I have a FiiO e10k and a Hidizs s1 and with both of them I notice quite a lot of static noise. I have a Pc running Windows, a laptop running Linux and a phone running Android 9, the static sound is present in all of them in varying degrees. I was looking into fixes and saw that there people suggest using a micro usb cable with ferrite core to prevent this, do you think the following cable would be good to go with the e10k? https://www.allekabels.nl/usb-micro-kabel/4911/1196037/micro-usb-naar-usb-a-usb-20.html
As for the Hidizs s1, I saw people recommend uapp, but as far as I could find out this still wonāt work for Spotify, is that right? Also people suggested an audio over usb setting in the developers options, but I canāt seem to find it on Android 9 (miui 11, I did find the developers options).
Are you using an iem with them? Itās possible that whatever youāre using is so sensitive itās going to pickup noise, depending on what you have you might want to use an iFi iEMatch: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L4CPF7U/
As far as the other questions, you are right that uapp doesnāt have a spotify plugin, it has tidal, qobuz, and google music. I also donāt think you need to find an option for audio over usb, it should just work.
Your choice of usb cable should make no real difference.
Looking at the Hidizs on my phone, Iāve tried my FiiO FA1, KZ ZST and Sony XB50AP. There is almost no hiss with the xb50ap, then there is a hiss with the KZ and more hiss with the FiiO FA1. I havenāt made the same comparison with my e10k. However with the e10k I notice it is a lot worse when I connect it to my pc than when I connect it to my laptop.
The hiss is just static white noise, but on my pc I actually hear beeps and stuff. I donāt know if this makes any sense, but I heard this might have something to do with grounding, which would make a cable with a ferrite choke useful.
No, it makes sense, itās just the sensitivity of the iems, they will pick up surrounding noise. Some are more sensitive than others. This is solvable by either upgrading your dac/amp or getting what I suggested. The cheap solution is to get the iematch, just make sure you set the switch to SE (single ended) on it, since thatās what youāre using. And by cheap, I donāt mean bad, Iām using an iematch on a $$$$ set, because they are so sensitive Iād get noise out of everything if I didnāt.
And to clarify, youād just connect one end of this to your iem, and the other to the amp you were using, be it the e10k or the s1.
Cool Iām going to look into this! And do you perhaps know why Iād pick the IEMatch over the Ear Buddy? Just wondering since the IEMatch is over 2x the price.
So, the ear buddy is the same product with the difference being
It is only capable of being connected to a single ended cable, not a balanced one (this doesnāt apply to you right now, Iām assuming.)
It is only capable of the āhighā setting on the iematch. The iematch has both a high and ultra option to choose from in case high didnāt eliminate the noise completely. (I chose to link the iematch for this reason, and the fact I own and can vouch for it. But the earbuddy may be all you need.)
You could try the earbuddy, and if that didnāt cut it, you could return it and get the iematch. Getting an iematch might be more futureproof though.
Would this also take care of distortion and background noise introduced by bad grounding? I made a table with all my iems and audio sources and the hiss and stuff.
I donāt care about Hidizs on desktop or laptop necessarily since I will never be using it, I included these mostly for ādebuggingā purposes. Would the IFI Audio stuff also help with the beeps you think?
Thanks, I will buy one of these and if the beeping doesnāt go away Iāll look into a better USB cable to solve that problem. Now I only have to choose between the IEMatch I donāt need right now or the Eer Buddy which I might need to replace in the futureā¦
The ear buddy takes pretty much all the hiss away from the Hidizs. Havenāt been able to test in on my Windows PC with the bleeps yet though. I can now turn the volume on my e10k to 2 in stead of 1, so less than expected but better than before. If (or when, let me not kid myself) I decide to go balanced Iāll get the balanced version of the IEMatch. For now this one will do, Iām not ready to buy a new dac, new cables and a IEMatch.
Thanks again