[Ninjax]

Some you may have been experiencing this problem. But after some surfing around, all you need is a volume attenuator, it's sure to solve your problem. Heres a perfect volume attenuator to purchase. But some of you may already know this.

 

[James63]

good amps will not hiss and have a very black background.

 

[calvin91]

hmm... how exactly does a volue attenuator eliminate this hiss?? doesnt it just decrease volume?? ive been comparing te resitor cable and volume attenuator lately, trying to find out which decreases hissing most, whle preserving te sound quality...

 

[patalp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvin91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hmm... how exactly does a volue attenuator eliminate this hiss?? doesnt it just decrease volume?? ive been comparing te resitor cable and volume attenuator lately, trying to find out which decreases hissing most, whle preserving te sound quality...

You lower the voluem on the attenuator and increase the volume on your source.

 

[enjoiflobees]

isnt the increased volume on your amp the source of the hiss? I cant see how increasing it and then turning it down with the attenuator would help. I can see if you just listen to it at a lower volume then you hear the hiss, then I guess it would, but why not just turn down your amp? School me please.

 

[bindibadgi]

I don't know. The source seems to have a noise floor which stays the same, so if you turn up the volume, the music gets louder but the hiss does not. So a good amp, or perhaps a volume attenuator would let you have your source up at the max volume so the signal to noise ratio is much better.

Works for me. If I plug my amp into my PC with the PC volume at the level I would listen to straight out of the PC, the hiss is horrible. If I turn the volume right up, I need to turn the volume down on the amp to get the same volume at the headphones, but the hiss is almost completely gone.

If your amp is decent, then I doubt the volume attenuator would help. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

Now I just need to get a good DAC to get rid of that pesky residual hiss. Damn you Head-fi!

 

[souperman]

Lol...you'd think that if you searched in the amp forums for solutions on hissing that you would find plenty of solutions/answers...

 

[pedxing]

sensitive headphones are more likely to hiss. Usually they include headphones of low impedance too. A good headphone amp with a good power supply can reduce the noise floor below audible levels.

Using an impedance adapter/volume attenuator usually reduces the noise floor, but requires one to turn the amp to achieve the same volume level. This is common practice with noisy and cheap audio sources, especially with certain sound cards. However, an impedance adapter can affect the presentation of the music. Some people played with the idea of using a voltage divider instead of a simple impedance adapter.

My big stigma against most after market headphone volume attenuator is quality. Most of them have significant left/right balancing problems at very low volumes.

 

[cotdt]

if it's hissing, then you can upgrade your source.

 

[jpelg]

More often than not it's an amp/gain mismatch to the headphone/sensitivity.

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif More often than not it's an amp/gain mismatch to the headphone/sensitivity.

yes, but the originating noise is still from the source.

 

[Rise To The Top]

I get a high pitched screech out of my micro from touching the attenuator. I think its just the pot thoughM

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif yes, but the originating noise is still from the source.

I've heard amps with too high a gain setting impart their own noise into sensitive IEM's, regardless of source.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

I think it's important for the purpose of this discussion to note that either the source AND/OR the amp could be causing the hiss. Onboard soundcard is usually the culprit and if you're pluging low-ohm headphones directly into a noisy soundcard, then the attenuator mod will work for you. If you're plugging the soundcard into a dedicated amp and you're still getting unacceptable hiss (provided that you've set max volume from the source), then you probably have a bad amp.

 

[calvin91]

what if it is the sorce, plus the sensitivity of the earphones??