I used to experience that from time to time. I think it was “noise”, either environmental or from the power supply. I upgraded power supplies, and cables, and haven’t experienced it since.
It is odd that it was only in the left channel.
which power supply did you upgrade to? I’ve seen several comments that changing the power supply on the RNHP can change the sound.
I went with the iFi Elite:
I don’t think that it’s negatively impacted the sound.
1 Like
Hey guys, I bought the RNHP 6 months ago when I moved and had to store my stereo system at a friend’s. After following along on this massive thread for advice, I finally signed up to ask for some help.
I’m looking for my next headphone. I know the Elex, Clear, LCD-X open and closed are all fan favorites. I haven’t seen any comments about the Aeon Noire as a good pairing so I’m guessing those are out.
I’m worried my taste in music might require a more forgiving can than the Focal range. I’m running my turntable and streamer into the RNHP. Most played records right now are by: All Them Witches, The Devil And The Almighty Blues, Iah, The Black Angels, Somali Yacht Club, Mastodon, Samsara Blues Experiment and other sludgy bands.
If my wife is awake she prefers I use closed backs. I have a few that currently get the job done: Audio Technica ATH-A990Z with ZMF pads and M40x with ZMF pads.
Should I look at a great closed back, like a
ZMF/Audeze or should I get an awesome open back for a better experience and use my current closed backs when silence is required?
Thanks so much.
Lcd-xc may be an option. The FR is more “normal” than the open X and it should still be a good match for the rnhp
i have …
with my FLC8 i have some hiss, i never use them with the RNHP … but it’s perfectly clean with my Pinnacle P1 ( wich demands a lot more power than the FLC8s so … ) …
Thanks, for your response.
I’ll put them at the top of my list.
I did like the look of the wood cups better but hear the new ones weigh less.
They sure don’t look as nice as the ZMF anythings, but those probably don’t pair as well with the RNHP as the LCD-XC you suggested.
Thanks again for the advise.
I’ll start looking for deals.
1 Like
Yeah the new ones dont even offer the wood but the used market will save you a bit of money and the xc were always a a good pic where the x had a funky fr.
The wood apparently is very nice but in pics it comes across as just average nice. I was going to see if i could get an xc and have custom cups made.
An update here: the alternative PSU sent by Rupert Neve, whilst it looks identical, after some use I realise it actually reduces the whining noise quite a bit, albeit not completely, but now it’s much more bearable. But I don’t have the equipment nor the ears to say confidently whether it affects the sound quality
3 Likes
Oh yeah, the noise. Just found this thread, and boy do I have a story to tell.
I bought this amp a while ago. At that time I have a pair of KZ AS16 (yeah, they sound crap, yes) - which has a really low impedance. There is a distinct noise to it. I blind bought it from sweetwater and shipped it back to Hong Kong, so I thought I will just not use the set with the amp. Fast forward a few months and Neve came to Hong Kong for the Highend audio show, showing off their new Fidelice line (which looks exactly like the RNHP but nicer case). They said the input stage is different, and all. Once I plugged it in, same noise issue. So I tell them - dude, the noise is still there. They looked puzzled and asked “what noise?” then they hear it for themselves. Turns out one of the representative is GM of the Neve. “Drop me an email and we can work it out.” Two emails and in 2 months, I got a new power supply in the mail, UPS no less, all the way from UK. THAT is what I call customer service. First listen, no hiss whatsoever.
9 Likes
This may already be widely known, but it was new to me: I contacted Neve regarding noise in the left channel of my RNHP amp. With low impedance IEMs I was getting noise in the left channel. It is a faint popping that sounds like supply noise. The response I got from Neve is that the RNHP doesn’t support headphones / IEMs that are <16Ohms. The IEMs I was using are rated at 16Ohms, so some degraded noise performance was to be expected. I swapped the IEMs on my cable to see if the noise followed the IEM or the amp channel, and sure enough, it followed the IEM. So either I have a damaged IEM, or one of my IEM’s has lower impedance than the other, causing it to be more susceptible to noise.
Either way, just interesting information that I hadn’t seen other places regarding the low impedance performance of the RNHP.
2 Likes
I don’t know how long it’s been there, but I do remember reading that on the website when I was first looking at getting my RNHP:
EDIT: This isn’t something that I’ve ever looked into, but is there a reasonable way to artificially increase the impedance of an IEM? Would that muck with the sound too much?
1 Like
There is the iFi iEMatch. Technically any impedance matching circuit should do
As for changes in sound, I never heard it but I imagine the difference is small as long as it’s nothing drastic like quadrupling the impedance or something like that.
1 Like
Anyone run this with a Denafrips Ares II?
Hows the pairing?
2 Likes
I am curious too! I managed to grab a BF2 so I skip the Ares II. I think @M0N post some info about this match in this thread.
If I remember correctly the popular stack for the price range(DAC: 700-800, Amp: 400-550 ) are:
First: BF2+RNHP
Second: Ares II+G111
2 Likes
This is exactly my preferred pairing. The Ares II messes up the tonal balance of RNHP too much. Some also prefer Soekris 1321 with G111, but personally I think Ares II pushes the G111 towards a bit more fun and thicker sounding.
3 Likes
This amp is amazing with the BF2! Glad I joined the family, thanks fellas!!!
6 Likes
Is it possible to run xlr cables out of a bifrost 2 into the qaurter inch plugs on the neve?
Yes, the RNHP has a combination input on A. You could do XLR to 1/4 TRS cables for both left and right channels on input A of the RNHP, but it also accepts regular XLR cables.
3 Likes
Thanks! didn’t even realize it was a hybrid input
1 Like