Well, on Atom/Nova it’s a bit annoying, when you want to achieve a (really) dark room (e.g. for relaxing, sleeping, or watching a movie, while the system is somewhere beyond or to the side of the TV). That’s with switched-off display of course; that one can be pretty bright as well.
On the dimmest setting it’s okay for me, but the room has windows with outside light from the street - in this environment it’s fine. If I wanted a really dark room… you know, how bright even very low power LEDs can be in otherwise dark environments.
Thanks for the many replies. I will try to find another place for it. Maybe that will help. As long as the humming is not a sign of a dying device im okay with it. The connection to my focal clear is very short. Maybe i need to get dome longer cables then im also a little bit further away.
I don’t have so much space behind the atom. But maybe if i find a new spot to place it ( children safe) . Do you always unplug your cans in between listening sessions? I always put them back in container because i dont want them to get covered with dust ( we have a lot here in the old building)
No, at the moment I keep them plugged in. I suspect that if you keep unplugging and replugging, you may start to get wear on the plugs and sockets. I will be looking at a headphone stand as currently I’m not using one.
Perhaps consider replacing the cable with a high quality Pentaconn terminated cable? Then you can get the benefit of balanced without having to access the rear panel?
Other option is a high quality XLR male to XLR female extension that you can leave plugged in the rear.
I just had both of these custom made and they work and sound great.
It’s called Pentaconn OR 4.4mm TRRRS Jack JEITA. That goes in the other input on the front of the HE with same sound benefits as the XLR. XLR is, of course, the most sturdy of plugs. But the Pentaconn itself is a lot more sturdy of a connection than the normal oh-dear-this-will-certainly-break-some-day-feeling 3.5mm unbalanced jacks.
One benefit of Pentaconn over XLR with the HE could possibly be that with Pentaconn the HE auto switches to headphone output where, with XLR, you have to switch the toggle on the front of the unit. Once toggled on it will stay on, even when you put it to sleep and wake it up again. But if it is attached to a power amplifier, Pentaconn is a little more automatic.
What I did was is to have a cable made terminated with XLR. But then I also ordered a converting cable from XLR female to Pentaconn. Which means I can plug the headphones in either way and even have two headphones running balanced from the HE at the same time when I want.
So how much would i need to spend for such an cable? Does it has to be specific for the focal clear or is there a vendor that sells them out of the box?
Is there a length limit? 3 meters would definitely be sufficient. But that was now for the xlr not pentaconn? Do you hear a difference between both connection options? Sorry for all the questions but im a total newbie in cables and headphones
