Not electrical or ground related. And NOT clipping.
How I confirmed: Recorded 5 seconds of an increasingly dynamic playing and listened through with the same headphone the result from two different outputs:
PC1: Output, coming from USB > Cortex > Headphones
PC2: Output to headphones
What do I do? I tried factory reset and it’s very evident that is occurring on almost every preset (And can never really play a clean preset because of this through headphones).
I am still within my return period, has anyone highlighted this issue and exchanged it? Or got it repaired?
There is a lot of discussion about headphone digital clipping/distortion with the QC. This could be similar to what you’re experiencing though. The consensus is that the QC really doesn’t like low impedance headphones. I don’t know if this is something that is fixable in software at all, but I know that buying dedicated headphones isn’t an option for everyone since good ones are $150++++
Do you have multiple headphone options to test with?
Alternate option is to run through an interface and use the headphones from that.
Can you clarify the type of noise: are we talking an independent static/hissing/buzzing that is also present when you are NOT playing or are we talking distortion (i.e. the signal being distorted).
STATIC / BUZZING etc shouldn’t have anything to do with headphone impedance - a signal that appears “from out of nowhere” is typically some shape or form of interference, either from outside (guitar cable, headphone cable) or inside the QC. Or some strange bug in the actual processing that makes the noise appear. I had a faulty motherboard in an audio interface create very stange noises some time ago - motherboard had to be replaced.
If we are talking DISTORTION, then there is something affecting and modifying a signal (e.g. clipping) - that’s a different effect. That may be due to either the phones being overdriven by a signal that’s too hot, or the headphone amp in the QC breaking up, due to low-impedance headphones.
Plugging the headphone in half-way typically disconnects the ground connection, so if the static is gone when you pull the plug halfway, this does indicate a grounding issue, with the headphone cable shielding acting as some kind of antenna.
@Salikqazi : not sure if you are aware of this: the QC is known to have issues when being used with headphones only without any other audio connection. This is due to the design of its grounding and its power supply. So if your QC’s output isn’t connected to a mixing desk, active speakers or interface, and your headphone is the only output connected, this is known behavior.
If you have a way of connecting main outputs to some audio equipment (mixing console, active speakers) with its own ground connection, this should address the issue - give it a try.
I had it connected to USB at the time, same issue was present.
Connecting to USB actually adds the tiniest bit of noise to the signal chain.
Confirmed that nothing was clipping.
I do not have anything else to plug in too, what kind of debauchery is this by Neural DSP…
I’m a bedroom player, it’s almost 3K Canadian buckaroos and I need to do some extra connections to make it playable with just headphones?!
This is frankly unacceptable as a solution, even if it works. I have used modellers way cheaper than this with no concern.
Algorithmically Perfect but Electrically Unstable should be their new tagline if this has been an issue since launch and NOTHING has been done to remedy the situation,
I’ve been testing the QC since I bought it on the 13th Jan 24.
My conclusion is that the QC has no earth/ground at all. I have written to Neural and the reply was that this was a design intent as they expect that the QC will collect a ground from the amp/FRFR/PA that it is connected to and spouted some shite about earth loops (yeah because the cheapest shittiest DI box doesn’t have a ground lift button does it??).
If you plug in a guitar and headphones then there is a massive buzz/hum on the output from the QC AND on mine a significant potential diff on the guitar cable (I can feel a slight electrical shock!!).
If you plug the QC via usb to a laptop then the shitty noise continues until you plug the power supply into the laptop and then the QC finds a ground there.
For £1500 this is just shit. I am probably going back to the shop tomorrow and if it’s (TADTS, they all do that sir) then it’s probably going back and I’ll get one that f******g works.
Dumb on NDSP truly to make it function like this. As a bedroom, headphone strictly, player, this sucks big time.
I guess folks playing it live or always connected to something don’t even know this is a concern but there’s no way in hell am I:
Getting a studio monitor
Connecting it to USB each time (Added more noise for me anyways)
Paying for $100-$200 for a grounded Power Supply
It’s quite a shame, I saved a year and a half worth of hard earned money and dreamt for this product all the time for an All In One solution… only to be met with “You need to spend more money”
FYI, both of those are VERY low impedance headphones. My headphones aren’t considered high and they’re 30 or 40 ohm. I’m talking about 120 ohm impedance here.
Equipment grounding and ground loops is a complex issue and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s also a moving target that’s affected by the electrical source and whatever equipment is being used on any given day. Fractal’s floor processors have a built-in power supply and are grounded through the power cable. When I was using an AX8, there were people on the forum that were upset about having to buy “Humbuster” cables to solve their particular ground loop issue. The AX8 was built with no headphone jack and some folks were pissed about that.
Neural could have designed the QC to work best for the few users who spent big money to only use it with headphones even though that wouldn’t serve the majority of users.
No guitar processor is perfect for everyone in every situation. The thing that confuses me is, if you like the QC otherwise, with multiple easy, cheap and even free ways of stopping ground noise while using headphones, why wouldn’t you just do that, pick up your guitar and make music?
Maybe the USB device you were connecting to was not grounded. I think the simplest way to do it would be with a clip lead. A big clip could be attached to the barrel of your guitar cord plug or wrap bare wire around the plug (if metal). You could also back one of the bottom plate screws a few turns and attach there. You could even attach a lead to your guitar bridge. Attach the other end to anything grounded- other equipment, an AV receiver, a faucet. Not optimal, I know but, Neural will not be able to fix the problem with a grounded wall wort since the barrel connector on the QC is not grounded. If you like the QC enough to deal with the inconvenience then there are work-arounds.
On reboot… there is now MINIMAL static (but there is hiss) but that breakup concern initially is about 95% gone (I still hear it in the right channel every odd hard strum but it’s not clipping).
Wtf?
I’m using the same quarter inch to aux cable (stereo cable) that I was using and none of the issues I experienced before are happening
Only issue (Not an issue, I don’t mind hiss) is now there’s a background hiss of about 240hz
Do you experience all of this noise when you bring the QC and your guitar and headphones into a different room of your house?
I have a REALLY nasty hum in my computer/work/studio space that makes any guitar recording impossible. I think, although I’m not sure, it’s because my circuit breaker is in that same room. I just realized when reading this thread that the one orientation of my body/guitar that eliminates this noise is when my body is directly between me and the guitar faces the other way.
I have a semi-related issue with headphones, where at even 0 volume there’s a lot of hiss coming from the headphone output (not 60/120hz hum). I asked people on reddit and posted some spectrum charts: Reddit - Dive into anything
I contacted neural and they basically said use higher impedence headphones or turn down the headphone volume by 10-12dB, which seems like a weak answer to me. I was using fairly high-end headphones and this is the only device ever with which i have had problems like this.
Out of curiosity, do people hear a lot of hiss/static with volume at 0 and only headphones and some form of grounding plugged in?
