Another "kinda-newbie" head scratcher

@parkergetdean ​​​​​​

@lewm

But analog cables from my dac to pre should exhibit same behavior if it's the pre or aamp. Right, I've switched cables all around different inputs, different cables. It's only the phonostage. And the turntable is off. Still noise. It must be rf. Or emi. I'm going to try the Waxwing optical into my dac. 

@larryi Larry, so when using the Waxwing DSP phonostage via optical, it's perfect eywith a 200 ohm load. But as soon as I go to 47kohms,it makes the noise Even through digital! So you may be on to something there. The messed up part about that though is I've set all the other photo stages the analog solid state ones to either 100 ohms or 200 ohms and they make the same sound as the waxwing 47Kohms. 

This problem can be vexing- lots of potential contributors to it. When I experienced it recently, due to a high power transmission tower nearby, lifting the ground from the entire system solved it. Worth trying, as it’s the simplest solution of all possibilities. 

To try to eliminate RFI into the phono cable as the problem, what happens if you unplug the cables from the input to your phono stage - with the preamp selecting something else first - then back to phono?  Do you hear the has noise then?  

I had a problem with unshielded phono cables picking up AM radio noise.

EMI is a term usually used forr electromagnetic radiation from a motor/ generator or can happen in the rectification of AC to DC, occurs inside all our gear or probably also during inversion of DC to AC, as in a car. It can cause noise either through the air or by traveling on wires. RFI is also electromagnetic radiation, usually travels longer distances at high frequencies but is otherwise similar to EMI. If you’re hearing radio broadcasts, that’s clearly RFI. By all means if you are using unshielded cables try replacing them with cheap shielded ones just to prove the source. Morgami make good ones that are inexpensive. Also you might try the RCA plugs for unused jacks that I mentioned. Also move stuff around and observe the results up or down.