Upgrades...Happiness.... And a Hiss

Hello all, so I just made some upgrades and things sound awesome. Except I have a faint hiss coming from the speakers…that I don’t think was there before.
Upgrades include XPSDR, Chord Sarum, whitchhat cables, av options strip, av options tibia12 plus, hubel outlet, glass, and balls.

Here’s what I now have…

XPS DR -> nDac

nDac -> 202 (chord sarum)

202 -> Hicap (whitchhat cable)

Hicap -> 250 (whitchhat cable)

250 -> guru q10 (naca5)

This is now on custom glass on symposium Jr roller balls.

It’s been a while since I played with connections.

  1. The labeled end of the cables, I forgot where they go.
    -XPSDR to NDAC, tag is at ndac?
    -202 to Hicap?

  2. I have a faint hiss…where could this be coming from?

  3. The hicap has a slight hum.

No cables are touching, wrapped in foam.

If I unplug everything but the hicap, it still hums.

Thanks all.

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It sounds like you have nothing to worry about - you’ll hear a small hum from the Hicap. It’s just mechanical noise from the transformer. A faint hiss is normal too. I take it your hear this when you are close to the speakers rather than at the listening seat ?

It’s a faint hiss when close to the speaker.
As for the hicap, it never hummed before, but I have read some do.

Can somebody chime in on the cable directions, I’m finding mixed or unclear answers.

Anybody notice a change in bass after putting components on balls?

Yes, music is sounding really good.

Hi JohnnyTT,

Banded ends towards the DAC & the 202.

Regards
Neil.

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Interestingly a good friend of mine had a similar issue with the faintest of hums but still very much noticeable.

The answer turned out to be an issue with one of his cables, although the cable looked perfectly fine it was sent back to the supplier and tested … and the problem was confirmed.

If you can borrow a cable or two from your dealer, then it’s a question of going through each cable one by one…
Possibly worth a try …

Hiss from the speakers - is it gone, when MUTE is engaged? Generally - all Naim equipment will hiss a bit, when idle and ready to play. The better the mains / better earthed - the less pronounced the hiss is.

Humming power supply - this is down to the way those huge transformers are constructed and imprefect power supply

I changed every cable and actually only left on the pre and amp with no sources. Nothing reduced or changed the hum.

Mute has no impact.

I’m thinking this is just fine as music sounds great and foot tapping is fully functional.

I think it’s not a big deal.

I will mess with cables here and there when I can.

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If there is hissing from the tweeters, even with a mute ON, this means one thing: the system is not properly earthed at the mains.

I had this once, in an old flat. Irrespective of whether my system was playing or not (i.e. muted), it would hiss. It turned out, the mains were not earthed at all.
I had it earthed properly and the hissing ‘on-mute’ went away.

When we moved to a new place, I had the whole apartment brought up to the 21st century. This included dedicated spurs for all the audio systems.
Hissing, humming etc just completely disappeared.

Adam

Rule of thumb : The banded end should always be closest to the source in a particular path.

Wrapping cables in foam … is this a thing?

I got the idea from a Pic somebody posted.

I bought foam pipe insulation and used it to keep the cables from touching. Works like a charm.

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So there is no hiss if just the amp is on. Once I power the hicap/202 the hiss comes.

Does that means it’s specific to those components? Or the amp could not hiss on its own no matter what?

Thanks.

Re: Cable direction. I spoke with Mitch over at WH after taking delivery of some new IC’s in the Autumn because I was unsure about which end went where and he said to try swapping them around to see what I preferred. They’re not directional (unlike their speaker cable) but some customers had reported they sounded “different” depending which end was connected to what. In my system (200/282/CHC twin HC and SC unit), I could discern no difference

Re: “bass on balls”. Yep - I mounted my CDX2 on a glass shelf with Naim balls a few months ago. The result was taughter bass, more sparkly highs and a general uplift in dynamics so probably a trait this added isolation brings to the party. Hope you like it!

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