Cable Vendor Recommendation Please

By the way, here’s advice from Anthem:

As for the humming issue on the DAC our unit is internally grounded, like a power tool (hence the 2 prong plug) so if your DAC still uses a terrestrial ground (3 prong power cable) you might want to try grounding the DAC itself to the grounding screw on the MRX. That may help bridge the voltage gap between the units, which might be causing the ground hum.

So my initial premise seems faulty as does my reference. This is ground loop stuff.

Do you have any cooling fans in the cabinet?

Do you have any ethernet over power modules nearby.

Those are usually my hum suspects…

I too use an MRX 720 (as a prepro/surround amp)

This might work, but I’ve found that this approach usually only addresses the buzzing hum that’s typical in analog setups where there’s no proper ground reference (i.e. connecting a turntable to a receiver or amplifier with no real ground connection). If the cable TV line is the other end of the problem I’ve found that using an ancillary ground helps, but it usually results in the current being split between the interconnects and the ground lead. The hum is reduced, but not eliminated.

Those Jensen isolators are the real deal. The hum will go away and I swear the picture quality improves as well.

Those are about the only things NOT in that cabinet. All net gizmos separately powered.

Did you see this post about cable TV being a problem? Cable Vendor Recommendation Please He may be on to something. Describes at least one potential problem.

Thanks for the ideas/tips. I’m quite literally on vertical learning curve.

BTW: I went with a Yggy DAC. Really, truly great sound. No A/B testing here, but I would swear to it in court. Demonstrable improvement. I know you’re a Schiit-y guy :slight_smile:

I had planned on getting a Yggy this month but changed course to a Direct Stream JR. Will be keeping my Gumby though.

It’s usually cooling fans or EOP modules that have given me fits. I can usually isolate the hum after moving cables and /or plugging/unplugging/re-routing the cables.

Cable TV can cause issues, so that it definitely a track to consider. Patience and orderly assembly/disassembly is a must. I wish you luck and am sure you’ll track it down…

Many thanks. BTW, do you have or use UPS on your audio system? Is there any reason to fear a UPS in the vicinity of my audio stuff?

I have thought, after several power outages lately, that it may be better avoid altogether the involved reboot process.

I’ve never done a purposeful A/B test in my audio life and probably never will. I overbuy on purpose, thinking of an unknown future and additional flexibility. But for what I’ve read, the Gumby probably represents a better value (SQ units/$) than Yggy. Right now, yggy remains a suspect in the groundloop mystery, so I’m a tad irked at it. But the sound is, as you know, top tier. Haven’t missed MQA – yet.

It’s always a tough choice picking the right equipment.

FYI, no UPS, although I use a P5 Power Plant regenerator (PS Audio). I live in Southern California, and have reasonably reliable and clean power. Have solar PV as well, so it helps with the price of electricity.

I don’t know enough about UPSs to properly answer your question about proximity, however, I do use a UPS for my computer and router setup (APC S-15)…it will give me a good half hour to 45 minutes of power if the grid goes down.

I have a Hegel H360 integrated amp receiving optical digital inputs from an Oppo 103 and from a Chromecast, and balanced XLR from my Yggy. The H360 also gets Ethernet and wireless Airplay, rarely used. I reasoned that the Oppo’s TV, Netflix, DVD sources and the Chromecast can do well enough with optical, which isolates the H360 from those sources. The Yggy gets AES/EBU from an Auralic Aries Extreme (external LPS) that receives Ethernet. The Aries, Yggy, H360 and my REL subs are powered by a Furman Elite 15i power conditioner. All the other gear, including not just the Oppo but also the cable modem, cable TV box, and network router are on a different circuit. Finally, Ethernet from the cable modem is connected to my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter PoE-5 router through one of these. Whether this all matters I don’t know, but the audio system is dead quiet, even when various electrical systems and many SMPSs are running elsewhere in the house.

LOL I chuckled when I got here, because that’s exactly how I feel about a lot of my gear. But you have a nice setup.

I have the all-in-one receiver (MRX720), which means audio and video have to play nice together. And I only have one circuit. But, if the hum continues, I guess I’ll just HAVE to buy some high-end equipment :sunglasses:!, and new circuits, power conditioner, and and and…

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Actually, just before you start spending, it might be worth looking carefully at your current wiring to see if any of the signal cables is crossed by an unshielded power cable. The reason I say this is that you have the hum just on one channel, which could be caused by an unshielded power able being next to and across an unbalanced (eg. RCA) cable for that channel.

That is a distinct possibility. Its crowded and now messy. I once had it nicely segregated, but changes have forced me to clip my cable ties. I start anew tomorrow. Wish me luck. Will report back.

[Currently away from my system so can’t look now.] Thx, J

actually, I have been using the cables offered by FS.COM, and haven’t encountered the problem you said. maybe you can consider it