Ebtech's Hum X Ground Loop Exterm. Do they work?

FWIW when a hum increases when you turn up the volume it is unlikely that it really is a ground loop and I would doubt that a ground loop exterminator, whether a cheater plug or a more 'sophisticated' one would help. But you might try identifying which source is generating a hum itself and attaching a cheater plug to its power cord. That might help, or not, but the cheater plug only costs a couple of bucks. Disconnect and unplug all of your sources and see if there is any hum. Then reconnect each component PC and IC one at a time and see when the hum appears. Then put a cheater plug on the PC going to that source.

FWIW.

The Ebtech Hum-X does work as claimed, but whether it works for your system problems specifically is highly situational, and there's no reliable way to know for sure until you try one or more. You can use a cheater adapter as a cheap advance trial, as described by Newbee, to predict efficacy of the Hum-X in a specific situation, but you may still be wrong.

I have two in each of my systems, on the monoblock tube amplifiers. They eliminated some remaining ground loop noise for which no other practical and safe solution worked but some unsafe and impractical ones did, after other chasing of ground loops produced no further results. Fortunately the Ebtechs are relatively cheap.

Phil

I had a similar issue - some hum was presenting itself via my DAC, and it got louder as I increased volume. I was able to get rid of it by removing the ground pin of the DAC's power cable (just as an "advance test" as the above poster mentioned). I then picked up a HumX, replaced the ground pin on the power cord, and plugged that power cord into the HumX (and the HumX into the wall). Works beautifully.

Note that the HumX has a current limit of 2 amps (I think).

I have a couple of Ebtech Hum X's in some of my systems and I believe the older more squarish one has a current limit of 3 amps and the newer more rounder ones has 6 amp current limit.

Thanks for your responses. I think i will try one.

Hi Brian27b or anyone else who may be considering the Ebtech Hum X

I forgot to mention that I've had problems/difficulty connecting the larger straight blade or hospital grade type plugs into the Hum X. Ones from Sonarquest, Wattgate, and Marinco took quite a bit of force for me to connect them. There was one brand that I couldn't fit at all. I think it is the ground plug that is the hardest to get in there.