In trying to trace a short buzz sound I sometimes hear when plugging in headphones in my Star after using HDMI it was suggested that I change the ground setting from default to floating.
I have a Rega P6 wired into the analogue input on my Star by ways of a Moon phono stage.
For the last year since I got it the switch was set to default.
I have now set it to floating, but am wondering if this should not have been de good setting from the start. I read that if you have anything analogue connected it should be floating.
Am i right? And they talk about sound degradation in the Naim docs if choosing the wrong setting, what should I listen for? Will it be obvious if I should not be using this setting?
The basic point is that your system should be earthed in one place. Naim used to supply source units (eg CD players) with the switch set to earth and the idea was that you set everything else to floating. It wasn’t really to do with analogue or digital, just that you would normally earth at the source.
Whether your Rega/Moon are earthed or floating is not something I know. You could try it each way. If you can’t hear a difference then you can leave the Star switch set either way.
But in what way does the grounding affect the SQ? Should it just sound better to my ears or does it do something specific to being able know the right or wrong way?
Oh and can this switch be flipped during playback to see? Or should everything be powered down or something.
Now played the same thing on both and I am not detecting much of difference. I almost want to say that on floating there is a little more bass present.
You can just flip it during playback or more to the point while nothing is playing. I would probably do that with the volume down a bit the first couple of times in case there was a big difference.
The main thing you might notice is that you could get some hum or other audible noise from the speakers with it in one position or the other. But although there shouldn’t be any effect on other sound quality, for sure somebody here will claim it does something or other for them.
I do not have a lot of understanding of the actual physics involved with electronics, but your explanation makes perfect sense when it comes to a grounding thing.
So I tested the baseline with the switch on both settings and absolutely no difference. Gonna keep it on floating to see if it solves my intermittent headphone buzz issue.
To update this thread. Using the floating setting made no difference in my heaphone issue. In fact it has since come to light that it is a known issue with the firmware that Naim is working on.
So the ground switch is back to default. Which is probably the correct setting to use with this setup.
I asked Naim Support a similar question regarding the correct earth switch setting on my ND555 when I have my LP12 TT connected to a second DIN input.
Their reply suggests always going with default setting unless you hear hum on either input. If you don’t, then set to default.
Seems It’s not about best SQ, merely about eliminating any possible hum…
Naim Support reply:
“The ground switch is there to create a pathway for the earth. If there is an earthing hum created by the connection of the LP12, then switch over to floating, otherwise leave it where it is. “
I have to say that my reported “better SQ” here was a placebo effect. I ended up testing a lot more and there are more the expectation on a change than a real change.