SuperCap DR hum

I use an Isol-8 Powerline Axis. It’s a high quality 5 way mains block with DC blocking. Totally eliminated hum I had from a SCAP I used to own and I think it improved my whole system.

As such, I still use it as my distribution block.

G

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I’ve never been able to get past the transformer hum created by Naim kit. I love the sound signature of Naim, but not enough to put up with the incessant humming. Despite listening to lots of different set-ups in different locations, I’ve always been able to hear the Naim hum within the normal seating distance range.

I’m increasingly convinced that the average age of most Naim owners means their hearing is past its best so they can’t hear the hum! Mind you, I can hear the Nespresso milk machine humming from across the kitchen, so perhaps it’s just me :slight_smile:

One thing I have noticed is that there is huge variability by unit, some hum more than others. Clean/dedicated mains also helps, but doesn’t completely remove the issue. Using DC blockers and other devices seems to help, but I worry that they also have a detrimental impact on the sound.

Good luck with solving the problem - I gave up and went elsewhere…

I found a big difference between different boxes too. In general the newer boxes were a bit better for me, with the exception of my Atom which is quite noisy.

Maybe you have tinnitus?
Kind regards Kip
*aged 54 1/4

Could be Tinnitus, but I don’t think so and hope not! One of the other things I can easily hear are those anti-cat devices that people put in their gardens that emit a high frequency pitch to scare off cats. Some friends had one installed and the only people that could hear it were the kids and me.

My SC used to hum audibly. If I were to reshelve the 40 CDs that are sitting on it, it would go back to humming.

When the noise from a transformer becomes audible, it does seem to start those resonant metal cases ringing too, and I wonder if this is a part of what makes Naim boxes worse than most other brands.
My rack is right next to the sofa, and when the 250 started to hum I could silence it, at least for a while, by reaching down and resting a finger on top of it for a few seconds.

If it were a 1970’s TV, then you would give it a good thump and it would sometimes work :blush: or break it

I have an atl dc blocker on each of two systems, the 252 and the 552. They are needed ( and are effective).

I tried an iFi Zen DC Blocker on my humming SCDR.
Reduced the humming but negatively affected the sound.

Naim stuff is pretty sturdy, it would probably survive the occasional thump if that makes you feel better!

Neither my previous atom or my current nd5xs2/sn3 make any audible noise from my listening position (about 4-5 feet). Whilst I am noise sensitive I do have tech closer to my listening position so my room is never completely silent. I just hope whatever you guys are hearing wasn’t as bad as my ps4 fan when I put a demanding game on lol.

Would be interesting to see whether most humming units were due to mains overvoltage vs DC offset.
Hard to see how reliable objective data could be reached though…

I’ve mentioned this before, but if only someone like iFi, or Chord, or ISOL would develop a plug-in DC Offset meter, that a dealer could loan out. It could put a lot of guess work to bed, and help people identify culprit appliances.

I use one of these to measure my voltage.

DG…

These are good for a guideline, but if I recall correctly they have a +/- accuracy of 2% - so it could be up to 5v volts out - certainly better than nothing…

If you ever get an electrician around, get him to test the voltage on the circuit with his calibrated meter, as you test it with your plug in meter to see the difference.

It gives a good ball park and is quick.

I also have a calibrated Fluke DMM, which gives a similar reading.

At least I know my hum was not caused by overvoltage.

DG…

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I also have hum in my system. A combination of DC and grounding issues (I know, I’m lucky.)

A friend gave me a previous generation Furman SPR-20, which did a great job at significantly reducing the hum.

Then something happened with the Furman (still trying to figure out what), and the hum was worse than ever.

I then tried the Emotiva CMX-2 (Precision Common Mode AC Line Filter With DC Offset Eliminator).
So far it’s worked really well, so I’ll be keeping it, unless I can figure out what has happened with the Furman.

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