[husafreak]

Had fun loading my QP1R the last couple days. Looking at file sizes. Max so far is The Cars debut album 192/24 FLAC, sounds awesome but almost 2.5 GB!
Grappling with the ALAC versus AIFF debate this evening. Re ripping CD's from my collection using iTunes. Both Lossless formats and can't really say that I hear any difference. The AIFF albums take about 0.6GB and do not involve any compression scheme, the ALAC (Apple Lossless) albums take up only 0.3 GB so roughly half of the AIFF file size, but the QP1R has to work to decode (unzip) the ALAC files, so in theory that could degrade sound quality or battery life due to the processor load. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[sharkshark]

Time for a little light reading before bedtime... Yikes!
So I grabbed my Fostex TH-X00 (which are not sensitive IEM's), eyes closed and dead quiet, turned it on and heard nothing, eyes closed slow my breathing, turn it off, no change. I will also say that I find a fairly large difference in volume levels between the 3 gain settings. Not to be too scientific at this late hour but at least 10 steps on the volume control to equal each step. That is all I can offer for now. But high efficiency IEM's are on the way

Yeah, worried that misunderstanding of what I wrote would perpetuate - during playback of course gain makes significant changes, I'm talking when the unit is pause, was a trouble shooting exercise to see if the gain level would affect hiss volume. (It does not), nor does volume level knob, it's just a consistent, constant hiss easily perceived by these 43 year old ears far from golden aspirations.

Being more neurotic I just tried my old pair of 535se - they don't have my injected sleeve, but I could very, very faintly hear a bit of hiss between the phone plugged in and unplugged. To even mention that level of "noise" would be silly.

But with the 846s, it's like a constant tape hiss, not dissimilar in volume. The crutch, of course, is that if I turn the volume way down the hiss doesn't diminish,meaning it affects quiet/silent passages more noticeably.

Gotta get some sleep, but figure this info is worthwhile to the community,

 

[329161]

Had fun loading my QP1R the last couple days. Looking at file sizes. Max so far is The Cars debut album 192/24 FLAC, sounds awesome but almost 2.5 GB!
Grappling with the ALAC versus AIFF debate this evening. Re ripping CD's from my collection using iTunes. Both Lossless formats and can't really say that I hear any difference. The AIFF albums take about 0.6GB and do not involve any compression scheme, the ALAC (Apple Lossless) albums take up only 0.3 GB so roughly half of the AIFF file size, but the QP1R has to work to decode (unzip) the ALAC files, so in theory that could degrade sound quality or battery life due to the processor load. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Don't obsess about it. FLAC/ALAC sounds identical to the source it was ripped from. You'll also save on space and battery. Better still, use 320 lossy....a whole other kettle of fish, but I challenge you to hear a difference in a blind abx test.

 

[sharkshark]

Silly question, and I apologise if you already pointed this out, but are you listening on low gain for the Shures?

Originally, and it was suggested above I try medium.either way, it sounds damn pretty, I just have hiss

 

[moedawg140]

Originally, and it was suggested above I try medium.either way, it sounds damn pretty, I just have hiss

Who specifically said that?

 

[sharkshark]

No recommendation.  Choose the one that sounds the best to your ears.  I typically use Medium gain as that takes care of most all IEMs and most headphones as well so I won't have to go back and forth with the Gain settings.  Only for headphones such as my HE1000 do I feel like High gain is necessary.

...this seemed like really good advice so I took it.

 

[husafreak]

Yeah for sure you gotta state what you are hearing, we are a little community here with common goals.
I would like to say in defense of moedawg140 that I read his review as an enthusiast post, not add copy! In my mind there is a huge difference. I waited many months for CanJam to roll around so I could hear a bunch of DAP's with my own ears and pick a winner. I only seriously read his review after I got home with it. You kind of called him out for not reporting hiss that he didn't hear, or for somehow convincing you to buy a flawed product. I wouldn't do that on an amateur enthusiast forum. I guarantee we would love to help you get rid of that hiss and or make sure your new DAP is working correctly.

 

[moedawg140]

...ditto.

Just tried my hd25s as I lay here stressed out about s big purchase and of course zero hiss. Plugged my Shures into my iPad and no hiss, but could actually hear clicking and processes as navinpgating and loading pages. Plugged into the QP and noticeable, prevalent hiss when there's no background noise to mask it.

Anyone with similar IEMs that can share their experiences would be great, would be good to know if this is a firmware thing as well... Other than Bruce the distributor is there anyone at Questyle to actually ask about this?

Maybe this wasn't meant to be, which would be a real shame....

No,,it's packed away and I'd wake up my partner... That said, it's not really a terrific solution, any more than turfing the Phones in favour of another pair would be. Maybe simply these headphones are too illuminating of this player's quirks

Yeah, worried that misunderstanding of what I wrote would perpetuate - during playback of course gain makes significant changes, I'm talking when the unit is pause, was a trouble shooting exercise to see if the gain level would affect hiss volume. (It does not), nor does volume level knob, it's just a consistent, constant hiss easily perceived by these 43 year old ears far from golden aspirations.

Being more neurotic I just tried my old pair of 535se - they don't have my injected sleeve, but I could very, very faintly hear a bit of hiss between the phone plugged in and unplugged. To even mention that level of "noise" would be silly.

But with the 846s, it's like a constant tape hiss, not dissimilar in volume. The crutch, of course, is that if I turn the volume way down the hiss doesn't diminish,meaning it affects quiet/silent passages more noticeably.

Gotta get some sleep, but figure this info is worthwhile to the community,

Use the volume attenuator that came with your SE846, use a $10 USD buffer jack such as from UE (link here: http://pro.ultimateears.com/adjustable-ambient-filters-197), live with the hissing or send back the QP1R for a replacement. If you, with the replacement, still hear hiss, and do not care to use a solution mentioned above, send back the QP1R and get something else that does not hiss to your ears.

Again, If you do not like the QP1R or the hissing you hear from it, send back the QP1R.

...this seemed like really good advice so I took it.

Wow. Looks like you are making assertions based on what you want to read. No where does it say that you should try it. I am stating that is what I use. You can use whatever you want, there are three gain settings at your fingertips, try them instead of continuing to post insinuating libel.

 

[MrButchi]

Hey guys, SE846 are a bitch with hissing. It's a fact. My Lyr2 never made anyone hiss (Ei.3, Ei.XX, H8P, Aether, you name it IEM), yet it made the SE846 hiss like crazy ****ers. So let's all chill out : if you have SE846, you need to be cool with potential hissing. The issue here does NOT lie with QP1R, but with SE846 and their stupid 9 ohms and high sensitivity.
 
@sharkshark : re read your posts. I dunno @moedawg140 (so I can't be "having his back"), but your formulations are way more personal than you may have intended them to be.

 

[329161]

Hey guys, SE846 are a bitch with hissing. It's a fact. My Lyr2 never made anyone hiss (Ei.3, Ei.XX, H8P, Aether, you name it IEM), yet it made the SE846 hiss like crazy ****ers. So let's all chill out : if you have SE846, you need to be cool with potential hissing. The issue here does NOT lie with QP1R, but with SE846 and their stupid 9 ohms and high sensitivity.

@sharkshark
 : re read your posts. I dunno @moedawg140
 (so I can't be "having his back"), but your formulations are way more personal than you may have intended them to be.

Lol. +1, I even read somewhere they hiss with the Mojo too. It either could be that, or the unit is defective. Blaming one review for not mentioning the hiss, when NONE of the reviews did is a bit much.

 

[sharkshark]

Let''s be 100% clear here, shall we? I'm blaming no one, save a product that's clearly not behaving the way I had hoped it would. I have hissing, and if no one has heard it, or no one has reviewed it and indicated it's an issue, then so be it. I thought it might be useful, I the spirit of communication, to indicate that in the review.

Furthermore, I asked, point blank, what setting to use (was on low) and saw the suggestion HST a medium was a good compromise. I tried Medium and Low, and stuck with medium for the hour or so I listened, I didn't take it as gospel, I took it in the soirit intended, a suggestion from a knowledgeable member who probably knew something I didn't.

Call me crazy but I'd rather not fix my headphones with another device, I'd rather the player didn't cause hiss. I think that's a valid topic of discussion,a new bith publicly and DM I've gone out of my way to indicate my respect for the original poster.

Look, I'm not part of the clique, that's fine. I'm just a guy that wants a player, and has turned to a bunch of fellow,enthusiasts for help. The assumption here, for some reason, is that I'm either making it up or trying to stop people fro, buying this thing. Instead, maybe let's read it that I got something that I really want to love, and maybe it does something surprising, despite reading many reviews, this entire thread, etc., including reviews of this unit with these very phones. I'm betting I'm not the only one that thinks this info is of interest,

The only other device I own that had my 846 hiss like this was my iPod. My iPad doesn't, my X3 didn't, my X5ii didn't. This is news to me, I don't tend to go through devices or collect them en masse,

So, caveat emptor and all that, with 846 and QP1R you're going to have hiss in all likelihood, I don't know if the player can change to avoid that, but of course I can likely out a volume switch in to lower the volume and then crank it in the unit, which maybe normal practice but for me, just a guy wanting a decent player, seems a bit crazy.

Higher end audio is hard, I get that. But any discussion of e equip,net doesn't mean an attack in anyone here, and any recommendation about what to do it taken in good faith. We are just all here to help one another, and that's the intended spirit of all my posts. If there's frustration about the situation,hopefully some of you can empathize without feeling personally affronted or feeling defensive.

A review is the beginning of a conversation not the end, I hope this is fostering that discussion.

 

[514077]

 

I've read several reviews of the qp1r on the web from respected sources and NONE of them mentioned background hiss as a significant issue.

...ditto.

Just tried my hd25s as I lay here stressed out about s big purchase and of course zero hiss. Plugged my Shures into my iPad and no hiss, but could actually hear clicking and processes as navinpgating and loading pages. Plugged into the QP and noticeable, prevalent hiss when there's no background noise to mask it.

Anyone with similar IEMs that can share their experiences would be great, would be good to know if this is a firmware thing as well... Other than Bruce the distributor is there anyone at Questyle to actually ask about this?

Maybe this wasn't meant to be, which would be a real shame....

Oh my Bog!  Just call Arnold or Jody, trade the thing for a fresh model and go from there.  No hiss with my Angies or my son's 846s.

 

[514077]

  Had fun loading my QP1R the last couple days. Looking at file sizes. Max so far is The Cars debut album 192/24 FLAC, sounds awesome but almost 2.5 GB!
Grappling with the ALAC versus AIFF debate this evening. Re ripping CD's from my collection using iTunes. Both Lossless formats and can't really say that I hear any difference. The AIFF albums take about 0.6GB and do not involve any compression scheme, the ALAC (Apple Lossless) albums take up only 0.3 GB so roughly half of the AIFF file size, but the QP1R has to work to decode (unzip) the ALAC files, so in theory that could degrade sound quality or battery life due to the processor load. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I use ALAC or FLAC"  no degression in SQ.  I'd trade a wee bit of battery life to be able to squeeze more of my collection on the unit.  I accidently bought an AIFF from HDTracks, converted it to FLAC with no audible loss of SQ.  HTH

 

[sharkshark]

 
Oh my Bog!  Just call Arnold or Jody, trade the thing for a fresh model and go from there.  No hiss with my Angies or my son's 846s.

...I'll be heading up there today. Again, not sure why people are upset at ME that I might be having hiss - I'm asking, explicitly, if others heard it. If you have an 846, and the player, and no hiss, great! It's the player and a new one might not exhibit this. If I'm being told the 846 hisses all the time, that it'll be a fundamental problem with this player, fine! Good info to have, I would think, and exactly the point of this forum. I either live with it, or return it.
 
As an experiment I tried it with the volume attenuator - as expected, you can lower the volume to remove the his, then crank the QP for louder sound. Listening on L gain at about 30 there was noticeable hiss. I paused, lowered volume on dongle to remove hiss, then tried to ballpark similar sound level. Volume on the QP was now about 50-55.
 
I don't know what I'm losing, if anything, in terms of SQ doing it this way, but this seems, =to me=, to be an untenable workaround.

 

[bearFNF]

No hiss with my roxannes either.