Parasound Halo Integrated Buzz/Hum

stereo5:
I wish that was an option, but I bought it online. That is also why I am trying to find out if it’s the amp or maybe the AC lines in my building. I would rather not deal with the return process. I certainly appreciate your input, however, and it is good to know it’s supposed to be dead quiet even with sensitive speakers.

jayctoy:
Would you please let me know what filters you mean? I looked up some Harrison filter and the unit was about the same price as the integrated amp! Are these filters for the AC line or for RCA inputs? The reason I’m asking is because the buzz is also present on the digital inputs.

The buzz sounds just like the 60Hz Cycle Hum in the example below:
http://blog.shure.com/whats-that-noise-and-how-to-fix-it/

Thank you all for the responses.

@erik_squires , @oddiofyl
I do not have cable TV, so I am afraid that can’t be the cause. I do have cable internet and an antenna, but I have tried the integrated with those unplugged. In fact, I have literally unplugged everything in the same room and the issue persists.

@audiozen
I do have AVRs in my apartment (both Denon). One of them is on the same outlet and is completely quiet. So it likely is the integrated, or as @helomech mentions, it could be the design of the amp.

That said, I’m not sure if I want to accept that a $500 Denon AVR performs better than a $2,500 Parasound in that regard. Also, @stereo5 above says his Parasound Halo Integrated was dead silent. It could be that the Parasound is just more sensitive to some sort of interference, I suppose.

In an effort to take the wiring in my apartment out of the equation entirely, I will see if I can test the integrated at a friend’s house sometime this week.

In the meantime I have also emailed Parasound. I have had some communication with the CEO(!), who is asking me the usual ground loop related questions.

@helomech
I fully expect it to be the amp as well. I will still test it at a friend's house, just to be sure. If it also hums there, which I expect, I will contact the dealer. Thanks for your input. 

Quick update:
The Parasound CEO actually had someone from the dealer cc'd on our correspondence. He asked the dealer to have it shipped back. They are mailing me a label and I will return it at some point next week. Everyone involved seems really pleasant, thankfully. I am hopeful I will end up with a dead silent unit.

Not yet. I returned the unit on Sunday, 1/28 and it was delivered at Audio Advisor the afternoon of Tuesday, 1/30. I was hoping I would be contacted a day or two after but that did not happen. 

I decided to call them on Monday, 2/5, and ultimately spoke with their technician. He is the person responsible for checking returned units. He said they received the unit without a note stating what was wrong with it. I was never instructed to provide such a note. The only instructions I received were to pack all contents and ship it with the provided shipping label. 

Regardless, he asked me to describe the problem. He said he'd look into it and give me a call back - and he did. He returned the call and told me it performed normally, in his opinion. He said he could hear a hum if he places his ear right next to a speaker but otherwise it was inaudible. He did say he was in a somewhat noisy environment, however. I told him that it sounds about right. I can't hear it if it is noisy in my room either and would have to put my ear next to a driver as well. However, in a dead silent room I can hear it from 9ft away. My speakers may also be more sensitive than the ones he used. I also told him I would expect the unit to be silent, especially if my relatively cheap Denon AVRs are. He agreed and said he would talk to the manager about a potential replacement.

The good thing is that he was able to hear the hum if close enough to a speaker. So I asked him, before sending any replacement back to me, to listen and make sure it is silent. He told me he has some units over there (including some on the repair bench) and would take a listen and call me "tomorrow" after speaking with his manager. 

Several days have passed and I have not received his return call yet. I think I will give them a call sometime today or tomorrow if I don't hear back. I am little disappointed I have to be the one following up on this, and I am also disappointed they think that kind of hum is acceptable. I realize in the audiophile world the Parasound Halo Integrated is an affordable product, but I would still expect it to be silent. Am I being too picky?

Thankfully, I am well within my 30-day satisfaction period. They will refund me if they can't provide a unit performing to my expectations.

I had some more contact with the folks at Audio Advisor. I had to follow up, but they are actually really nice folks to work with. They were willing to get a new unit and listen to it themselves before shipping anything out. They claimed the unit they listened to still had some noise, but was (according to their technician) slightly less bad. I ended up agreeing to having the new unit sent over, figuring it was within spec.

It turns out this new unit is much better than the one I returned. In a quiet room, if I literally put my ear within an inch or two of the driver I can still pick up a very faint hum but much less than it was before. If I remove my ear more than a few inches, however, it becomes inaudible. 

So it appears this hum does vary from unit to unit and what I have picked up on is probably within spec. That said, I would never have heard it on this new unit and I am happy with what I got.

It was nice of Audio Advisor to send me a new unit to replace my refurbished unit. Customer service from Parasound and Audio Advisor has been outstanding.