13-Oct-2020, 12:19
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!
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
