Poll: Are you affected by the hissing problem?

[racapsa]

I experience hissing but it is not noticeably at a normal listening position. I can hear it only at about 10-20 cm away from the speaker, at low volume parts of the music, especially with classical music.

Are you sure that the hissing isn't actually on the recording? It is not uncommon for low levels of classical music to run near the background noise level of some microphones and particularly of recordings made to analogue reel-to-reel tape where the signal to noise ratio is not to CD standard.

I listen mainly to classical music and have never heard any hiss from my Phantoms that was not on the recording.

OTO no electronics are completely silent. For years, before CD, my best cartridge input for my turntable produced a level of noise audible about 1 m from the speakers, but not from the listening position and certainly inaudible when music was playing.

With the new firmware I have the impression hissing has increased, specifcally because low
volumes are now between 0-35 instead of 0-10 in earlier firmwares. I will record the hissing for you and all interested over this coming WE. I have localized classical music that develops strong hissing at the volume (new scale at 45) and stays constant when volume is decreased to 15 and for some seconds hears to be about 50% of overall volume. So this is not neglectable and strongly audible. I'll going to analyze the frequency spectrum of the hissing to find out if ageing (I'm over 45) is a factor that some do not hear it or if it is device dependent. More to come.

Ok, I'll go a little deeper into this. From my first day with my Phantom a had a little bit of hiss, it is the same regardless of firmware or updates. In fact there is a "two-level hiss". I agree that the 2nd level, noticeable just while playing music is probably related to the recording itself. But there is an even more subtle one (first level hiss) that I can hear just one or two seconds before the actual music starts and the same after the recording ends. After that, there is complete silence, related most probably to the Phantom going to sleep. Between the songs, this tiny hiss disappears, so that the time of several seconds separating the pieces of music is again completely silent. If I pause the music, there is again no hiss at all. The problem is that this tiny hiss is noticeable always, regardless the music I play. Of course I can hear it better with classical music, when the recording gain is low. What I mean is the fact that there is always a small background white noise.Thank you for sharing your experience.