[Zamz]

Hey, I was looking for a pair of smaller earphones to sleep with and ended up choosing the Philips SHE3590's. I noticed though they put out a low hiss while audio is playing. Just curious if this is a normal thing for in-ear phones or if this might just be an isolated issue the ones I got.

 

[smy1]

Do you use a dac? If so is your phone near by because that will cause hissing

 

[Zamz]

No dac and they are plugged directly into my phone. Sound starts when I click play and stops when I pause and doesn't appear to be affected by distance between them and the phone. Same when plugged into my PC.

 

[smy1]

No dac and they are plugged directly into my phone. Sound starts when I click play and stops when I pause and doesn't appear to be affected by distance between them and the phone. Same when plugged into my PC.

You could be near something that has interference with your headphones. It happens to me when I am near my iPhone and starts making hissing noise because of my 3G or LTE. If not there could be something with your headphone. Have you tried using different headphones If it makes hissing

 

[Zamz]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the headphones. My regular headphones don't do it. Guess I was just trying to see if it's common for cheap earphones, but maybe I just got a bad pair.

 

[smy1]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the headphones. My regular headphones don't do it. Guess I was just trying to see if it's common for cheap earphones, but maybe I just got a bad pair.

The she3590 are amazing headphones for the price. I still have my pair for a year I use them at the gym or when I am running. You prob just got a bad pair

 

[Zamz]

The she3590 are amazing headphones for the price. I still have my pair for a year I use them at the gym or when I am running. You prob just got a bad pair

Ended up taking them back. I was going to exchange them, but all they had left was pink. I might get another pair elsewhere, unless you can recommend something else? I mainly wanted something I could sleep with while listening to low audio. Those worked pretty well, but could've been better when on the side. Sounds like they are one of the best cheap in-ear headphones around though.

 

[smy1]

Ended up taking them back. I was going to exchange them, but all they had left was pink. I might get another pair elsewhere, unless you can recommend something else? I mainly wanted something I could sleep with while listening to low audio. Those worked pretty well, but could've been better when on the side. Sounds like they are one of the best cheap in-ear headphones around though.

The xiaomi pistons 2.1 or the 3 or check out the KZ thread on headfi there the best cheap headphones but there from China. If you need link just ask

 

[Sleep Mode zZ]

Earphones can't produce hiss. It is the player (phone) that is doing it. More sensitive earphones will, of course, produce the hiss at an higher volume than less sensitive earphones. From my limited experience it seems that there is more than that to it, though. I don't know if it is related to impedance or some other factor, but some players produce more hiss with some earphones in situations where it is not explained by by the sensitivity of the earphones alone. So it must be because of some interaction between the player (amp) and the earphones.
 
If you can't test the earphones in an quiet environment with your own phone, best bet is to go for low sensitivity.

 

[Zamz]

  Earphones can't produce hiss. It is the player (phone) that is doing it. More sensitive earphones will, of course, produce the hiss at an higher volume than less sensitive earphones. From my limited experience it seems that there is more than that to it, though. I don't know if it is related to impedance or some other factor, but some players produce more hiss with some earphones in situations where it is not explained by by the sensitivity of the earphones alone. So it must be because of some interaction between the player (amp) and the earphones.
 
If you can't test the earphones in an quiet environment with your own phone, best bet is to go for low sensitivity.

Actually I tested them in a quiet room and the volume didn't matter. I even tried it with volume all the way down and still heard the hiss/static noise. Also, I didn't get the noise with my ATH-m40x.

 

[Sleep Mode zZ]

That means that it was your phone's amp doing it. It probably keeps the actual electrical gain in the amp at an constant high level but feeds it with a different level of signal depending on your volume setting. I hate that because that means that on low volume listening the hiss will come obvious. The earphones on their own are, of course, unable to produce a constant level of hiss if the actual level of the amplifier would go down, and give no electrical signal to the earphones. The constant level of the hiss is the proof that the amp remains on the same gain settings even when you reduce the music level. The level is reduced digitally before the DAC of the phone.

 

[Sleep Mode zZ]

Headphones are not suspect to similar hissing, even at similar sensitivity levels as earphones. I don't know why that is, but that have been my (very limited) experience.

 

[Zamz]

  Headphones are not suspect to similar hissing, even at similar sensitivity levels as earphones. I don't know why that is, but that have been my (very limited) experience.

No you were right. I did some more digging and found some other topics on other forums. The SHE3590 an impedance of 16 ohms and sensitivity of 102 dB where as my ATH-M40x are 35 ohms, 98 dB. I know on my phone I had to turn up the volume more for the m40x and where as the she3590 could be really low and still be loud. Sounds like I just need to find some in ear headphones/monitors with a higher impedance if I want to avoid the hiss that it picks up from the amp.
 
It could also just be my phone. You can hear low static through the normal speaker. Odd that I don't hear it through the m40x's. Can you recommend some in-ear headphones/monitors similar to the she3590 that have higher impedance? Maybe that will help with the hiss.

 

[Sleep Mode zZ]

In addition to finding more suitable earphones, there might be two other options.
 
The first is just to check that there is not different ways to control the music volume on your PC and/or phone. On my computer, for an example, some players might control the main volume setting of the computer, while others have their own software volume control preceding the main volume. You'd want to control the main volume if it is at all possible. I would think that most players, phones and computers can do that. (The only players that I have had problems with were a game console (GP2X) and one version of Rockbox firmware for the Sansa Fuze+.) So, make sure that it is not only some audio players on the PC or phone that use their own software control while leaving the actual amp on full gain. If it is, use other software.
 
If that is not possible, you could have simply an active (amp) or passive way (volume control, attenuator) to reduce the volume after the headphone output of the PC or phone. Because it would be after the DAC and amp, it would also reduce the level of the hiss with the level of the music. That is, play the music from the source with more volume than is really necessary, and then attenuate the signal down to your listening volume with the attenuator. (This approach will consume a bit more battery than the normal way, but maybe it is not a significant amount.) In addition to the attenuation of sensitivity, it might also have an effect of the impedance (and have a slight effect on sound quality, probably for the worse).
 
As far the more suitable earphones go, I don't have recommendations. (I can only recommend against the JVC HA-FX67 - it was those that I had problems with my Fuze+.) Sony MH1C is probably the least sensitive of my earphones but I don't recommend it because of bad ergonomics.

 

[Zamz]

  In addition to finding more suitable earphones, there might be two other options.
 
The first is just to check that there is not different ways to control the music volume on your PC and/or phone. On my computer, for an example, some players might control the main volume setting of the computer, while others have their own software volume control preceding the main volume. You'd want to control the main volume if it is at all possible. I would think that most players, phones and computers can do that. (The only players that I have had problems with were a game console (GP2X) and one version of Rockbox firmware for the Sansa Fuze+.) So, make sure that it is not only some audio players on the PC or phone that use their own software control while leaving the actual amp on full gain. If it is, use other software.
 
If that is not possible, you could have simply an active (amp) or passive way (volume control, attenuator) to reduce the volume after the headphone output of the PC or phone. Because it would be after the DAC and amp, it would also reduce the level of the hiss with the level of the music. That is, play the music from the source with more volume than is really necessary, and then attenuate the signal down to your listening volume with the attenuator. (This approach will consume a bit more battery than the normal way, but maybe it is not a significant amount.) In addition to the attenuation of sensitivity, it might also have an effect of the impedance (and have a slight effect on sound quality, probably for the worse).
 
As far the more suitable earphones go, I don't have recommendations. (I can only recommend against the JVC HA-FX67 - it was those that I had problems with my Fuze+.) Sony MH1C is probably the least sensitive of my earphones but I don't recommend it because of bad ergonomics.

I found a thread talking about my phone (moto g). He talks about headphones rated at 16Ohms having hiss (the SHE3590 is 16Ohms). I'll see if I can find a workaround there. Sounds like it's probably a hardware issue. I know I did see someone say they used an attenuator.
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2611599