Vrugdush Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 Here's an update on my humming problem. I've now tried Saga and Vidar in a different room, where I could easily do much neater cable management using the very short PYST RCA cables. I wanted to try this way before using ground lifts. Speaker hum seemed further reduced compared to my previous testing. It was only clearly noticeable from less than half a meter away. This was in a far from quiet setting, with ventilation and chattering budgies adding to the background noise, but I still don't think that level of speaker hum would present a problem in my usual listening room. So, as long as I manage to mitigate any ground loops, the speaker hum should be fine. Unfortunately, the transformer hum from Vidar was still quite bad, and clearly audible and annoying from at least 1.5 m away in the already noisy room. The level of hum still wasn't affected by whether or not inputs were connected. I doubt I could live with that hum. Link to comment
maty Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 409/5000 This amplifier has a potential problem, its 600 VA transformer. Although it is EI and not toroidal, if you have DC at mains it will affect the sound even if you do not hear the hum because it will stop working in the linear zone of the hysteresis curve. Being so big, it should have a DC blocker as standard. If I were you, I would connect you in another house, far from yours. If the noise remains, return the amplifier. Link to comment
Vrugdush Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 53 minutes ago, maty said: If I were you, I would connect you in another house, far from yours. If the noise remains, return the amplifier. Thanks for the suggestion. I've actually done this. I brought my Vidar to a local audio dealer, and connected it through a DC blocker. It still had hum, so I am indeed going to return it. The distributor is going to inspect it. It will be interesting to hear what they think. I'll let you know how it develops. Link to comment
arsenal Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 A question, as I did not see it in the discussion, does the buzz change or disappear between using the unbalanced to balanced input into the Vidar? Link to comment
Vrugdush Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 3 hours ago, arsenal said: A question, as I did not see it in the discussion, does the buzz change or disappear between using the unbalanced to balanced input into the Vidar? In my case, the buzz from the amp itself was there with neither input connected. I didn't have the means to try the balanced connection, but having unbalanced input cables connected didn't change the sound from the amp. However, depending on how tidy my cable management was, it also gave varying levels of hum from the speakers. Link to comment
lau2001hk Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 is it wifi router near your schiit vidar, if yes , you can try turn off your wifi router. and listen schiit vidar have hum or not ? Link to comment
Vrugdush Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 1 hour ago, lau2001hk said: is it wifi router near your schiit vidar, if yes , you can try turn off your wifi router. and listen schiit vidar have hum or not ? Well, in my case, I tried shutting down power to the whole house except for one outlet powering only the Vidar, and it still had hum. I even brought it to a different, faraway, building, and it had hum there as well. Link to comment
wse Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 So here is my problem I just bought a VIDAR amplifier to use with my KEF LS50 and am having the same humming issue! I got a response to my enquires from Tom E at the company! "Have you tried swapping out all of your cables? Have you tried all the steps at http://www.schiit.com/guides/amp-problems ?" I tried all that I use, I have swapped cables I use Mogami GOLD RCA and switched to Canare L-4E6S, Star Quad, RCA Audio Interconnect Cable and Neutrik-Rean. Previously I had a Classe amplifier and I had zero hisses or buzz? The noise is very loud without any signal! The same cables with my Classe amplifiers same speakers have no hiss or noise! I hope I will hear back from Jassonso far I have not heard back since Monday! Tried calling always the same answering message no live person wse Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 8 minutes ago, wse said: So here is my problem I just bought a VIDAR amplifier to use with my KEF LS50 and am having the same humming issue! I got a response to my enquires from Tom E at the company! "Have you tried swapping out all of your cables? Have you tried all the steps at http://www.schiit.com/guides/amp-problems ?" I tried all that I use, I have swapped cables I use Mogami GOLD RCA and switched to Canare L-4E6S, Star Quad, RCA Audio Interconnect Cable and Neutrik-Rean. Previously I had a Classe amplifier and I had zero hisses or buzz? The noise is very loud without any signal! The same cables with my Classe amplifiers same speakers have no hiss or noise! I hope I will hear back from Jassonso far I have not heard back since Monday! Tried calling always the same answering message no live person Let's tag @schiit to see if Jason has any info. Are your cables different lengths? Mshenay 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
GUTB Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 I love how Schiit always pretends there’s nothing wrong when faced yet another problem with their designs. @The Computer Audiophile fixed the humming problem with the use of some custom cables (probably recommended to him by Schiit). Could it be the amp is super sensitive to environmental noise? Do you guys with the hum have carpeted floors? Try elevating the cables with wood blocks or use CD cases to form an inverted V stand. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 6 minutes ago, GUTB said: (probably recommended to him by Schiit) Incorrect Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
GUTB Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Incorrect How did you learn about this cables? Did you just have them lying around? They don’t appear to widely available. Mshenay 1 Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 3 minutes ago, GUTB said: How did you learn about this cables? Did you just have them lying around? They don’t appear to widely available. I know the dealer who had them commissioned and he sent me a pair. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
schiit Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 If you've gotten a ticket number from us, and we've responded, have you responded back to us? Because if you've already done troubleshooting, it's time for us to have a look at it. They'll direct you to the place to start the process at schiit.com/contact/service Link to comment
Popular Post schiit Posted February 21, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted February 21, 2018 Actually, I looked into the ticketing system. Here's what really happened. (I will not cut and paste actual responses, though I can if we really need to.) Sunday at 9:35AM, we received an email about Vidar hum. Tom responded at 10:06AM, asking about swapping cables and system troubleshooting. There were a couple other responses that day, until the customer asked if we were serious about using a ground loop isolator to eliminate a possible ground loop problem. Tom escalated this to Orders, since the date of the order wasn't given. Since Tom thought he was waiting for a response from the customer, something like, "Yes, I've gone through system troubleshooting and I still have the problem," he didn't escalate it to a return/replace, where we issue a call tag and send another amp out. Today, we got an angry email about poor customer service. I have responded to the email and connected him with Amy, who will arrange a return/replace or 100% refund, whatever the customer wants. The Computer Audiophile and mourip 1 1 Link to comment
MetalNuts Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 On 12/15/2017 at 2:56 AM, Vrugdush said: Well, in my case, I tried shutting down power to the whole house except for one outlet powering only the Vidar, and it still had hum. I even brought it to a different, faraway, building, and it had hum there as well. I have this kind of experience before with an integrated amp (cannot remember the brand) and I had tried many method to fix it but in vain. I changed the amp and the problem disappear. MetalNuts Link to comment
gzubeck Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Considering how many people are having problems with the vidar I can't believe that schiit is really not getting on top of this. I own two schiit products and I have never had anything close to hum. I currently own an emotiva a300 and would not consider the vidar until they come up with a revised edition when my amp sounds fairly good at $300 less. I get the feeling that schiit pushed the envelope somewhere in their design and it might work really good in some customers setups or really poorly in others. Link to comment
wse Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 On 2/21/2018 at 11:34 AM, schiit said: Actually, I looked into the ticketing system. Here's what really happened. (I will not cut and paste actual responses, though I can if we really need to.) Sunday at 9:35AM, we received an email about Vidar hum. Tom responded at 10:06AM, asking about swapping cables and system troubleshooting. There were a couple other responses that day, until the customer asked if we were serious about using a ground loop isolator to eliminate a possible ground loop problem. Tom escalated this to Orders, since the date of the order wasn't given. Since Tom thought he was waiting for a response from the customer, something like, "Yes, I've gone through system troubleshooting and I still have the problem," he didn't escalate it to a return/replace, where we issue a call tag and send another amp out. Today, we got an angry email about poor customer service. I have responded to the email and connected him with Amy, who will arrange a return/replace or 100% refund, whatever the customer wants. Yes thank you very much for that, I hope the replacement won't have that problem! wse Link to comment
TheDotProd Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 On 22/02/2018 at 5:21 AM, wse said: So here is my problem I just bought a VIDAR amplifier to use with my KEF LS50 and am having the same humming issue! Same here! I bought a Vidar from Addicted to Audio in Melbourne to use with my ls50, replacing a NAD D3020 which was dead silent. My first Vidar was returned because it made a rattling vibration sound. Now on my second Vidar the rattle is gone, but there is a very loud hum. I upgraded my powerboard to a Belkin pro 4000 which offers a very basic level of power filtering to see if it would make a difference. Its still pretty noisy from 3 metres away. Sounds like a fish tank pump only louder. This has to be a defect right? The noise happens when it's just am amp connected to speakers no inputs just like the previous posters. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 Do you have any other speaker cables to test with? Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Superdad Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Do you have any other speaker cables to test with? How would different speaker cables help with power transformer lamination vibration/hum? UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 Just now, Superdad said: How would different speaker cables help with power transformer lamination vibration/hum? Twice I was able to stop the Vidars form humming by using different speaker cables. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
TheDotProd Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 11 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Twice I was able to stop the Vidars form humming by using different speaker cables. What should I look for in a replacement set? Currently I only have Van Den Hul Clearwater. I don't want to spend too much on something that might not work. But if there is a affordable set known to work well I would give it a go. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 1 minute ago, TheDotProd said: What should I look for in a replacement set? Currently I only have Van Den Hul Clearwater. I don't want to spend too much on something that might not work. But if there is a affordable set known to work well I would give it a go. I would seriously try something really cheap to see if it works. Here is a link to what I tried earlier in this thread (Monster Cable worked). Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
TheDotProd Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Cheers I'll try some generic 2m/6feet 12 gauge and let you know how it goes. Link to comment
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