Question Hissing sound from one of the Creative BlasterX Kratos speakers

[Tigro]

I recently bought new speakers from Creative, the Sound BlasterX Kratos S3. I don't need outstanding sound as I'm using the speakers sparsely anyway but the problem I encountered is that the left speaker keeps hissing regardless of whether something is played and the volume/bass knobs position.

I did my research and some people are complaining that their Creatives are giving out a slight hiss too - and my right speaker does that too but I'd be completely fine with it were it not for the left speaker which hisses thrice as loud. I recorded a video to show this in action:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar00qWZ_pN0


I've tried connecting them to a different audio source, tried moving the cable that goes to the left speaker away from any other cables to make sure a nearby power cable isn't causing the disturbance somewhere along the way but to no avail. As I mentioned, the volume and bass knobs make no difference either and the hissing is always of consistent intensity. Tried installing Creative's drivers from the website and their BlasterX Acoustic Engine software but it changed nothing either.

I'm pretty desperate for a solution different than sending them in for warranty cause where I live the warranty laws are a nightmare and will surely mean months of back-and-forth between me and the seller for which I don't really have energy right now. Anything else I may try to combat such an issue?

 

[Zoid]

Do you experience this issue only when the speakers are plugged into your computer? Have you tried swapping L/R stereo channels on your output?

If you turn on the speakers without connecting them to an audio source, do you still hear the hiss? If so, and especially if the left speaker is always the one that hisses more regardless of input, I would tend to think this is a problem with the internal amp in the speaker.

 

[Tigro]

Do you experience this issue only when the speakers are plugged into your computer? Have you tried swapping L/R stereo channels on your output?

Swapping the channels does not help. If I disconnect them from the computer, they both start buzzing loudly (and get even louder if I for example touch the jack with my finger).

And yep, regardless of input and whether the channels are swapped, the left speaker is the one always hissing.

 

[Zoid]

Swapping the channels does not help. If I disconnect them from the computer, they both start buzzing loudly (and get even louder if I for example touch the jack with my finger).

And yep, regardless of input and whether the channels are swapped, the left speaker is the one always hissing.

The hum you hear when you unplug them is mains hum / a ground loop and is probably not related to the hissing sound.

A hissing sound like that is usually caused by the audio levels or gain being turned up too high somewhere in the system, however the fact that you say the volume knob on the speaker doesn't do anything makes me think that this is a quality issue in the speaker's internal amp.

If you have swapped the position of both speakers and how they are plugged in, then pretty much the only thing left that can be causing the difference is the speaker internals themselves. You could always try powering them from a power conditioner to clean up any noise in the AC line. That might reduce the hiss a little, but I wouldn't count on it going away from that.