Background noise on the new ipod shuffle.

Yes, it's on my Shuffle/headphones as well! But I can't hear it when I listen to a song so I don't care that much about it...

Just to add my voice to the thread... I noticed this new noise immediately after firing up my 2G Shuffle. A handful of reviewers (iLounge, most notably) have mentioned it, so I'd say we're all officially not imagining this.

I can't help but be a little disappointed. I'm proud to have owned an iPod from each class and generation, and this is the first time I've been dissatisfied with the audio quality. Sure, if you've got a busy song playing and the volume turned up, you can't really hear it too bad, more or less. But that's like saying my MacBook Pro doesn't whine as long as I have Photo Booth running. The hiss is there, it shouldn't be, and I don't like it.

So, the more interesting question is, do we give Apple a pass for this rather obvious quality lapse? After all, the thing is so small, and Apple has actually done a pretty amazing job of packaging a decent amount of technology into such a tiny device. I mean, the headphone jack is like a Swiss Army Knife of gadgetry. It handles audio, data transfer and battery recharging duty. I'm very impressed with what Apple has accomplished. Is the hiss an unavoidable consequence of all that multitasking?

I don't know. The consumer in me says, "**** NO!" But the Apple disciple says, "Well, this company does give me the chance to sit out on the bleeding edge of technology, so I guess a little static is to be expected." I do love my new Shuffle, and I expect to use it a lot. I just wish the **** static wasn't there.

I'd be interested to hear some thoughts... Is anyone else perturbed by this? Am I overreacting?

Thanks,
Chip

Thanks for the reply. It's comforting to know that
it's just a normal thing. I think apple may have done
a little too much on the "sound enhancer" on the
shuffle, thus revealing the static a bit more than
the last shuffle.

Mine doesn't have "hiss" or any other background noise while playing quiet passages or not playing anything.

But yeah, you can't tell at all when a song is
playing.

I listen to audiobooks which have a lot of quiet passages...

In other words: The 2n Gen Shuffles don't ALL have this problem.

I listen to audiobooks which have a lot of quiet
passages...

In other words: The 2n Gen Shuffles don't ALL
have this problem.

I also listen to audiobooks. Just because you cannot hear it does not mean it is not there. It just means that your hearing is not acute enough.

It is not audible when compared to quiet passages in a program versus noisy ones. It is audible when comparing ON versus OFF. Put you earbuds in when off. Now flip the power switch to the ON position. Make sure you do this in a quiet room. There, you can hear the slight hiss of machine noise. That hiss is easily overshadowed by any program you play, as programs of any kind have a certain amount of background noise from the recording process. Still, the machine noise is a part of the mix, even if you can't isolate it.

My guess is that this is a problem for all units. Most people just do not know what to listen for. Therefore, they will not complain about the problem. If you think yours does not have this noise, let someone who is a bit more technically inclined, and who has excellent hearing, take a listen. If you have spent too much time listening to too much music at too loud a volume, you will never hear the difference anyway.

There's a couple more opinions on this thread (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=716591&tstart=0) for those who are interested.

Josh got to it first. I don't believe a firmware update is going to fix the issue. I think it is simply a design issue that will have to be lived with unless someone wants to investigate using a noise filter or hiss-buster as it's referred to on Headfi.org

As I said in the other thread i don't believe it is shuffle dependent, I believe it is earphone dependent.

If you are using the crappy (well, not in THIS case) ipod earbuds, you won't hear the hiss, but on your 100.00-500.00 IEMS, you're going to pick it up due to their increased sensitivity.

I've owned 5 different iPods and this is the only one that has this noise problem. The noise is so obviously audible and really bugs me.

I took it to the store today and the person at the "Genius Bar" said she and another person couldn't hear it, so they refused to do anything about it. I even brought my new Nano so she could compare the two, but she simply said she couldn't hear it. She told me there was nothing else I could do because they "couldn't replicate the problem."

This is really disappointing. I know I will not make another Apple-related purchase until this is resolved. I wish I had known about this before I made the purchase.

Well, you could always give it to a Mac-using friend.
We're not very picky...

:P

I purchased six iPod shuffles for Christmas presents. I have had them all out of their package (to charge and put some sample music on). One of them was quite noisy (hiss), a couple were very quiet, the others in between. All listened to in a quiet room with Shure E3C earphones. So there is a difference. Even the worst of the Shuffles was not bad in a louder environment. All of the other samples were very acceptable. Cheers - Jim

You've got one up on me as I've never had more than one here at a time to test.
I suppose my expectations are more realistic than some with the 2G.
It's an $80 music player - I don't expect it to rival my audiophile gear...

Scott