26-Aug-2021, 14:00
The hiss issue is interesting and has driven me mad in the past! However, in my experience care needs to be taken that you do not degrade fidelity in the quest to banish hiss..... i.e. do not throw the baby out with the bathwater!
The following is my experience posted on an earlier thread (sorry I can't seem to work out how to link to the original post)
Kevin
....................................................
Couple of things I found:
1. Earthing/Ground loop hum. Even with the ground wire from phono leads attached to the Devialet my system still has a lot of noise - pops, clicks, buzz's etc - in addition to the background hiss. I noticed that when I had a hand on my equipment stand (metal) and touched the deck or the tonearm the pops and clicks disappeared. I now have a small ground wire attached by blutack running from the tonearm (near the lift) to the stand. All I hear now is the background hiss.
2. I've not posted on this but I feel some of you may be getting too obsessed with the 'hiss'. I've got two MC cartridges - a Koetsu SkyBlue and a Benz LPS - I run both at 0.35mV. Yes the onboard phono stage is noisy with no signal, but as soon as I hear music the hiss is gone. This is actually quieter than a number of valve preamps I've had in the past - the Audio Research LS2b was like a rainstorm!
Anyway, after I first got the D-Premier I too became obsessed with the hiss and tried out two step-ups - the EAR Yoshino MC4 and an Orfeton (had a big can on top??). Both were great and no hiss so I bought the MC4 (looked better!). After a few months I was conscious that I was a bit restless listening to LPs - turning the volume up and down, changing tracks and LPs. So I took the MC4 out of the system and went back to the onboard Dev Phono stage. Instantly the hiss was back, but as soon as I dropped the needle Bam! dynamics and midrange. Tried to go back the MC4 but it sounded slightly recessed in energy and a bit 'silvery' or lighter in mid - processed perhaps. No way I could go back to a SUT. I mean is it really possible to take a 0.35mV signal and put it through a lump of passive electronics and then another cable and not expect to lose something?? Anyway, that's where chasing that damn hiss took me!
The following is my experience posted on an earlier thread (sorry I can't seem to work out how to link to the original post)
Kevin
....................................................
Couple of things I found:
1. Earthing/Ground loop hum. Even with the ground wire from phono leads attached to the Devialet my system still has a lot of noise - pops, clicks, buzz's etc - in addition to the background hiss. I noticed that when I had a hand on my equipment stand (metal) and touched the deck or the tonearm the pops and clicks disappeared. I now have a small ground wire attached by blutack running from the tonearm (near the lift) to the stand. All I hear now is the background hiss.
2. I've not posted on this but I feel some of you may be getting too obsessed with the 'hiss'. I've got two MC cartridges - a Koetsu SkyBlue and a Benz LPS - I run both at 0.35mV. Yes the onboard phono stage is noisy with no signal, but as soon as I hear music the hiss is gone. This is actually quieter than a number of valve preamps I've had in the past - the Audio Research LS2b was like a rainstorm!
Anyway, after I first got the D-Premier I too became obsessed with the hiss and tried out two step-ups - the EAR Yoshino MC4 and an Orfeton (had a big can on top??). Both were great and no hiss so I bought the MC4 (looked better!). After a few months I was conscious that I was a bit restless listening to LPs - turning the volume up and down, changing tracks and LPs. So I took the MC4 out of the system and went back to the onboard Dev Phono stage. Instantly the hiss was back, but as soon as I dropped the needle Bam! dynamics and midrange. Tried to go back the MC4 but it sounded slightly recessed in energy and a bit 'silvery' or lighter in mid - processed perhaps. No way I could go back to a SUT. I mean is it really possible to take a 0.35mV signal and put it through a lump of passive electronics and then another cable and not expect to lose something?? Anyway, that's where chasing that damn hiss took me!
Devialet 1000 Pro; Magico A5 loudspeakers; Metronome T3a Signature CD Transport; dCS Network Bridge; Kuzma M turntable; Kuzma 4Point14 tonearm; Koetsu Sky Blue; Benzmicro LPS; Audioquest Vodka Ethernet; Transparent Reference Digital RCA-RCA; Transparent Reference XL MM2 speaker cable; Transparent Reference mains cable; PS Audio P5 PowerPlant; Artesania and Finite Elemente equipment racks
North Somerset, UK
