AUX in

rob2005

Active Member
Jan 11, 2007
188
0
As people have discussed before the AUX in has a bit of a hiss, i was wondering what people have found to be the optimum settings to minimise hissing.

ie

How much volume on the mp3 player?

What AUX in volume on the HU?

etc

By the way i have an ipod 30gb if this helps!

Cheers
 

rob2005

Active Member
Jan 11, 2007
188
0
i breifly tried the setting suggested by P0LKR and was pretty impressed with the improvement!
 

Tam

Santa in disguise :)
Feb 10, 2005
1,777
0
Near Reevo :)
I also have the mp3 player set to quite a lot of bass, this makes it sound much better through the radio
 

Robdrums

"Bitchtits"
Feb 18, 2006
210
0
Surrey
With mine I have nicked the audio lead supplied with my brother's Tom Tom 520 to plug in my iAudio MP3 player and was surprised by the hiss not only when it was plugged in but when the MP3 player wasn't plugged in, there was a lot of buzzing noise - is this normal or is it probably the lead?

I eventually managed to get a reasonable sound by dropping the AUX volume to -2, with flat EQ and full volume on the player, then on the amp I use Bass +1, treble -1, Mid 0, at about volume 16 on the stereo.

Have I got a duff lead if it is buzzing with nothing plugged into it, as I was surprised that I needed to reduce the Aux volume to negatives when the posts above are saying they use either +5 or the default zero? Even at zero, the hiss was absolutely unacceptable, though it could be largely eliminated with road noise and the player being cranked up to full volume (which must sap the battery power and not really be good for it, though I was impressed that it didn't seem to clip at all - excellent quality machine I must say).

Cheers

Rob
 

Rampage

Trainee Northener
May 24, 2003
1,035
2
Having the volume at maximum on the mp3 player will increase hiss.
Turn it down and the AUX volume up.
 

LeonMunkee

Active Member
Jan 5, 2008
165
0
Reading, Berkshire
Having the volume at maximum on the mp3 player will increase hiss.
How do you figure that? Please explain....
Turn it down and the AUX volume up.
That'll make it worse, not better.

If the mp3 player is set to a low volume, then the head unit is amplifying a lower signal, so the hiss is introduced by the amp. The correct thing to do, as others have stated, is set the mp3 player volume to the maximum it can (without causing distortion), and then there is less amplification needing to be done by the head unit and hence less hiss.
 

Who. Me?

Active Member
Mar 24, 2007
88
0
I have the Aux-in volume set to 0, to reduce the hiss.

My MP3 (Sony NW-A3000) has a 'line out' function that bypasses the volume control. The line-out volume is extremely high (too high for headphones) and is designed for external connection to hi-fi equipment etc.

Have a look in your MP3 player manual to see if there is a line-out option.

My PSP doesn't, so if I want to listen to that instead, I have to turn up the aux-in volume, or turn the stereo up and put up with the hiss.

Robdrums - yes, the aux-in buzzes unless equipment is plugged in to it.

I find the buzzing disappears if I touch the jack-plug against the metal case of my player, I don't even have to plug it in. I reckon it's a grounding issue.

Any hi-fi buffs around who might know?
 
Last edited:

Rampage

Trainee Northener
May 24, 2003
1,035
2
How do you figure that? Please explain....

That'll make it worse, not better.

If the mp3 player is set to a low volume, then the head unit is amplifying a lower signal, so the hiss is introduced by the amp. The correct thing to do, as others have stated, is set the mp3 player volume to the maximum it can (without causing distortion), and then there is less amplification needing to be done by the head unit and hence less hiss.

I'm not too sure why it happens, but I've always had it in the past. Not on the Leon though.
Thinking about it, I might be getting confused!
 

amills2005

Guest
I'd say have the mp3 at max volume (as long as it doesn't distort) - this way the amp has to do less work can be set at a lower volume and hence less hiss.

Well on my 160gb ipod, the volume on the ipod dosent matter as you can turn it right down and only the volume control on the headunit works.

The lead i have connects to the bottom of the ipod rather than to the headphone socket.

I get loud hiss when its not plugged in and a quieter hiss when it is plugged in.

The hiss is constant as in some quiet moments in songs you can still here it in the background.

Not tried messing with the settings yet but will do

Thanks
 

Robdrums

"Bitchtits"
Feb 18, 2006
210
0
Surrey
Interesting variety of experiences, thanks. At least I am satisfied that I don't need to get a new lead and that it's just the settings. It's working OK now, but I still find the hiss rather too loud if the Aux volume is at 0, I've left it at minus 2, but the iAudio puts out a very loud clear sound so is more than a match for the hiss. I find it's worse if the aux volume is high and then the main volume is boosted, rather than having a low aux input and boosting the overall volume for some reason.

Sadly it doesn't have a line out. My 40gb one does but I don't intend to use this in the car as it is too big.

Cheers

Rob
 
Chris Knott Insurance - Competitive quotes for forum members