Here we go again, I really want to like this amp but man all the little quirks is starting to annoy me. It sounds great with my ATC SMC7 speakers and the Z1R headphones, but i dont really like the pushing of a button everyday for a few seconds to change from headphones to speakers. Maybe is just me but I feel that by doing that everyday at some point is going to fail, hopefully I am wrong. The other think I find a little annoying is the changing the gain for both speakers and headphones. Same thing again with all the button pushing. LOL
So i had the great idea to use the setting of both speaker and headphone out to avoid pushing buttons, and in that setting I can hear a humming noise on both single ended and balanced headphones connections. However, if using the headphone out only, no humming.
Is it an issue that by using both speaker and headphone out they push more noise or more power? I just find it weird. Is that normal behavior. I might have to email Schiit about this issue.
I run both speakers and HP's and don't hear any noise etc when either or both are playing.
As for the button pushing, it is the way the amp deals with changing it's 'mode' of operation.
In essence you are telling the computer to shift gears, and while it does so it mutes it's outputs, then re-configures itself, tests everything and then re-enables the outputs.
And all that clicking you hear are relays that have a very high life expectancy (in the 10K's-100K's or even Million's of on/off cycles).
Also know that you can use the entire range of the MOAR knob, as in you can crank it all the way up, in any gain mode.
I use the mid gain for my setup and rarely change it, even though I have fairly inefficient speakers (85dB @1m).
As for the hum, have you checked that your power is up to spec?
Specifically that hot and neutral aren't reversed and that you do have a 'good' ground?
It could also be a proximity issue in that some signal or even speaker cabling is too close to ac power cables.
A few things to consider.
JJ