Sprout100 Noisey headphone output

I got my sprout about a month ago and currently really happy with the speaker output. However, I notice there is an audible hum coming out of my headphones at virtually every level of volume with or without playing music. This is less apparent when I use less sensitive headphones such as HD800 but very annoying on CIEMs such as Noble Kaiser. Does anyone else has the same experience or am I getting a slightly faulty unit?

Hi @boxuanwang,

Try disconnecting all sources from the sprout and plug in your most sensitive headphones. If you still hear the hum, I suspect that the sprout is faulty. If you don’t hear the hum, then you probably have a ground loop happening between one of your sources and the sprout, or one of your sources is faulty.

If it turns out to be a ground issue between the sprout and one of the sources, one of the most effective ways to eliminate that problem is to make sure that your sprout and all of your sources are plugged into the same power line. If you are able to do that, the hum should be eliminated. If that does not eliminate the hum, then most likely the source that introduces the hum is faulty.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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Thanks for the advice! I have tried to unplug everything and the background hum is still there (The hum is there as long as the amp is on even if there are not inputs connected). Looks like my unit might be the problem. :confused: What would be the best next step for me?

At this point I recommend that you contact ps audio customer service for further assistance.

Quick update. I got an advance replacement shipped to me and tested it today. There are definitely improvements.

  1. The sprout100 itself no longer hums.
  2. The hum noise in the headphone turned in to a much quieter hiss sound.

I am overall happy about the service and the improvement mostly. However, I probably still have to swap back to my headphone set up if I want to a long listening session. I didn’t buy the sprout100 for the headphone output anyways, so I think I’ll keep the replacement.

Thanks for the update.