Procyon noise floor - background hiss

Hi All,

I purchased my Procyon just about a year ago and never managed to really start using it to any degree until now.

One thing I've noticed is an annoyingly high noise floor (IMHO) with this unit, especially when using low impedance type headphones (earbuds). I realize that an OS fix came out for this sort of issue, and I've confirmed that I am running the latest version - 2.1.6, which mine shipped with. The background "white noise" I'm hearing is audible with or without a session playing and is unchanged in amplitude, regardless of the volume dial position. Btw, I'm performing this assessment using the device in standalone mode - it is not plugged into a PC, nothing plugged into the input jack, and I'm using it in a dead quiet environment. I've tried new batteries, and the sound is unchanged. I also lowered the external volume control to zero, which did help slightly. As an experiment, I plugged the same earbuds into my Ipad and an MP3 player, and both of these exhibited far less noise than the Procyon. The only "trick" I found in the forums that provided any significant benefit was to place an inline volume control cable between the unit and headphones.

So, I guess what I'm wondering is if this is as good as it gets, or is my unit somehow defective? After viewing the thread announcing the arrival of the 2.1.6 OS, and seeing statements like "the console is now background-noise silent" and "No more in-line-volume-control required!", I can't help but wonder if something is amiss. Perhaps I'm expecting too much. I admit to being somewhat of an audiophile "snob" ;), having designed and built a number of headphone amplifiers that I would describe as truly having no detectable background noise. I fully understand that the Procyon is not marketed as a high end piece of audiophile equipment, but I have to believe it's designed to produce a cleaner sound than what I'm experiencing...or is it? Can any Procyon owners out there confirm that they own a unit with virtually zero perceptible background noise? I'm hoping that someone can make a similar comparison between the Procyon and an IOS device or MP3 player using earbuds and share their findings.

I do not experience notable audio hiss in the Procyon console in standalone mode. With USB there is some hiss depending on the shielding of the USB connection. An inline filter does help significantly with this. Do you happen to know the impedance of the ear buds you are using?

There are settings in the Editor under Utilities that adjust the Noise Floor. This setting is usually more for the AudioStrobe mode but does adjust the levels on the DAC.

Andy, is an audiophile and a sound engineer... he should really pipe in here.

Check out this helpful thread from CraigT.. http://www.mindplacesupport.com/foru...-and-Batteries

Hi Bingalls;

I find any background noise the Procyon produces to be low enough to be of no real concern. Certainly you are the first person to ever make any mention of it since the new OS came out that produced a significantly lower noise floor.
If you are using low impedance/high sensitivity earbuds, then anything coming out of the Procyon will be louder, including background noise. I would recommend if the noise is a problem, use the solution you've already tried, an inline volume control, which works very well.