Stefan Brüns wrote:

> On Samstag, 23. Januar 2021 18:52:50 CET Per Jessen wrote:
>> Per Jessen wrote:
>> > I have hooked up a headset to my Nanopi Neo Air, but the microphone
>> > quality is severely impacted by electrical hum.  I have tested it
>> > and determined it is due to a power supply with no ground, i.e. the
>> > typical 5VDC 2A with a two-prong Europlug.  Using one of those
>> > small power supplies in metal cabinets, with a ground wire, and the
>> > hum is gone.
>> > 
>> > The latter is not really an option, so what do people do instead?
>> 
>> I have discussed it on EE stackexchange, and there is no doubt it is
>> a ground loop (Brummschleife) issue
> 
> There is no doubt this explanation is utterly wrong. You can't have a
> ground loop without (multiple!) ground connections.

I don't even have a single one :-) 

* connect an oscilloscope ground to the ARM board, the hum goes away.  
* touch the metal part of the microphone with my finger, the hum roughly
doubles. 
* use a small 5vdc SMPS with mains ground, no hum. 

> There are other possible explanations:
> - badly shielded cables

I have tried using a shielded balanced pair cable to the microphone, but
the microphone capsule is sat in an old analog telephone receiver with
an unshielded spiral cable anyway ... 

> - conducted noise from some other part of the equipment, e.g. monitor,
> external amplifiers (AV Receiver), ...

No monitors, no amplifiers - only the ARM board, the microphone, the
wifi aerial and the powersupply.  

> - bad (unsufficient) power supply

I have tried four different ones - Goobay 2A, another one bought
specifically for a Raspi (2.1A), a large Ikea multi-charger 3400mA and
even an Iqos charger.  Same problem with all of them.  Use one with
ground, and the problem disappears. 

> You should try disconnecting all external equipment save the headset
> and then verify the noise persists.

That is what I have :-)  I record a sample with 'arecord', then copy it
to another box to listen to it.  


-- 
Per Jessen, Zürich (2.6°C)

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