Noise reduction -why the rage now ?

@jonnie22 - I have followed many of the threads on Agon and have for the most part recognised that some noises do present a significant issue, such as crackles and pops or hums when the A/C turns on - but those noises tend to be conveyed within the home along the electrical wiring.

Seems I’ve always had a very good power supply, so I have not experienced supply related noise issues.

Three years ago we moved into a new house, which also appears to have a very good power supply, so again no issues.

However - my system is now in the basement and the listening room is adjacent to the utility room which contains...
- furnace, water heater, air exchanger, two fridge/freezers
- it also has my wireless router, ethernet cables, NAS drives, modem etc..

I use "unshielded" cables throughout my system - except into the phono stage
- I use a tablet or a phone to control digital playback and
- I have a couple of small/cheap Bluetooth devices in the mix
- but the streamer is connected to the network via Ethernet cable

The result of all this "NOISE" ?
- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING !

I can turn my amp up to full volume (without playing) on either my digital input or phono input and hear nothing
- OK there is a little white noise on the phono side, but that’s pretty standard.

I can walk around my system holding a phone or tablet, even close to the cables and not hear a thing.

One might argue that the EMI/RFI generated by digital gear like phones is way above the human audible spectrum and some will debate their impact on sound quality - but I hear no evidence of sound quality degradation if I place digital devices close to components OR cables

So I too - wonder about the whole noise debate

I can only think that most noise issues may be exacerbated by the various cables employed in an audio system
- perhaps some cables act more like an antenna than others?
- perhaps some components are not well grounded, causing noise issues?

Many years ago I did try a power conditioner and YES - the sound improved
- but I do think that may have been due more to the fact that the sockets in the conditioner gripped the plugs better.

Now I use a simple "power bar" of my own construction that has
- a central power buss that all the outlets are wired too,
- a couple of small button-style breakers and
- Hospital grade breakers for MRI use (i.e. no ferrous metals).

I do a lot of cable prototyping that employs more unusual cable geometries and to date, the only noise I have encountered was with the TT to phono stage, so I reverted back the conventional shielded cable geometry for that link, which resolved that issue completely.

All of my cables use some "approaches" that I have found make a significant contribution to sound quality
- they employ a helix coil neutral conductor that is wound around the signal wire, which does provide some shielding, but I believe it operates more like a faraday cage
- the Neutral is always twice the gauge of the signal wire
- I only use a stranded, silver plated copper wire for the neutral

I ONLY use connectors that utilize materials having very good International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS) conductivity ratings
- silver plated copper is my choice material for ALL connectors

And lastly - I have always ensured everything is grounded correctly

I have no doubt that others do experience issues, but my system seems to be strangely immune to noise that others seem to have issues with.

Not much help, but perhaps something to think about.

Regards - Steve

Thanks for sharing this. I believe power cords should be shielded. Co. that make (expensive) after-market ones say this.

No power supply is quiet, unless you can prove the rectifier & regulator produce zero noise. Most rectifiers were putting huge amounts of noise on the line.

There’s lots of RF in a component -besides the rectifier, digital clocks, capacitor discharge -all radiate. Then all that metal in the component to conduct it (in phono cartridges, DAC-chips, leads on PCBs). And while we can’t hear RF, it gets ’sucked’ into the signal path and THAT gets amplified.

House wiring is probably the wrong gauge and along with a stock power cord, we were choking the ability of the noise to ’escape’ via ground-loops. Any noise in the component STAYED in the component.

Who knows what else. There’s always been a lack of studies explaining our problems. But in recent years, Shunyata Co. has brought forth some new measurements (for current delivery and noise dissipation).

In spite of acoustical room treatment and vibrational-resonance controls, electrical noise plaguing the audio system is the main reason why people dont afford Hi-Fi with the good components they already owns...

williewonka
One might argue that the EMI/RFI generated by digital gear like phones is way above the human audible spectrum and some will debate their impact on sound quality - but I hear no evidence of sound quality degradation if I place digital devices close to components OR cables.

>>>>>This brings us back to the question: What is the signal? And why is it subject to RFI/EMI, which is not only above 🔝 the human audio spectrum, it’s not even in the same spectrum? 😀 (One is the acoustic spectrum, the other is the electromagnetic spectrum.)

One might also ask why seismic vibration interferes with the signal, too, even though it’s below ⬇️ the human audio spectrum; at least it’s in the same spectrum. 🤗 By inspection the signal in all the electronics and wire is not the audio waveform. ♒️ Hope this helps.

Microphony is different issue. RF can be "overcome" IF you use a very-advanced technique like the Nordost QPoint (just demo’ed at RMAF ’19).

But it’s still best to SHIELD parts from RF, rather than "overpower" it in the air...