Looking for Small Speakers with Low Hiss

[Slimer]

I've been having a hell of a time trying to find some high quality small speakers (for desktop use) with low hiss. So far I've tried the Vanatoo Transparent Zero and the IK iLoud Micro and both have significant hiss that is very annoying to me. Right now I'm using Creative Pebble v1 speakers and they have almost zero hiss, which is crazy considering they are only $20, but their sound quality is dubious. Why can Creative create such a cheap speaker with no hiss while the more expensive options have such loud hiss?

I also tried a passive speaker setup that seems to have very little hiss so passive speakers definitely work, although they're less convenient than powered. But finding small high quality passive speakers has been another challenge.

Any suggestions? By small speaker I mean lower than 6" in width, preferably even lower than 5" in width.

 

[Jim Shaw]

Some folks are just, simple, hiss-phobes. I don't suffer from this. How do you get along with air conditioning?

 

[ZolaIII]

Try with Neumann KH80 and I mean try them first! They will set you back about 900 $/€ if that's acceptable.

 

[Penelinfi]

Perhaps ATC scm7, the speaker is also less efficient so any hiss from your desktop class d amp will be hidden well. Those amps don't usually hiss that much anyway compared to studio monitor amps.

SB Acoustics Micro / Micro C if you don't mind kits

You may need to use something like equaliser apo on your PC as desktop use usually is less than ideal with reflective surfaces nearby.

I feel many active speakers run their amps wide open and only change the input level ; regular integrated hifi amps seem to do something different and you only get the hiss when you have the volume to max and no audio

 

[Buck Dutt]

Abacus C-box 3 or C-box 4. I own the latter—zero hiss.

 

[feitaishi]

Amphion one12

 

[FeelinNoPain]

I've been having a hell of a time trying to find some high quality small speakers (for desktop use) with low hiss. So far I've tried the Vanatoo Transparent Zero and the IK iLoud Micro and both have significant hiss that is very annoying to me. Right now I'm using Creative Pebble v1 speakers and they have almost zero hiss, which is crazy considering they are only $20, but their sound quality is dubious. Why can Creative create such a cheap speaker with no hiss while the more expensive options have such loud hiss?

I also tried a passive speaker setup that seems to have very little hiss so passive speakers definitely work, although they're less convenient than powered. But finding small high quality passive speakers has been another challenge.

Any suggestions? By small speaker I mean lower than 6" in width, preferably even lower than 5" in width.

In this day and age no one should have to put with with hiss. I have the Audioengine 2+ little powered speakers, use them with my tv, separate from my stereo hifi for audio (yes I am old school). They are small and don’t hiss. Amir reviewed their 5+ model https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../audioengine-a5-powered-speaker-review.13803/ edit: At least, I don’t hear hiss from distance. Maybe they do at quiet volumes at close distance.

 

[skjalg]

When I was looking for small monitors for near-field at low volume, I eventually gave up on active monitors (studio and otherwise) in general, because of hiss.

I ended up instead with Topping MX5 and LS50 Meta, calibrated with UMIK-2, REW and EqualizerAPO. I couldn't be happier!
Because I never listen at loud volumes, I can use EqualizerAPO to increase the 40Hz-60Hz so that I don't feel the need for a sub either.

 

[Carlton80@0]

I use Meridian DSP33 fed by the digital output from Topping D10. No hiss just cheap bliss.