Hi all,

I've got an annoying white/pink noise issue with one of my Yamaha HS5, ChatGPT says it's probably fixable with a proper shielded TRS - XLR cable, so I'm going to try that but, can anyone recommend some decent quality, true shielded cables for this?

Second question, I was using my monitors on 100% volume on the actual back of the speakers but, when I turn down to 50%, the white noise is barely noticeable, so this is a quick sort of fix until I can get the new cables.
Should I be using 50% all the time, or is there an optimum level that I should be using for best frequency response and gain staging etc?

Cheers

 

Last edited: Apr 16, 2026 at 11:45 AM

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The volume depends on the size and setup of the room.
On my Yamaha, I keep the volume one notch above zero, about 10% of 100%.

Load your DAW, sit in an equilateral triangle, in stereo position, meaning the speakers should be the same distance apart as you are sitting in front of them. For example, if the speakers are 1.20 m away and you are sitting 1.20 m in front of them, the stereo image will be centered.

Load a song or VST instrument and play it. Then turn the volume from 0 (very quiet) to the first mark (10%). Now adjust the volume until you can hear and understand everything and feel comfortable. You should always maintain this volume setting on the two rear speakers, as this is the only way to properly assess your sound.

 

You likely have two separate issues here.

First, cable or signal chain. An easy way to check is to swap the left and right cables at your interface. If the hiss moves to the other speaker, the issue is in the cable or upstream signal. If it stays in the same speaker, it’s that monitor or its input. Cheap cables are also a common cause of noise or imbalance, so that is something to upgrade if needed.

Second, gain staging. Running your Yamaha HS5 at 100 percent and controlling volume digitally from your computer is not ideal. That raises the noise floor of the system and makes hiss more noticeable. Try setting the monitors around 50 to 70 percent and controlling level from your interface instead.
The less obvious benefit of this is that mixing becomes more consistent and decisions become easier to trust because your monitoring level is fixed instead of constantly changing with software gain.

 

Last edited: Apr 16, 2026 at 1:31 PM

Ok so I have two speaker stands, the monitors are as wide apart as I can get them in my room but, they're pretty much a bit wider than the desk that I have my keyboards and interface etc on, angled in correctly I think.

Yeah so it's definitely a speaker issue because swapping cables/power cables doesn't fix the issue, I was hoping it was going to be easily fixed (or at least improved) with a shielded cable, but I think it's probably an internal issue such as, faulty solder on one of the components or something of that nature.
I'm guessing if the good cables don't fix it, it will be take it to an electrician job (I'm not inclined to open them and do electriciany stuff on them myself). I don't think the warranty is covering the speakers anymore, but I've already had one of them repaired from Yamaha (not sure which one it was, if it was the noisy one or the other one)

 

I've made a bunch of TRS to something cables, including XLR. I don't think your cables are doing this unless it's a really bad or damaged cable, and when I mean cheap, I mean cheap, like the kind of cables that had a noodle sized wire. TRS/XLR is shielded by design and if the HS5 doesn't take that ground wire, it won't do anything anyway even if it's as thick as a sausage.

Here's what you could try right now:
1- set your PC gain to 100%
2- set your interface level to your usual listening volume
3- set the speakers gain to 0%
4- get your phone, pull up a metering app
5- run some audio and position the phone close to your head
6- turn up the audio in the speakers until it's as loud as you need it to be (usually around conversation level, but that's you're prerogative)
7- take note of the volume for future adjustments

It could also be that your interface has some self-noise, the power supply for the speakers is noisy, or the outlet is not properly grounded and that the speakers are very sensitive to it. There's a bunch of valid options.

 

Regarding TRS XLR cables or TRS stereo cables, pretty much any will do much better than even a very high quality Hi-Fi/Line/consumer TS cable. The "R" (grounding shield) is what matters for shielding from any RF/EMI we all have in our rooms these days. Wi-Fi, mobile phone, router, monitors, computers, beer fridge, wireless keyboard/mouse, wirelessly operated sex doll etc.

edit: you said noise is louder on one of the speakers, so that's definitely a speaker issue and you should repair it, but you really shouldn't keep them at 100% anyway because noise will be louder. Do what shinjiya, clone and PulseWave said to adjust their volume properly.

 

Last edited: Apr 16, 2026 at 1:56 PM

Yeah so I don't think the interface is the issue, I seem to remember the speaker giving the same issue on my old Roland interface, so yeah it's either a badly grounded extension cable (I don't have a grounded supply), or the speaker itself, probably some combination of the two.

I guess I'll have to try all options until it's fixed, and then perhaps get it resoldered?

 

Unfortunately the sex doll left me about 6 months ago, probably for the best

 

If setting the volume to 50% (or even less as suggested) fixes the noise problem and you can still get enough level, do that and considder it fixed. Unless the affected speaker sounds strange like dull or bass less.
My, non yamaha speakers are at about 40%. I do have alittle noise when I listen up closely, but independent of the level set on the speakers.

 

Yeah so, for clarity, it's only one speaker that has any noise whatsoever, it is occasionally a really weird sort of aggressive noise (which can be fixed by jiggling the power cable, but only temporarily, when it moves back to wherever it was the noise starts again, and this is mostly when I'm playing GPU intensive games it does the weird aggressive sounds) at the moment it's just hiss, white or pink noise.

When the speaker volume (the actual designated volume knob on the back) is down to 0, there is 0 noise, when it's at 100% there is 100% noise, so at 50%, although it's half as good as being silent, I can still hear it in my right ear which, is annoying. This is mostly when there's nothing played through the speakers I notice it most, but for quiet monitoring in my DAW I feel like it's affecting my accuracy somehow.

It seems like it can be fixed and if anything I would prefer zero noise from both, I am very neurotic when it comes to these things

 

Last edited: Apr 16, 2026 at 2:18 PM

Did you swap the power cables from the speakers? Either way the way you describe it now, it is an issue wth either the power cable or the power inlet. If the back of the speaker is easy to open, you coild check for a cracked solder joint on the power inlet. If the power inlet is connectd to the board directly and the power connecter moves the board when you wiggle, it could also be another connection or solder joint.

 

Strange issue ... may be THIS power cable (not the other one) goes near a noise source.

Try moving AWAY your power cable AND speaker from anything electronic (PC, light source ...) and tell us.
Like another (empty) room. Without audio source plugged in.

Because the strange noise you get from GPU intensive games is coil noise.
Meaning speaker power cable is near computer GPU.

About the regular white/pink noise, it is probably another source (like computer power supply, light source ...).

When you unplug and plug again power cable, it probably goes away from the source...and come back to it.

Solution : move away the cable from anything electronic. Or change power cable orientation (vertical/horizontal).

Here is coil whine at 1:45:

 

Last edited: Apr 16, 2026 at 3:06 PM

This really sounds like EMI to me. Have you tried moving the speakers and interface to another room yet? Just get an aux cable for your phone and run some audio to the interface with the speakers connected.

 

Another option is to separate gaming and DAW music. Connect a regular stereo system to the motherboard and route gaming, Windows music, and video sound through it. Your DAW music will then only play through the PC sound card/USB audio interface.

 

Thanks all for the responses, I will try out the suggestions and see if I can fix it without a repair.

 

Residual noise in any amplifier will be its most noticeable at full gain. Even the quietest amp designs exhibit this behavior. Better to lower the amp gain to a level where residual noise is faint but amplitude from the line source is satisfactory and not needing to be over-driven.

 

Last edited: Apr 17, 2026 at 12:37 AM