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White Noise in earphones

Hi, 

I have a DAC / Preamp / headphone amp (Yulong Sabre DA8II), which I am currently using as an DAC + headphone amp, connected to my laptop using USB. 

When I turn it on, there is some white noise (like wind) coming in the earphones. The noise is there when the Yulong is connected to the PC using USB as well as when the Yulong is not connected to any sources.

Changing the volume or the source on the Yulong does not change the white noise (like wind). As soon as it turns on, these noise starts. The noise is also there when I play music, and I can hear it in quiet parts of songs.

The Yulong is connected to a wall socket for power directly (no multiplug)

If I plug the same earphones into the 3.5mm jack of my laptop the noise is NOT there. So it is definitely something to do with the Yulong.

The impedance of the earphones is 36 Ohms. The Yulong headphone amp is rated 1W. Not sure if this matters. 

Any advise? 

Thanks, 

Serge

128x128sergedc
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,501 posts
 

Shure Aonic 5 (in ear

Probably an issue with the in-ear device.  

pingstonsmile
43 posts
 

Try to clean out the hole where you are plugging in. Maybe something got stuffed into the opening and stopping the male from plugging all the way in. Rotate the barrel of the 3.5mm male, does it get louder? The shielding may be damaged or junk in the hole stopping it from working right. More wine, that will fix the voices in my head but not the white noise.. I'm missing 1/2 an ear too. Art humor.

sergedc's avatar
sergedc OP
5 posts
 

So I happen to have another cable, so I tried the other cable and it is the same noise. When I rotate the barrel of the 3.5mm male: nothing changes. The noise is stable, no cracking, nothing.

So I tried with a Shure SE215 (17 ohm), with both cables, and I get the same noise.

Also worth nothing that the noise is the same on Left and Right sides.

So to summarize:

- Yulong, Aonic 5, cable 1 & 2: noise

- Yulong, Se215, cable 1 & 2: noise

- Laptop, Aonic 5, cable 1 & 2: no noise

- Laptop, Se215, cable 1 & 2: no noise

- Yulong, SRH 840 : no noise

 

I have special buds that go really deep in my ears. Something like this:

Is it possible that it amplifies the noise? But then why no noise on the laptop (and I made sure to play a song and pause (not stop) so that the connection is active)?

 

sergedc's avatar
sergedc OP
5 posts
 

I also have a Headstreamer (picture below), which is a USB headphone amp. 

With the Headstreamer, the noise is there but it is directly proportional to the windows volume settings. When volume is at 100%, the noise is the same as on the Yulong. But to listen comfortably, the volume is at 3%, and there the noise is very very small (almost none really). This is funny, I read that the recommended settings is to have windows sounds at 100% and reduce the volume in Foobar. If I do that: big noise.

Why is the Yulong producing maximum noise, as it the volume was at 100% even when not connected to a source and with analogue volume set to -60db?

 

 

 

yage
400 posts
 

Most likely, the Yulong DA8 II headphone amp section has some self noise. Since the sensitivity of the SRH 840 headphone is much lower than the Aonic 5, it pushes the noise below the threshold of hearing.

This means that the measurements and specs on the Yulong website are probably referenced to the DA8 II in DAC mode and not taken from the headphone out.

For the HRT HeadStreamer, it's a bit strange that the noise is related to the Windows system volume. Are you sure that Windows / foobar is giving you the correct sample rate / bit depth for the music you're listening to?

My suggestion is to find an amp that offers a very high signal to noise ratio even at very low power. A JDS Atom seems to fit the bill and it's fairly inexpensive. Try hooking it up to the Yulong in DAC mode. Hopefully you'll have a noise free system with your Aonic 5.

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