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Post by svenake56 on Jan 31, 2014 4:47:35 GMT -5
 This is the Phono Pre Amp i had connected to the DC-1 before the XPS-1, Russian capacitors in oil and a very minimalist layout with few components. I used it with two 12Volt batteries in series connection (24Volts) in my opinion one of the best i have tried compared to much more expensive ones i have tested www.boozhoundlabs.com But now i have retired it, XPS-1 and DC-1 is a killer combo at this pricerange there is nothing that can compete. You need to spend a lot more money if it should be any better/ different. I´m living in Sweden so it had to be some invention regarding the power unit.. :)This is a tip..and yes i have used electric tape before i put it in the wall. I will also test XPS-1 with a 12Volt battery and another switched powerunit i have 12Volt 12,5A, just for testing if it is any difference to this "little" wallbulb.  |
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Post by garbulky on Jan 31, 2014 5:24:26 GMT -5
Wow! Thanks for the review.
What EXACTLY have you done to get the power to it? From what I gather you are somehow using battery power with it?
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Post by svenake56 on Jan 31, 2014 5:46:38 GMT -5
Wow! Thanks for the review. What EXACTLY have you done to get the power to it? From what I gather you are somehow using battery power with it? No i have not yet tried battery power to th XPS-1 but i will this weekend. In the picture i have used a connector for the wall socket that is standard in Sweden, and fit it togheter wit Emotivas poweunit ( Emotiva does not fit in my wallsocket). I will review my experience with the other powerunit and battery i have later on. |
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Post by swampfire on Jan 31, 2014 14:27:06 GMT -5
A phono stage is the one device that I think benefits from a power supply upgrade. My logic (which could be wrong) is that since the input is on the order of millivolts, a switching power supply introduces too much noise. At least that's how I justified a Welborne Labs power supply upgrade to myself. :-)
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Post by autiger on Jan 31, 2014 15:42:02 GMT -5
Very nice. Thanks for sharing your experience. I can't wait to see the comparison with the Jolida 9.
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 31, 2014 18:36:31 GMT -5
A friend of mini who travels to Sweden a lot (he works for Volvo) uses an Australian to Swedish plug adaptor. this one is USA to Sweden which is what you need. We get them from EBay.  Cheers Gary |
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Post by svenake56 on Feb 2, 2014 7:57:35 GMT -5
A friend of mini who travels to Sweden a lot (he works for Volvo) uses an Australian to Swedish plug adaptor. this one is USA to Sweden which is what you need. We get them from EBay. Cheers Gary I have one too just can´t find it for the moment  The only thing that bothers me about this XPS-1-CD-1 combo is the background noise when the music is quiet. Not much but you are able to hear it like a "humming" and " pink noise", it´s irritating. At this price range it should be dead quiet.  . Despite that the sound quality is very good, i have a Pro-Ject Xpression so the turntable is a very good construction so i don´t think the noise is generated from it. Listening trough headphones don´t generate any humming at all?? It could be the interconnects but they are good quality too and heavily shielded. If i connect another analog source i still have the "pink noise" but not the humming. I will try to locate the problem this week. |
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Post by Gary Cook on Feb 2, 2014 14:55:12 GMT -5
Humming is most likely an earth loop issue, turntables like to be grounded (earthed) but not through the audio circuit. On the XPS-1 at the input end there is grounding providion as well as the 2 x RCA connections. Since there is no grounding through the power cord on the XPS-1 then the TT wil be grounding through the XPS-1 to the pre amp/amp via the RCA interconnections. This means the TT is grounding via the amplification circuit in the pre amp/amp, that is most likely the source of the hum.
What I would do is try disconnecting the TT grounding at the XPS-1 and see if that helps with the hum.
Or try connecting the TT ground direct to the pre amp/amp chassis.
Or ground the XPS-1 itself to the pre amp/amp.
Ground loops are tricky, be prepared to try a few things.
Cheers
Gary
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Post by garbulky on Feb 2, 2014 19:24:05 GMT -5
A friend of mini who travels to Sweden a lot (he works for Volvo) uses an Australian to Swedish plug adaptor. this one is USA to Sweden which is what you need. We get them from EBay. Cheers Gary I have one too just can´t find it for the moment The only thing that bothers me about this XPS-1-CD-1 combo is the background noise when the music is quiet. Not much but you are able to hear it like a "humming" and " pink noise", it´s irritating. At this price range it should be dead quiet. . Despite that the sound quality is very good, i have a Pro-Ject Xpression so the turntable is a very good construction so i don´t think the noise is generated from it. Listening trough headphones don´t generate any humming at all?? It could be the interconnects but they are good quality too and heavily shielded. If i connect another analog source i still have the "pink noise" but not the humming. I will try to locate the problem this week. Svenake you are not the only person to complain of this. Try completely turning off the power (as in remove the power cable itself and reinstert). Removing any USB cable. And turning it back on. See if there's a hum. |
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Post by svenake56 on Feb 3, 2014 1:03:23 GMT -5
Thank you for the advises i will try to ground everything as much as possible.I had all the noise even when i tried 12V battery so it is not the powerunit itself. The problem is i borrowed a RIIA from a local shop to compare, it was a HEED ( borrow it always  ) with a power unit almost as expensiv as the RIIA itself and that one is dead quiet. So i think there is some problems with the layout in the XPS-1 anyway. The HEED price is around $1225 so it should defenitly be quiet , but i didn´t think the sound quality was any better, at least not compared to the big price difference.Strange that it is quiet trough the headphone jack?? But as i said before it is irritating and it is difficult to ignore when you have discovered it.Or as they say " you get what you pay" $149 probably isn´t better than this.I wish they hadn´t print "Low Noise" on the unit  |
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Post by audiobill on Feb 3, 2014 8:16:40 GMT -5
Just look at the specs - Very low noise, and no problems reported by others.
Seems like your problem's elsewhere.......
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Post by svenake56 on Feb 3, 2014 8:47:23 GMT -5
Just look at the specs - Very low noise, and no problems reported by others. Seems like your problem's elsewhere....... Well i didn´t get any testresult made with my specific unit so it could be something wrong with it anyway..and if so it´s not the first time.  I will test another preamp today, if it´s quiet the fault is DC-1 otherwise it´s the XPS-1 making the noise, i will try to ground everything i can too. |
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Post by dninsan on Feb 3, 2014 14:51:57 GMT -5
Hi! I've just registered as the owner of my first Emotiva product: the XPS-1 phono preamp. When I heard about it I knew I had to try one and so I bought it. When I received and installed it I noticed two things: 1) a nice bump in sound quality 2) a disturbing background hum  My turntable is a Project RMP 1.3 Genie with a Shure M97xE MM cartridge which till I received the Emotiva was hooked to an Art DJ PRe II phono preamp and then straight into my Onkyo /AV amp or my RA-1 clone headphone amp. The Art produced no audible hum but the Emotiva does, and a big one I've tried quite a few things: different interconnections, reversing them, powering the turntable and the premp from the same power outlet, from different ones, moving both the turntable and the preamp to different locations to avoid any interference, ... Nothing has worked so far. Although the OP already tried it with no luck, after finding the right plug I'm gonna use the same 12v SLA I've been using to power the ART to see if that helps If that doesn't fix it I'm gonna try what garycook suggested but I'm running out of options here ... It's really sad because if I manage to ignore the hum I really like the XPS-1 sound, it's also nicely built, can be used with MC cartridges if I ever go that way, ... but if I cannot fix the hum problem I'll go back to the Art. Just my 2 cents. |
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Post by trinhsman on Feb 3, 2014 15:06:01 GMT -5
Check the setting on the back of the preamp for your cartridge settings. You may not have it set for the cartridge correctly. I believe yours is a MM cartridge, so you should be set on that setting. Not sure if this is the problem, but based on what you have said, it seems the setting might not be right.
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Post by svenake56 on Feb 4, 2014 8:16:32 GMT -5
Well i have tested another preamp ( an old Rotel reciever)the hum and the Pink noise is still there via XPS-1 and AUX in, but when i connect my TT to the phono input on the reciever it´s as quiet as it could be.I also grounded everything that could be grounded and it helped a little on the DC-1. Without grounding you can hear the hum at volume setting 0,00 with grounding you need to step up to +4,00 to hear it.At those volume settings you are not able to listen to the music anyway because it is too loud, nevertheless it´s not a low noise product,neither of them. But still i like the sound quality from the combo, so i just have to learn to live with the knowledge it´s not proper designed or grounded as it could have been, that´s it. But don´t worry i borrowed a MOON phono pre amp $1000 and that one was even louder humming. |
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Post by Dan Laufman on Feb 4, 2014 8:35:30 GMT -5
Hi guys,
This XPS-1 is very quiet. Our test data verifies this.
I'm going to check a unit here today using a DC-1 and see what the results are.
I'll report back. There should be no need to use a different power supply , as the unit has its own internal switching regulators.
I'm going to make sure there is no out of band energy floating around that could compromise the noise floor. I have not seen it before, but I'll make sure.
Please stand by...
Cheers,
Dan
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Post by dninsan on Feb 4, 2014 13:48:25 GMT -5
Check the setting on the back of the preamp for your cartridge settings. You may not have it set for the cartridge correctly. I believe yours is a MM cartridge, so you should be set on that setting. Not sure if this is the problem, but based on what you have said, it seems the setting might not be right. Thanks but the setting is properly adjusted to MM |
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Post by dninsan on Feb 4, 2014 13:50:33 GMT -5
Hi guys, This XPS-1 is very quiet. Our test data verifies this. I'm going to check a unit here today using a DC-1 and see what the results are. I'll report back. There should be no need to use a different power supply , as the unit has its own internal switching regulators. I'm going to make sure there is no out of band energy floating around that could compromise the noise floor. I have not seen it before, but I'll make sure. Please stand by... Cheers, Dan Thanks, but last night I tried the Emotiva with the 12v SLA and it was really better: no hum, so the power supply have some issues, at least for me. Anyway although the hum is gone now there's some pink noise, so still trying to find a solution. |
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Post by svenake56 on Feb 6, 2014 1:17:36 GMT -5
I did try 12V battery ( should be the cleanest power to use), and it got better but the hum is still there. When i touch the tone arm the hum is lower so it is some grounding problem ( i have grounded the tonearm to the XPS-1 and DC-1 Chassie but you can still hear the hum). Could it be vibrations?? The cartridge maybe is so sensetive so it picks upp vibrations so small that you don´t feel it?? I have a SUMIKO Blue Point Evo 3, there are small vibrations around us all the time produced by lights, fans, TV sets and radiators in your apartment. Oh by the way it did some improvement in the bass area to use battery, more tight and a bit deeper also the music was a little calmer..
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Post by dninsan on Feb 6, 2014 9:52:39 GMT -5
I'm going to record the hum/buzz using both the shipped power supply and the 12v battery and share them here, to see if someone can figure out the problem by listening to them.
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The only thing that bothers me about this XPS-1-CD-1 combo is the background noise when the music is quiet. Not much but you are able to hear it like a "humming" and " pink noise", it´s irritating. At this price range it should be dead quiet. 
. Despite that the sound quality is very good, i have a Pro-Ject Xpression so the turntable is a very good construction so i don´t think the noise is generated from it. Listening trough headphones don´t generate any humming at all?? It could be the interconnects but they are good quality too and heavily shielded. If i connect another analog source i still have the "pink noise" but not the humming. I will try to locate the problem this week.
) with a power unit almost as expensiv as the RIIA itself and that one is dead quiet. So i think there is some problems with the layout in the XPS-1 anyway. The HEED price is around $1225 so it should defenitly be quiet 
