Now that we've cleared up a few things, a couple of matters worth mentioning. Yes, hiss is documented as a possibility in the manual(s) -- but not from the remote; it is dependent on the setting of the gain knob (and gain switch). And for those who dare to ask, I found that Mick has the adamant perspective of a diehard, traditional engineer when it comes to umbilicals, which means that he doesn't believe another umbilical could sound better, and thus there's no reason to change. I've got two that do improve things, including one that was built by another guy of similar background who ironically didn't believe that what he was building me could affect the sound (btw, I'd be glad to sell it inexpensively if anyone is interested or wants to give it a try; it's not quite the Revelation, but it is a substantial improvement over the supplied one -- send a PM for more info).