Monitor V2 hiss

[ianweston]

Hi all, I'm new to Nord and new to this forum.

I just bought a Nord Grand and I've got to say I am really happy with it (Looks great, feels great, sounds amazing!). The piano lives in my living room so I decided to buy the Nord Monitors as well for space and the aesthetic (my wife had some input on that matter) but I'm not so impressed with the monitors... They sound good and the build is good, but there is a low level hiss at all times. When your sitting at the piano and not playing its actually quite noticeable. If you step back two or three meters you don't hear the hiss anymore, but when your sitting with the monitors 0.5 a meter from each ear its kind of annoying, especially when you've forked out so much cash for them.

I was wondering if this is normal or if they might be faulty?

Thanks all, nice to be here!

[Hlaalu]

Hi and welcome,

I have them with my Stage 3. Mine too have a tiny bit of hiss, but it's difficult to tell without hearing them first hand, if that's the same level as yours. What I can say is that, unless I crank the volume up, I can't hear the hiss at normal distance (where "normal" means 0,5 metres or so, as you say). Even if I put my ears against them, it's barely noticeable.

This could seem to suggest there's a difference, but do you have, or can you produce, an audio or video clip with the hiss being audible?

On a side note: are you 100% positive the hiss is coming from the monitors and nothing else? Do you have any other gear between the Grand and them, or connected in some ways in the path?

[nezyd]

hey!

i noticed this background noise too - and in my case it is definitely coming from the OLED display. So, if i place my ear near the display the weird ''hiss'' becomes much louder.
So it seems like this is normal.

[ianweston]

Hi guys. Thanks for the fast replies!

I’ve tried to record a video of the hissing I’m hearing from the monitors. It’s a bit difficult as the noise floor of my iPhone mic seems pretty noisy too. I ended up putting the camera close up to the monitors to pick it up. As you will see, there is nothing attached to the grand to introduce any extra noise, there isn’t anything nearby which could be affecting it with emi either. I hope the video gives you some idea of what I’m hearing.

One thing to mention - the hiss is always the same level, if the aux volume control is turned up/down or if the piano volume is turned up/down (or even completely disconnected) the volume of the hiss is constant. Also through headphone the sound straight out of the piano is nice and clear.

Out of curiosity I put my ear to the oled screen, I’m pleased to say I couldn’t hear any hiss coming out of that.

I’ve recently moved house just before getting my grand. I will try to take my monitors to a friends house to try them out, just in case it’s something to do with my house electrics... noisy wall outlets?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[DJKeys]

Have you tried turning the Auto-Standby off?

-dj

[Regularsempfft]

I just recieved my pair of Nord monitors V2 and I'm experiencing the same hissing / a steady noise.
I'm on the edge of resending or keeping, since it is just hearable enough to annoy me in quiet/silent parts.
The auto standby doesn't change anything.

Edit: The sound level of the noise is not affected by the volume controller of the grand or the monitors, it's at a steady volume.
I've uploaded a recording of me switching the monitors on and off again after a while.
I wonder if it could be the wall outlets at my very old house increasing the noise?
I have a pair of JBL LSR305 Monitors at my desk, which have a base noise pretty much like the nord monitors, but a bit quieter.

I wonder if somebody with the Nord monitors v2 could compare, I'm unsure whether mine are faulty or if thats just the base noise level they're having.
I also wonder how the OP proceeded with his pair...

[hofi66]

I have the same problems.

I purchased version 2 a couple of weeks ago. Noise is generated regardless of the connection. The signal with or without Nord Stage 3 is always the same. I checked the cables, it didn't change anything.

Is this a design flaw? Maybe some of the company's representatives will answer? Should I ask the store to exchange it for another copy?

[Regularsempfft]

I have talked to my seller.
They are having more units of the monitors in stock now and I am sending in my pair today, so they can compare the noise volumes of different pairs.
I'll report back their findings in a couple of days...

[M1tsos]

As i heard the video. This is the amplifier noise in the pa world this is complete normal…. In studio monitors i think it should be less noticeable

Anyway in the pa systems we reduce that noise by taking down the amplifier input gain and taking this db from the output..

I dont know if possible to do it from these monitors.. the aux volume knob probably is the output volume not the input of their amp.. try to lower that aux volume and give volume from the instrument and the opposite give max the aux volume and low the instrument.. if nothing change then you should get other monitors..

[M1tsos]

I have talked to my seller.
They are having more units of the monitors in stock now and I am sending in my pair today, so they can compare the noise volumes of different pairs.
I'll report back their findings in a couple of days...

I doubt that they will be different.. it will be the same on all monitors.. its just the amp signal noise which ofc is a bit much for piano- studio monitors