background noise when playing Ipod through DICE

[M5V8 337]

I was listening to some tunes in the car, in the garage on the weekend and noticed alot of background noise...you know the "shhhhhhhh" noise. I guess I have never really noticed when the car was moving due to the road noise.

My system is standard e39 head unit with DICE ipod input.

All the speakers have been upgraded.

Is there a filter or settings to get rid of this noise without ruining the treble?

Also anyone else get the odd clicking noise from your ipod?

Edited August 12, 2010 by *Glenn*

[JaseNZ 53]

I was listening to some tunes in the car, in the garage on the weekend and noticed alot of background noise...you know the "shhhhhhhh" noise. I guess I have never really noticed when the car was moving due to the road noise.

My system is standard e39 head unit with DICE ipod input.

All the speakers have been upgraded.

Is there a filter or settings to get rid of this noise without ruining the treble?

Also anyone else get the odd clicking noise from your ipod?

You might some useful info here

>.Clicky me<<

[M5V8 337]

where would you find a good GLI ?

[pureboiracer 0]

^jaycar? or a good car stereo outlet.

[M5V8 337]

would this work do you think?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-298242672.htm

it plugs into RCA's tho... I guess if they all function the same I could simply cut off the RCA plugs?

bare in mind this isn't alternator whine....more like white noise. I would say a mixure of using good quality sensitive speakers and mp3's.

Edited June 22, 2010 by M5V8

[jochen 4]

I was listening to some tunes in the car, in the garage on the weekend and noticed alot of background noise...you know the "shhhhhhhh" noise. I guess I have never really noticed when the car was moving due to the road noise.

My system is standard e39 head unit with DICE ipod input.

All the speakers have been upgraded.

Is there a filter or settings to get rid of this noise without ruining the treble?

Also anyone else get the odd clicking noise from your ipod?

If you are hearing "hiss", then you are likely listening to the limitations of your system

Every audio system generates hiss and noise, and in a very quiet environment with good speakers, the hiss can be audible. Especially with very efficient tweeters.

To verify where the hiss comes from try these tests - (tip: do them in the garage at night when everything is nice and quiet)

Setup your music with some quiet music where you can hear the hiss present, or put the iPod on pause.

Vary the volume and listen carefully

If the hiss is constant no matter what the volume level, then you are listening to the hiss and noise produced by the power amplifier stages, and/or the radio module amplifier stages. If so, there is nothing you can do about it (apart from fitting less efficient tweeters!).

If the hiss level varies with the volume control, then it comes from the pre-amp stages or from the ipod itself.

Disconnect the ipod and listen to the hiss. Note that with the iPod disconnected, the stereo will easily pickup noise from the open inputs - eg if you touch the inputs with your fingers, you can inject hum and noise into the system. This is normal.

If you have no hiss when the ipod is disconnected, then the hiss must come from the iPod.

To reduce iPod hiss and noise, try the following:

1. turn off all sound processing .- Settings - Playback - EQ = Off. I found my iPod nano distorts the music when I turn EQ on, so I have it OFF all the time now

2. Rip your music at a better quality level (higher bitrate). This will improve the quality of the music, which may be more notable on the higher frequencies. You may have less noise on higher bitrate music.

3. Check the levels of the ripped music. Unlikely to be an issue, as most songs these days are encoded at the upper limits, and made artificially "louder" with less dynamic range. My older CDs sound so much better than newer music for this reason :-)

And of course, there's always the possibility that you are listening to recorded hiss and noise that existed on the original studio recording.

I have some tracks where the original studio hiss is very evident. dates from the days of reel-to-reel recoding equipment :-)

[M5V8 337]

thanks jochen,

again awesome knowledge!

It's the amp.

It's a constant hiss even with the ipod disconnected and nothing playing.

I guess this is due to me installing some really high end speakers with every efficent tweeters that now it's audiable.

Oh well, I'm not pulling them out that's for sure! I guess I just have to have the stereo loud all of the time to overpower it.

Damn.

Edited June 26, 2010 by M5V8

[milky 0]

maybe a bit late but ill try anyway

try a different amp if you have one available. sometimes if you blow the input capacitor this will happen. Also check that your head deck and amp grounds go back to bare metal as poor grounding also leads to noise.

I disagree with the statement above that all systems have an audible hiss, i've seen plenty which are completely silent when there is no music.

Edited August 11, 2010 by milky

[M5V8 337]

This is all factory unmoddified gear.

The only change has been ipod / DICE and speaker upgrade.

I think the factory amp was never meant to have such sensitive speakers so wasn't a problem before. I can deal with the hiss it was only really audiable when I was working in the car in the garage, driving you don't notice.

I agree an high end amp may solve but not worth the $ IMO.

Thanks for the input anyway mate. Differing opinions are what make forums.