[creyc]

As I look over my audio gear, just about everything I use or have used has been very very sensitive. Super.fi 5s, UM2's, Sony V6...they are all very low impedance and thus it's noise central with anything but the highest end electronic gear.

Rather than upgrade ALL my gear $$$, I would like to just buy a good attenuator to use in line with all my headphones. I put on a pair of Sennheisers tonight and SILENCE. No annoying background noise, due to the higher resistance. I've determined that it's worth killing a bit of dynamics to be hiss-free. At least until I can afford all new gear.

What are my choices?

 

[jdimitri]

Those shure in-line attenuator
I don't think ive ever used it though

Oh wait.. plane flights

 

[creyc]

Does that Shure attenuator have an adjustable volume knob on it? At least thats what the description sounded like. I'd prefer a non-adjustable attenuator if possible...

~has nightmares of KSC-75 inline volume control.

 

[MayorSimpleton]

I bought a Kimber PBJ interconnect with 14db attentuation. Seemed to do the trick without any noticeable degradation in sound quality.

You can also get these:

http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co....tenuators.html

Pluck

 

[iancraig10]

I'm not absolutely sure of the name but Oelbach (?) make them. Very high quality plug that have impedance of 120 ohms. They work well. Jan at Meier Audio sells them. He only may have a few left.

I need to check the name when I get home but they'll take the noise away.

Ian

 

[Carl]

Try a transformer volume control (TVC).

 

[rhythmicmoose]

There's a forum member named Sinbios who makes 75-ohm impedance adaptors. His are in the form of a cable rather than a pig plug like the UE adaptor. You might want to contact him and see if he'll make you one.

 

[stewtheking]

My Cmoy-hiss was cured by nudging down the gain. For sensitive cans you don't need a gain of 10 or whatever the standard gain is on a Cmoy. (Think of how you have NEVER gone anywhere near the top end of the volume control). I found that by dropping the gain on my Cmoy to unity, I could eliminate all hiss from my setup. Don't know about the echo indigo etc, but for the Cmoy, this is a solution.

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by creyc As I look over my audio gear, just about everything I use or have used has been very very sensitive. Super.fi 5s, UM2's, Sony V6...they are all very low impedance and thus it's noise central with anything but the highest end electronic gear. Rather than upgrade ALL my gear $$$, I would like to just buy a good attenuator to use in line with all my headphones. I put on a pair of Sennheisers tonight and SILENCE. No annoying background noise, due to the higher resistance. I've determined that it's worth killing a bit of dynamics to be hiss-free. At least until I can afford all new gear. What are my choices?

i'm not sure i understand your situation. you're saying that you hear background noise with your headphones?--well, using an inline attenuator will not cure that problem by itself. the solution is to increase your signal-to-noise ratio. typically, audio components have a noise "floor" that does not rise significantly as your turn up the volume. so, what you can do is to turn up the volume all the way, then turn down the volume on your attenuator, and thus effectively "expands" the sound, thereby reducing the relative noise level.

but, if you mean that you have some amp in between the source and your headphones that is creating noise, and would like to eliminate it with a passive attenuator, then yeah, the attenuator would be most quiet as it has no circuitry to induce noise. however, you need an attenuator specifically made to take line-level inputs and transform them to an impedance appropriate for your headphones. and there aren't many of those.

the best choice is to buy an ultra-low noise headphone amplifier and plug it in directly into the line-outputs of your source. the Grace 901/902 is probably the lowest noise amp on the market today. unfortunately it's very expensive (~$1000-1500). i have one though... the thing is practically dead silent at any sensible volume, even with the most sensitive earbuds i have.

 

[kramer5150]

rat shack sells an adjustable attenuator. I think its like 4-5$
I had that problem with my koss plugs. I soldered an SMT resistor in line to the driver. Electrically its the same thing as an impedence adapter... for $.10

heres a pic.... resulting impedence is ~80 ohms, and sounds MUCH better with my D335.


IMHO "peaky" headphones like the koss plug and V6 sound better with impedence adapters.

 

[erlik]

I have the sure attenuator and I can confirm that it has a variable volume control, so that's probably not what you want.

Ultimate ears is selling a kit that includes a fixed resistance attenuator to use sensitive in ear headphones with sources that are too powerfull for them (planes, some amps etc...) You can find it there: http://www.headphone.com/products/ac...s-tool-kit.php , but since I don't own it I can't tell you how well that works.

 

[cmirza]

The Ultimate Ears Sound Level Attenuator looks good. Does anyone know how many ohms of resistance it has?

 

[erlik]

Unfortunatelly they don't disclose that on the ultimate ears website. If someone has the attenuator and an ohmmeter maybe it can be mesured. As I said I don't have it so I can't help.

 

[MarkyMark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sgt-Pluck I bought a Kimber PBJ interconnect with 14db attentuation. Seemed to do the trick without any noticeable degradation in sound quality. You can also get these: http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co....tenuators.html Pluck

Have used these in my own system, they don't appear to degrade SQ at all. Were also well reviewed in the hi-fi press.

 

[The Smokester]

Etymotics sells a 75 ohm attenuator here:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-acc.aspx

It's purpose is to convert ER4P's to ER4S's but it will work to attenuate the noise. This presupposes that the noise does not increase as the volume is increased on your device.

I think it can be had from Headroom.com for cheaper than listed on the above site.