So PSA service department reached out to me yesterday. Awesome folks and really helpful. They’re helping me work through it all. 
And this issue is not isolated to James_ABX’s unit as others are discovering the same problem with noise during playback on the MK 2 when connected directly to an amplifier.
I agree with you, something is wrong with these DACs, and wonder if a hardware or software issue is at the route of the problem.
I also contacted PS Audio support on Thursday and waiting for a response.
It is not true for all units as I can run mine straight into the BHK 250 balanced without any noise at all. A very perplexing issue for sure.
Agreed. I have heard a few guys doing so and not having an issue. We ran it through a BHK amp as a pre amp and no issue. There’s has to be some relationship thing going on here. Also it’s gotta be software based considering in between tracks and on mute it goes away.
Of course running a high gain amp like the Classe Delta and having 97db sensitive open baffles doesn’t help hide it either. 
If I put some 84 db sensitive speakers in it’s much harder to tell.
Because I only stream, I recently took a preamp out of my chain and now have Innuos Pulsar > MKII > Pass Labs monos > 93dB Open Baffles. Short RCA from MKII to monos. I’m noticing the same phenomenon as James_ABX. Only hear static during playback.
I don’t use a Mk II (yet) but do use Mk 1s. I can hear the hiss but when playing music the tape noise or recorded microphone hiss helps mask the hiss.
I get the impression that the MkII is hissier than a Mk 1 and Ted did something in software that effectively muted the hiss if music wasn’t playing. I think that was first implemented in Massive but I could be wrong . I’m sure some MK II owners will chirp up and say I’m talking nonsense or that they agree. It’s obviously not easy to know whether it’s the Mk II hiss or recorded hiss that you hear when music is playing. My drivers are efficient but only about 92db I think, certainly not 97db/w.
I inserted an integrated into my chain this afternoon…static went away.
It is very easy to recognize this hiss in unrelated to the recording as it doesn’t change with gain setting on the MK2 and isn’t heard when a preamp is inserted.
Hiss that is always present is not the same as static/ticking which is only audible when music is present and goes away between tracks. Residual noise which is very low is a by-product of the quadrate dsd that is the output of the mk 2 which is low pass filtered. My mk 2 has higher output than the mk 1 and yet that hiss level is lower with the mk 2. I never had an issue with the noise from the mk 1 when using it as a preamp the same goes for the mk 2 into my Wyred 4 Sound ST 1000mk2 or my BHK 250. The static/ticking is a whole different issue. My speakers are 93 db per watt sensitive.
Welcome to the club, durangoat.
That this noise is alleviated by inserting a preamp makes it appear that the cause lies in the interaction of the MK 2 circuit and these amplifiers rather than noise from the MK 2 per se.
Thanks! FYI, I know nothing about circuity and am only reporting a similar experience as others have posted. I’ll be interested to hear if James_ABX gets resolution from PSA, but it would be unfortunate if the only fix was to use a PSA amp.
Happy cake day!
Well, that is interesting…a head scratcher…
It’s a thing.
Further to what I said earlier and people didn’t seem to believe me take a look at this taken from the Massive release note:
Firmware 2.6.2 adds intelligent muting to reduce noise issues.
That is relative to changing sampling rates eg. DSD to PCM not ticking in the music playback.
There is work around to mitigate, best option is impliment a pre amplifier like most systems and people do. Utilizing the MKII as a DAC only, the issue goes away. Secondly using a lower gain amplifier and single ended outputs reduces the static sound to about half that of using balanced connectors. With lower sensitivity speakers and single ended with low gain amp it’s almost gone at that point. But as I decided to just max everything in using a high gain amp, balanced connectors, very high sensitive speakers (97db) it’s the worst case scenario.
Ran the MKII to the PASS INT60 yesterday and the system was STONE COLD QUIET….
A fine integrated amp!
The Stereophile review of Massive concludes as follows:
So, yes, the Mount Massive FPGA upgrade does lower the levels of both ultrasonic and audioband noise
Thank you…
We’re loving it right now.