphone tube amps. As the volume increased, the noise also increased. When I wasn't working on the PC, it only happened occasionally, but when I moved the mouse I heard it buzzing and beeping at high frequencies. You think it's the wireless mouse, take a cable mouse, same problem. There are many sources of interference, power supply, processor, graphics card, fan and so on...
For a while I also thought that interference signals were only audible when there was no music playing and only when you turned up the tube amplifier very loudly, but that's not the case. You could even hear it in quiet passages of music. Especially since you can almost never turn the HA-3A up well above 9 o'clock, or let's say it's very rarely necessary.
A USB isolator was the only solution for me because I want to use DAC via USB.

There are also different devices and price ranges. But I wanted something high quality, I once had a really cheap one, but it didn't filter out everything 100%.
I use this one:





also see my last post:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...r-coupled-tube-amplifier.963983/post-17980739

I'm not so sure on this.

I have the same problem, when I game on my PC I can instantly hear my GPU ramping up.

I tried solving this by buying a new DAC with isolated Galvanic inputs / outputs (Audio-GD R1), yeh it was an excuse for a new DAC ^.^, the issue is still present though.

I'm honestly stumped now and just use the 3A when listening to music only, be it I still get some random noise here and there, which I'm sure the PC is still producing.

I might try the Intona out between the DAC for double galvanic isolation or a DDC, but I'm veeery doubtful now.

 

[Gagalactyca]

I hope it gets not too much off topic for this HA-3A thread.
But data streams via USB and tube amplification are also an important topic.
And the HA-3A is a powerful and just wonderful amplifier with such a strong character, I love it and don't want to give it up anymore !

But I think that some people like to use the computer as a sound source, there are also really elegant internal sound cards or via USB to a high-quality DAC. In some way, analog tube amplifiers are highly sensitive and amplify unwanted signal waste from the computer (passed through the DAC) , which is unfortunately transmitted via USB alongside the purely digital data.

@omni94:


You can only try it once. It was 100% successful for me. There is complete silence, no hissing, no whistling, no crackling, no cracking, no rumbling, nothing, even when I set the amp to 12 o'clock or a little higher TO TEST, everything is silent: just as it should be ( you understand me correctly, of course I'm talking about silence when there's no music playing, but that's exactly where there should be silence and no beeping from the universe of the computer's innards).

Without the isolator - in my scenario - between the computer and the DAC - there is a fine and extremely annoying noise chaos in the background going on ...

maybe here he can explain a bit better :

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2023/02/intona-7055-c-usb-30-superspeed.html

 

[elig63]

What can you say about these devices? Are they not doing their job?
https://ifi-audio.com/products/ipurifier3/
https://ifi-audio.com/products/isilencer-plus/