Interesting you say they're quieter than the Aego M's, AE seem to disagree.
Also, to clarify - the noise will be present in both analogue and digital.
I'll post the exchange with AE below, as I think it contains pertinent information for potential buyers. I also want to say their customer service has been fantastic, with fast communication and even arranging for the speakers to be collected at their own cost for testing purposes.
Tl;dr - Aego3 satellites produce a noticeable hiss on the Aux and Dig inputs from "around 2ft away in a quiet room".
The Aego3 system noise is "slightly worse than the Aego M (due to the wireless chip)", but "noise performance is within the specified tolerance for this product."
For me, the noise was just too noticeable in a quiet room when sat at my computer desk. Of course, your mileage may vary.
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Hi Luke,
Wayne has told me about the problems you are having with our Aego system, you are one of the first people to get the new system so we are taking your comments very seriously. We are very sorry that you are having these problems and we would like to turn you into a happy customer if we can.
With all audio electronics there will be always small amount of hissing, but in your system there seems to be too much and we need to try and understand why that is. The behaviour you describe below is as we would expect, i.e. there is no hiss on BT but there is on the digital and analogue inputs. It would be useful if you could tell us what happens when you unplug all of the inputs, does the hissing get worse, better, or the same?
Ideally, and this depends entirely on you, we would like collect the system from you and get it back to our factory for testing. If we find a fault with it then we can swap it for another one. If we don’t find a fault ie the noise levels are within spec, then it’s up to you whether you return it or not.
Let me know how you would like to proceed.
Best regards,
Mat.
Mat Spandl
Project Manager
Acoustic Energy Ltd.
www.acoustic-energy.co.uk
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Hi Mat,
Thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate the help.
I tried removing all the inputs as you requested, and there is no discernable difference in the hissing. The level remains the same regardless of whether there are inputs connected. Is this what you would expect?
I understand there will be some noise in a system like this, but it does seem excessive (at least to my ears). Of course this could be considered a very subjective thing, what seems loud to me may not even bother another, so I do think it would be a good idea to get the system back to you so you can determine if the noise is within tolerances or not.
I did own a set of Aego M's many years ago now, and I cannot recall them making this hissing noise. Unfortunately I no longer own them so I cannot directly compare with the Aego3 now. I'm not sure how much of the internals the two systems share in common, if anything? It seems logical that if the hiss is so noticeable to me now with the Aego3, then if it did in fact exist on my pair of Aego M's, I would definitely have heard it. That's what makes me think the noise on this system may not be quite normal.
I think it makes sense to get the system back to you, if only to find out the noise is within your tolerances and I'm being too sensitive to it. For my sanity at least, it would be good to find out either way. How should we go about getting these back to you - should I arrange this through Audio Affair?
Regards,
Luke
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Hi Luke,
Thanks for testing that, it means that the noise is coming through the mains rather than through the inputs. That gives us something to work with.
I’ve copied in our sales department they will arrange a collection (probably) directly from you.
We’ll certainly check your system against an Aego M as well to compare the noise levels. Our prototypes were quieter than the Aego M due to the improved power supply design.
Best regards,
Mat.
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Hi Luke,
We received your Aego3 back yesterday and ran some tests to try and replicate the noise problem you have been experiencing.
We found that there was some ‘hissing’ noise on the Aux and Dig inputs but that the Bluetooth input was very quiet as we would expect. On the Aux input we could hear hissing from around 2ft away in a quiet room, we would be interested to know if this is in-line with what you experienced?
We also compared the noise performance to an Aego M as well as another Aego3 from our stock. We found that the noise was slightly worse than the Aego M (due to the wireless chip) but was similar to the other Aego3 sample. When we took measurements we found that the noise performance was within the specified tolerance for this product.
We will carry out a thorough review of the noise performance for the Aego3 to make sure it is in-line with customer expectations. Unfortunately we do not have a way of improving the noise on your unit so it is up to you how you want to proceed. We can either return the unit to you, or if you decide that the noise is too much to live with, we can organise a refund through Audio Affair.
I apologise that we don’t have a better solution than this at the moment. As I mentioned above we will continue to look into this, and if we find a solution to improve the noise performance in the future we would be happy to get in touch and bring your unit back for an upgrade. However I can’t offer an guarantees as to when this might be.
Let me know how you would like to proceed.
Best regards,
Mat.
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Hi Mat,
Thanks for getting back to me.
I didn't measure distances exactly, but the hissing was very noticeable with the satellites either side of my computer desk monitor. So I guess that would be around 2ft, probably less. It's slightly disappointing that speakers presumably designed with computer desk setups in mind have audible hissing from that sort of distance - I imagine the majority of users will be that far away from the speakers.
I'm surprised to hear the noise was worse than the Aego M, didn't you say you found the Aego3 was quieter on your prototypes?
You mentioned the noise is worse because of the wireless chip. This is a fairly radical suggestion - but how feasible would it be to remove this chip entirely just on my unit? Obviously if this is actually integrated onto the board then I realise this would not be possible. It's just in my case, I do not need the bluetooth functionality at all as I will be connecting an Airport Express to the digital input and playing music via Airplay instead of bluetooth. But ideally I'd like to retain the added benefit of having the built-in DAC - which is a big advantage the Aego3 has over the Aego M, and obviously I'd prefer to have the refreshed design of the Aego3 satellites.
If removing the bluetooth chip is not an option - what would the Aego3 satellites sound like if they were plugged into an Aego M sub? Would the hissing noise disappear?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Luke
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Hi Luke,
It’s not possible to remove the Bluetooth chip unfortunately, because it’s all integrated. A few years back this would have been an option but things have moved on…
Yes if you used the Aego3 sats with an Aego M sub then the hissing would be less.
Mat.
