Swissonic A305

[Svend P]

I received my A305 today. While the sound is fine, they do hiss a bit. I have to be more than 1 meter (3 feet) away not to hear it.
And when playing loud-ish there is heavy port chuffing.

This is my punishment for being cheap. Back to the lake with you, Nessie.

 

[DanielT]

I received my A305 today. While the sound is fine, they do hiss a bit. I have to be more than 1 meter (3 feet) away not to hear it.
And when playing loud-ish there is heavy port chuffing.

This is my punishment for being cheap. Back to the lake with you, Nessie.

View attachment 335689

That seems like quite a lot of hiss.

Equal amount of hiss on both speakers?
Have you tried different inputs? Same hiss regardless of input?

 

[KLang1]

I received my A305 today. While the sound is fine, they do hiss a bit. I have to be more than 1 meter (3 feet) away not to hear it.
And when playing loud-ish there is heavy port chuffing.

This is my punishment for being cheap. Back to the lake with you, Nessie.

It's a speaker not headphones

 

[daftcombo]

I received my A305 today. While the sound is fine, they do hiss a bit. I have to be more than 1 meter (3 feet) away not to hear it.

Have you tried playing with the volume at the back?

Do you use balanced cables?

That seems like quite a lot of hiss.

Genelec 8030C worse than that.

 

[Svend P]

Have you tried playing with the volume at the back?

Do you use balanced cables?

Yes, they hiss more when the volume is turned up all the way. But even at half volume it is too much for me, as I sit less than 1 meter away (it was meant to be used as a rear surround). I only tried with one speaker, but I am not under the impression it has any defects.
I only use phono in, as that is how I would be using it. It's all I have.

 

[Svend P]

It's a speaker not headphones

Yeah, they were just not the right tool for me, but you did not make a bad product, so don't be dissuaded by my dismissal of them. Part of my reason to buy them was due to your participation here on ASR.
I think I just have to go to passives instead and probably something with at least a 6½" bass.

 

[KLang1]

I didn't think someone would use them as surround speakers, your argument makes sense there of course. Sorry for the quip!

 

[daftcombo]

Yes, they hiss more when the volume is turned up all the way. But even at half volume it is too much for me, as I sit less than 1 meter away (it was meant to be used as a rear surround). I only tried with one speaker, but I am not under the impression it has any defects.
I only use phono in, as that is how I would be using it. It's all I have.

It is a shame. A305 and A306 are not the same product, but Erin wrote under his video review of the A306 :

Self-Noise (aka: hiss):
I sequestered myself into the bathroom (hey, it's quiet there, don't judge me) and powered the speaker up. I had to be within about 1 foot away from the tweeter before I could hear any noise at all. In my office I had to have my ear right next to the tweeter to hear any noise from the speaker over my computer's fan noise. In other words, self-noise isn't an issue with this speaker.

 

[DanielT]

Swissonic A306, considering what Erin said about this with audible noise is interesting. Very good price for that speaker, at least for those living in Europe.

It might seem like I'm being overly critical of Swissonic given what I pasted from what person from another forum said about them but that's not the case. If you want to play at a high distortion-free volume, they are not a good choice, but everyone understands that. On the other hand, at lower to normal volume (which is their purpose, working area), they seem really nice.

 

[Naturlyd]

A-series as well as the X8 use the 1701, but only the A-series can be reprogrammed permanently with SigmaStudio. The three pins to do so are still on the board of the production version. DAC0 and DAC1 are connected to LF as + and -, 2&3 to HF.

If one do any EQ changes to the 1701 in the X8, will they stay until you cycle the power? Or will some power saving feature cut power to the 1701 as soon as you have stopped playing for a while? @KLang1 Thanks for posting details from the tuning process.

 

[holdingpants01]

Not testing for self noise of powered speakers is an extremely huge omission, imagine not testing amps or DACs for this and they have like 100 times less noise. This is almost the most important aspect of a powered speaker, you can add a sub to fix the low end distortion and headroom, you can EQ the response if it's rough, you cannot change the level of hiss and it's the main reason to return the speakers if they're working properly, yet there's no data other than subjective "I can/cannot hear it"

 

[ppataki]

Not testing for self noise of powered speakers is an extremely huge omission, imagine not testing amps or DACs for this and they have like 100 times less noise. This is almost the most important aspect of a powered speaker, you can add a sub to fix the low end distortion and headroom, you can EQ the response if it's rough, you cannot change the level of hiss and it's the main reason to return the speakers if they're working properly, yet there's no data other than subjective "I can/cannot hear it"

There is data:

Hiss (S&R) - 2021 04 30

Info Notes Link to main thread:,<a href="https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hiss-list-s-r.18050/">https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hiss-list-s-r.18050/</a>

docs.google.com

Probably not the most up-to-date but it shall help

 

[grogi.giant]

A306 are out of stock for a while now... They must be a hit after Erin's review

Congratulation for such a good product.

 

[LukyKuky]

Hi,
have them for a brief time.

• Yes they hiss a bit, regardless of volume knob. Nothing I would care if music playes.
• They have auto-standby kicking in about 10-15 minutes of no signal (mega feature in this class).
  • Muted blue LED for on state. In very low light could be nicer to have it even lower
  • Red LED for standby
• DSP set at +2dB bass and -2dB highs, then PEQed.
• Raw measurement with umik1 in untreated bedroom. Right speaker in the corner.

 

[test1223]

Some of the Swissonic monitors are even cheaper again.
E.g. the 3 way X8 with an 8" woofer costs 198€ in Germany. https://www.thomann.de/de/swissonic_x8.htm

P.S. the small V5 for 79€ https://www.thomann.de/de/swissonic_v5.htm unbelievably cheap...

 

[holdingpants01]

Some of the Swissonic monitors are even cheaper again.
E.g. the 3 way X8 with an 8" woofer costs 198€ in Germany. https://www.thomann.de/de/swissonic_x8.htm

Their V5 model is currently priced at 80€ per unit, crazy

 

[test1223]

Their V5 model is currently priced at 80€ per unit, crazy

I was a tiny bit to late with my Edit )

 

[ninetylol]

Damn my curiosity, i just ordered the V5 for science

 

[test1223]

Damn my curiosity, i just ordered the V5 for science

Nice, please report back what you are thinking of the speaker.

 

[Koadl_M]

nge and woofer was corrected for baffle ste

A-series as well as the X8 use the 1701, but only the A-series can be reprogrammed permanently with SigmaStudio. The three pins to do so are still on the board of the production version. DAC0 and DAC1 are connected to LF as + and -, 2&3 to HF.

Hey, i am new to the forum and Speakertech in general. i have the swissonic x8s since last november, is there any way or workaround to reprogramm the X8s permanently?