Why none of us audiophiles still cannot completely get rid of the "hum" in this day and age?

[fpitas]

What hum?

Equipment on with no music playing, amplifier up to full volume and ear to the speakers - Nothing at all to be heard…

I think we determined early on, that simply means you're not an audiophile.

 

[edechamps]

Many people will not have any hum issues, either because (1) they are lucky enough to have ended up with a system topology that is not prone to ground loops and/or EMI or (2) there is a problem but the currents involved are too small to be audible.

The reason why some people do have issues is because most home audio equipment is still using unbalanced analog interconnection, which was already obsolete many decades ago, and yet somehow is still in mainstream use. Balanced analog and digital interconnections are not prone to hum. Integrated equipment (e.g. an active speaker with an integrated DAC) will of course be designed not to hum.

 

[fpitas]

Yes, the lowly RCA was designed as an interconnect for low-cost domestic add-ons. Seeing people use single-ended connections for expensive systems makes me cringe.

 

[Mean & Green]

I think we determined early on, that simply means you're not an audiophile.

Did we? I must have missed that.

 

[fpitas]

Did we? I must have missed that.

It was between the lines

 

[Dismayed]

My system is quiet, except for my Cambridge Audio CNX (V2) streamer. It produces what sounds like high-frequency static when I use the RCA output. So I tested optical out over TOSLINK to my Teac DAC. It's dead quiet with the external DAC. The Teac is back with my headphones, and I've ordered a JDS Atom DAC+ for the streamer.

Thanks for the DAC reviews, @amirm - you pointed me to an inexpensive fix of an annoying problem!

 

[Todd k]

Hum. Haha. What Hum. beleive it or not all dead silent. Granted running all this crap thru 2 20 amp dedicated 4 plex’s and all balanced. Still a ton of crap plugged in. Any hum or hiss would send me over the edge. Friends are amazed how good it sounds, even more so when I open the door showing the ass end of my gear in the converted fireplace that now holds all my junk. I’m definitely not OCD

 

[Dismayed]

Hum. Haha. What Hum. beleive it or not all dead silent. Granted running all this crap thru 2 20 amp dedicated 4 plex’s and all balanced. Still a ton of crap plugged in. Any hum or hiss would send me over the edge. Friends are amazed how good it sounds, even more so when I open the door showing the ass end of my gear in the converted fireplace that now holds all my junk. I’m definitely not OCD

It looks as if we both use the same cable management system!

 

[Blumlein 88]

Hum. Haha. What Hum. beleive it or not all dead silent. Granted running all this crap thru 2 20 amp dedicated 4 plex’s and all balanced. Still a ton of crap plugged in. Any hum or hiss would send me over the edge. Friends are amazed how good it sounds, even more so when I open the door showing the ass end of my gear in the converted fireplace that now holds all my junk. I’m definitely not OCD

You have greatly randomized Any coupling between cables. Good job!

 

[Timcognito]

Solar power systems contain switching inverters to do DC to AC conversion. These are not audiophile grade devices. I see a business opportunity here..

I have solar power and the Tesla Powerwall II and No Hum. As others have pointed out house wiring is the likely cause

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I'd like to bring to all the audiophiles attention this problem. No matter how expensive and carefully set up your system is, you know the hum is always there given enough volume and no source active.

Nope. I run multichannel over many components with some line cable runs >10meters and, as SIY says, I can put my ears to my speakers at full gain a hear nothing (without signal, of course).

 

[Todd k]

You have greatly randomized Any coupling between cables. Good job!

Thank you. I’d rather be lucky than good. Lucky is more fun! system does not have any discernible noise, that’s with 7 amps capable of pushing well over 3000 watts. I bet I don’t use 30 of those watts hehe. If nothing is playing I can’t tell if the amps are on or off. Maybe the rare instance were 64 years old ears comes in handy. Thanks to ASR very happy in my audio journey. This site has slayed a bunch of my audio doubts and all of the gracious and smart contributors here have been immensely helpful. Thank you all.

 

[Holmz]

If you see something with the scope, you will see much more in the spectrum with properly connected audio analyzer. If you connect the regular class I scope to the amplifier output, your measurement is invalid as you create a ground loop path to the mains via scope ground.

Some people do not Connect pin-1

When I said scope, it seemed (and was) literal… but in reality I use the DAC to cut a file, and then look at the spectrum.

So I’ll throw your comment “out of the window”

 

[Chrispy]

I did think OP was going to come back with some sales pitch on some silly wire to solve the problem.

 

[kongwee]

Yes, the lowly RCA was designed as an interconnect for low-cost domestic add-ons. Seeing people use single-ended connections for expensive systems makes me cringe.

Balanced is still more expensive than RCA using the same quality and cost of material. How people price their product is another thing. Also the best hifi system I like never need me to use balance.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

What hum??

Best regards
Team unbalanced

Oh, but I just have to quote this masterpiece:

"Let's rebel and force electiricity companies or electronics companies or whoever is causing this to stop it."

-It's brilliant, thank you OP.

I read it as a joke. If they were to "stop the hum" society would collapse in minutes so please don't rebel to hard!

Sincerely, a pro-hum consumer.

 

[dlaloum]

ho-hum ....

 

[wwenze]

What hum??

Best regards
Team unbalanced

Oh, but I just have to quote this masterpiece:

"Let's rebel and force electiricity companies or electronics companies or whoever is causing this to stop it."

-It's brilliant, thank you OP.

I read it as a joke. If they were to "stop the hum" society would collapse in minutes so please don't rebel to hard!

Sincerely, a pro-hum consumer.

He may be onto something here, with EU currently mandating APFC for electronic power supplies, and resistive load generally not caring about AC or DC to begin with, transferring the last mile in DC will save using lots of diodes and capacitors. If the customer wants any step down or up he will have to do it himself with an offline switcher, which is already the case now.

Forget about collapse, society will advance!

 

[Blumlein 88]

I know some have wanted hum measurements. I used my RMS reading multimeter. Lowest AC voltage it will read is .001 volts which is -60 db from 1 volt or -69 db from 2.83 volts applied to an 8 ohm speaker. My speaker would put out 88 db at 1 meter at that voltage. So .001 vac would be 19 dbSPL. Now my meter which is spec'd to read accurate from 5-400 hz (and isn't far off until 4 khz actually) shows a reading of .000 vac. So I don't know where hum is, but it must be something less than 19 db SPL. Assuming it must be at least less than .0005 vac to read a zero, then you would expect less than 13 db SPL. It could be much lower. The meter shows about 440 khz on the frequency counter which is presumably the switching frequency of my class D ICEpower based amp.

This is with a Marantz 7701 pre/pro feeding a Wyred4Sound ST500. Turned up to normal listening level. With HDMI input from a Roku Streaming + stick paused. I've measured the hum of the 7701 at around -120 db relative to full scale of the preamp for 60,120, and 180 hz. If I had an handy setup for feeding the signal to my ADC I'd give it a try for more precise readings. In any case, I don't hear hum, and hum must be about 12 db SPL or less. If I listen in stereo I switch to a RME BabyFace Pro FS which would likely be even quieter if measured precisely enough. Now all of this is connected by XLR cables. I might try measuring the hum with my Umik 1 later.

 

[theREALdotnet]

Oh, but I just have to quote this masterpiece:

"Let's rebel and force electiricity companies or electronics companies or whoever is causing this to stop it."

-It's brilliant, thank you OP.

A real humdinger!