Hypex Nilai500DIY Amplifier Review

[Thecaptain3737]

Do you have a regular XLR cable you can try connecting to the Nilai side to see if the same behavior happens (with the other XLR end not connected to anything obviously)?

Also, just to double check, when you try the RCA to XLR cables with the RCA end left unplugged it isn't touching or grounding to anything accidentally right?

Just wanted to post an update in case it helps anybody else. So I did get balanced cables, as suggested by buckeye amps, and when plugged in just on the amp side I do NOT get the popping sounds. My buddy then brought over his benchmark dac3 and we connected that up and no popping or any other unwanted noise. So I guess it is just the RCA to xlr cables I was trying. For some reason my amps didn't like them (even with the suggested wiring). I haven't come across anybody else having the same issue which is why I reached out, but I guess there could be an issue using these types of converter cables.

Thank you again everyone for the replies! Appreciate all the info and troubleshooting help!

 

[Salt]

The community cares

 

[Labjr]

I'll never buy a component without balanced connections.

 

[EJ3]

I'll never buy a component without balanced connections.

Is that because you simply like the aesthetic?

Or because you have a particular need for it?

 

[David_M]

Is that because you simply like the aesthetic?

Or because you have a particular need for it?

They rock at rejecting common-mode noise ...while RCAs are susceptible to this type of noise.

 

[kyuu]

They rock at rejecting common-mode noise ...while RCAs are susceptible to this type of noise.

Sure, but that's rarely an issue in a home setup.

 

[Labjr]

Sure, but that's rarely an issue in a home setup.

I've always had problems.

 

[David_M]

Sure, but that's rarely an issue in a home setup.

Noise sources are common in a home environment. Heavy current devices constantly turning on and off (e.g., refrigerators, air-conditioners) radiate noise everywhere whenever a sudden changein load occurs. Now there are some well shielded rca cables that would mitigate the noise to a great extent. But balanced cables would have that noise eliminated at the destination end, increasing SNR by up to 6dB.

 

[kyuu]

Noise sources are common in a home environment. Heavy current devices constantly turning on and off (e.g., refrigerators, air-conditioners) radiate noise everywhere whenever a sudden changein load occurs. Now there are some well shielded rca cables that would mitigate the noise to a great extent. But balanced cables would have that noise eliminated at the destination end, increasing SNR by up to 6dB.

Uh huh. Still not a common for any of that to be a problem in home setups with standard RCA cables unless your runs are unusually long or your setup is oddly close to a refrigerator or air conditioner.

Nothing wrong with using balanced connections, of course. Just needlessly bulky and spendy for most setups. Though personally, I actually like having no analog cables at all in my system asides from speaker cables. Well, and the cheapest RCA cable I could find lying around for my subwoofer.

 

[EJ3]

They rock at rejecting common-mode noise ...while RCAs are susceptible to this type of noise.

I never had that issue at any home that I have been in.

But I did use them in professional (running sound boards for bands) applications.
So, yes, you are correct.
I have just never had that need at home.
And it is highly unlikely that I would live somewhere that I would have that need.
Being the last home on the electrical grid and the only home on the peninsula formed by the river,
in a place that has come under federal, state and county forestry protection for no further building or expanding of any structure,
I do not expect to run into that issue (there are occasionally other, non audio related issues, however [normally solved by either staying in the house or staying in the truck]):

 

[antcollinet]

Uh huh. Still not a common for any of that to be a problem in home setups with standard RCA cables unless your runs are unusually long or your setup is oddly close to a refrigerator or air conditioner.

Nothing wrong with using balanced connections, of course. Just needlessly bulky and spendy for most setups. Though personally, I actually like having no analog cables at all in my system asides from speaker cables. Well, and the cheapest RCA cable I could find lying around for my subwoofer.

I've frequently had ground loop issues in home set up with typical length RCA. I've generally eliminated it by using tos link connction somewhere. But balanced (or psuedo balanced) connections are another valid way.

 

[Labjr]

I've mostly had issues with ground loop hum. IMO, properly implemented balanced interconnects is the only way to go. The shield of an RCA cable shares a power ground. Bill Whitlock, CEO of Jensen Transformers wrote a white paper on the subject. Worth a read.

 

[Sokel]

Noise sources are common in a home environment. Heavy current devices constantly turning on and off (e.g., refrigerators, air-conditioners) radiate noise everywhere whenever a sudden changein load occurs. Now there are some well shielded rca cables that would mitigate the noise to a great extent. But balanced cables would have that noise eliminated at the destination end, increasing SNR by up to 6dB.

Balanced does nothing at noisy sources as cheap LED PSUs, motors, cheap noisy PCs (or even more expensive but not set-up properly) .etc.
I have demonstrated that time and time again.

A dedicated line (or better, phase) and proper building grounding (according to standards) for gear is the best way for peace of mind.

 

[antcollinet]

Balanced does nothing at noisy sources as cheap LED PSUs, motors, cheap noisy PCs (or even more expensive but not set-up properly) .etc.
I have demonstrated that time and time again.

A dedicated line (or better, phase) and proper building grounding (according to standards) for gear is the best way for peace of mind.

It sort of depends on the type of noise.

PC's often have quite noisy grounds, resulting in ground currents propagating round any ground loop that might exist. Can result in hum. More often (only based on my experience) results in graphics related hiss and whistles (often for example - audible changes to the noise as the mouse is moved). This can be trivially eliminated by connecting PC to downstream components using toslink - or by using balanced connections between DAC and Amp. I've also demonstrated this time and again.


Of course - if the noise is already on an analogue signal out of the PC - then no type of downstream interconnect is going to remove it.

 

[Julf]

I've mostly had issues with ground loop hum. IMO, properly implemented balanced interconnects is the only way to go. The shield of an RCA cable shares a power ground. Bill Whitlock, CEO of Jensen Transformers wrote a white paper on the subject. Worth a read.

Another good read is The G Word, or How to Get Your Audio off the Ground by Bruno Putzeys.

 

[Sokel]

or by using balanced connections between DAC and Amp. I've also demonstrated this time and again.

Once PC noise gets in the DAC it will go straight through the speakers, no connection after the DAC can eliminate that.
A good isolator will prevent PC noise, but not the rest around the house.

It's my hobby to measure those, everywhere around my audio friends.
And it's way worst than we think (measurably but most of the time thankfully not audible)

 

[David_M]

Balanced does nothing at noisy sources as cheap LED PSUs, motors, cheap noisy PCs (or even more expensive but not set-up properly) .etc.
I have demonstrated that time and time again.

A dedicated line (or better, phase) and proper building grounding (according to standards) for gear is the best way for peace of mind.

I was referring to radiated noise immunity that would be common to both balanced wires and cancelled out at the destination, if within the frequency band of interest of the destination device. Shielded XLR cables, if built correctly, would prevent that noise from seeping through.

 

[antcollinet]

Once PC noise gets in the DAC it will go straight through the speakers, no connection after the DAC can eliminate that.

Ground noise doesn't get into the DAC though. It goes through the DAC ground (without impacting signal internally, if the dac is well designed) and gets added to the signal on unbalanced connections via a ground difference between DAC and amp due to analogue cable shield impedance. It is precisely this type of noise that balanced connections eliminate.

 

[tmtomh]

I've frequently had ground loop issues in home set up with typical length RCA. I've generally eliminated it by using tos link connction somewhere. But balanced (or psuedo balanced) connections are another valid way.

I just hopped into the thread to say the same thing: I too have never had EMI/RF noise getting into my signal chain from RCA interconnects, but I have had ground loops that balanced cables suppressed. In fact, one time I had a ground loop situation and one of the components in the chain only had unbalanced connectors, and even in that case when I swapped my RCA-to-RCA cables for XLR-to-RCA (and RCA-to-XLR) cables, the noise was not eliminated but it was quite noticeably attenuated.

Personally the thing I like about XLR connectors is that they lock so they tend not to get loose over time.

 

[Sokel]

It is precisely this type of noise that balanced connections eliminate.

That's what it should do, yes, in theory.
Yet we have a thread every once in a while exactly about this conditions.

Theory is sound about balanced connections coming from true balanced gear, real -life conditions though (and actual gear) do not meet the standards all the time (obviously, by the bulk of the threads alone) .