[Maginir]

Hello,
im relativly new to the Audio space.
I recenly bought a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX and the Shiit Vali3 Headphone amp.

Im really happy with these but sometimes i get weird interference noises. I notices that they seem to come from my mobile phone. When activating the flight mode the noise diappears. Also fiddling with the headphone jack seems to do the trick sometimes.

I tried to record the Noise.


I don't really know what to do. I don't want to turn on flight mode anytime i sit on my desk. I also want to find the root of the problem as i can't imagine that my phone is able to drive my headphones with the interferance (the noise is pretty loud). I think that the audio signal maybe is backfeeding in my Vali3 and the intererance noise is ampified.

Thanks in advance.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Is the Vali 3 line-input connected to the Phone's headphone jack?

 

[dunring]

Try moving the phone near different connectors to listen when it gets louder to see what connector is picking up the interference. First thing is process of elimination to see if it's a cable that doesn't have enough shielding.

 

[Maginir]

Thanks for the replies.
I maybe should describe my setup a bit more.
PC analog out -> Vali3 input -> Sennheiser 6XX via stock cable

The Noise pickup is happening at the Sennheiser Headphone cable. Thats were my asumption of the signal backfeeding and geting ampified comes.
On a side. The Noise is independent of the Valis volume knob and doesn't stop when disconecting my PC from the Vali.

When the Noise does appear (rather spontanius) i am able to take my phone and based on the distance to the Senheiser Cable the noise gets louder or quieter.

I am currently testing if i cant trigger the noise pickup without the Vali3 in between by PC and Headphones but wasn't able to do so.

 

[silent-circuit]

Not enough RF shielding on the Vali and cable. Not much to be done there, short of getting different equipment.

 

[megabigeye]

It's almost definitely the Vali and not the cable. Maybe the cable is contributing to the problem, but the amp is the problem.
If I understand, you tried plugging the headphones into something other than the Vali and the problem went away? That seems like the answer, right there.

I have a BottleHead Quickie that exhibits the exact same thing you're describing. The Quickie even picks up radio stations on occasion! If I recall, the fix is to solder a resistor between the some pins on the tube. It sounds like the Vali is missing that shielding, either by design or because yours is faulty. Well, or you can put the whole thing in a metal box. Or turn all wi-fi off and move away from the radio towers.

My suggestion is to first ask other Vali 3 owners if they've ever experienced anything similar, and then reach out to Schiit to request a refund or replacement (if it turns out yours is faulty).