Hello Fellow Converters!

To the Lynx Aurora (n) TB owners: The TB3 L-Slot Card in my brandnew Lynx Aurora (n) does make strange noises - it's a high pitched whine, somewhere between an old modem dial-up sound and the sound of a old running tv monitor.

The noise starts as soon as I power up the Aurora in "standalone mode".
It changes its 'quality' when I plug in the TB cable and/or adapter (I'm using an older Macbook with TB2)
but it's still there when connected and running.

It is not very loud - but noticable and really annoying in a quiet room.
It doesn't affect the audio signal.

Do you experience the same with your interface?

Thank you!


Edit: I contacted Lynx - Paul from support answered immediately and told me that this was an unusual problem that only occured once so far. Swapping out the TB card remedied it.

Wow that’s great CS. Hard to even get a response from some interface companies!

How are you liking your Aurora (n) now that you have the TB card replaced?
Thinking of ditching my UAD and getting one of these...

Hi Devo1982,

I went with the USB version for now. All TB cards seem to have the "noise" issue while not being connected to a computer. It goes down to unnoticable being connected but apparently it's still there (though my inteface was definitely the noisiest - my dealer tested 3 other cards against it).

Love the converter though. It's working great with USB and I have 16 i/o. Dante is my preferred option for the future as I really liked the 4-channel preamp card I had built in before.

Hopefully I'll be able to really put it through its paces in the next couple of weeks...

Thanks for the real world feedback with your Aurora unit, sorry to hear about your Thunderbolt issues. Did Lynx provide a time table for when they would have this issue resolved?

No, there's no time table as it doesn't seem to be an issue for them (like I said, you can only really hear the noise [on a "good" card] when the interface is not connected to a computer).
The dbs-service (Lynx in germany) was fantastic though, really helpful and quick. They'll be in contact with Lynx about the issue...

For your information: The Dante interface is dead quiet as well (connected or not).

Cheers,
Echostar

So the TB cards all make noise even when connected? Sorry if I got that wrong.

Anybody know where in the UK I can get a 3 meter TB2 cable? I guess I will have to use a TB3 to TB2 adapter at the Aurora end to get to my MacPro Trash can. 2 meters is just too short and a 5 meter optical is £400!

A cheaper optical cable 5 meters would be great but not sure if that would work with an adapter. Even better would be a 5 meter optical TB2 to TB3 cable. I have a small machine room/cupboard for the Mac and other fan noise stuff but I want the Aurora in the studio rack. Problem is 2 meters is too short.

Aurora n 8i/o, 4 mic pre, AES/Thunderbolt on order.

I have both Hilo and Aurora and indeed both produce high pitch physical noise. My Burl Bomber is silent. I'm about to build a sound proof cabinet just for the Lynx, which is too bad really. The noise gets picked by mics in the room. Good converters but this is a big oversight imo.

Must be just some units. My Aurora (n) is dead quiet.

I have both the N and Hilo in my mix room. No noise. We have 2 Ns at Eric Johnson's Saucer Sound. No noise.

Thunderbolt 3?

If you don't have noise I'm assuming you don't have Thunderbolt, must be using USB...

I have the n with TB3 zero noise.

When it comes to TB3/TB4 cables here are 3 choices: 'passive, active and optical'

I am using active.

I am using the active TB4 cable Lynx recommends on their website. It's only 6 feet (copper cable) my unit is un-racked sitting on wood blocks under a little Indian table, where I set my Laptop.

(My studio has a very cool Moroccan vibe - love that style)

The Aurora TB3 also has a power receptacle on the TB3 card. (different from cord that goes between the Aurora and the AC outlet). This is labeled 12 volt DC.

When I plug my laptop into the Aurora it won't work running off the laptop batteries, it displays a message about needing buss power from AC.

I assume you could buy a 12 volt wall-wart DC cable and hook it from the Aurora's TB3 card to the wall AC, so the Aurora would have two plugs going into an AC outlet. ****ing weird - lol

But instead I just moved my laptop's power cord next to my little Indian table.

So now I hook my MacBook up to its mag 3 power (to AC outlet) and the TB4 port with the TB4 cable to Aurora.

There is no noise.

(PS I also have an Apogee Symphony which I can hook up the the same TB4 port of the MacBook and run off of its own internal battery. No laptop charger needed with the Symphony, but required with Aurora.

I have included all these details as they may be affecting noise for some users.

I have emailed Lynx several times over the past few weeks and they never responded. Obviously I find their service sucks balls.

(I am hoping to get some clarity from them about this extra power receptacle on the TB3 card and what cabling is necessary to use it, should I choose to go down that road).

I bought a few 32GB, UHS3 microSD cards that they recommend on their website. Haven't used them yet, but will test and if they cause noise I'll report back.
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I have included all these details so readers can see there are a lot of variables that might be causing people to have noise issues.

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My 1st guess in anybody experiencing noise would be refer to Lynx website under support and read up about cables.

Curious how does the N and Hilo compare soundwise? Can you tell a difference?

Thanks, this gives me hope. Just so that this is crystal clear, the high pitch sound is very faint, if you record guitars or drums you wont realize it, this is a problem in very quiet situations... So, if you put your ear right next to the Aurora or Hilo, you don't hear ANYTHING? Anything at all? I'd love for this to be the case.

BTW I'm using the cables recommended by Lynx too and I have this faint noise, so I guess maybe we just don't work in the same levels...

My Aurora (n) is TB3. No noise. I work only on acoustic music so I'd hear the noise if there was any. Odd problem. Could it be some gounding issue? I had that kind of noise when working off a laptop once. Using a ground lift adapter solved that.

No ground noise. I have a dedicated 20 amp line only for the gear connected on it. This is a very high pitch noise related to clocking as it changes pitch depending on how it's clocked. Out of all converters I have Burl, Apogee, RME... Lynx is the only emitting this physical pitch noise, it's not in the recording unless the mics capture. Whatever the reason, it's quite ofd that at this level I have to deal with this.

Again, nobody is replying to this, put your ear right next to machine, I seriously doubt you can't hear anything. If your studio is not completely isolated from other noises (as in a home studio) you won't hear it.

Rumcarter. My Aurora N and Hilo are TB3. Both units are very quiet.
I was wrong about the Lynx at Saucer, They are TB. Been a while since I checked.

Sorry to repeat, I'm not looking for very quiet, I'm want to know if your units are dead silent when you put your ear next to it. Since every other brand I have is DEAD SILENT WITH MY EAR TOUCHING THE UNIT. It's not the same as pretty quiet or something. In the very odd case I have 2 units that produce this and your units truly are silent, that doesn't say anything good about quality control at Lynx then.

My TB3 Aurora (n) also has the high-pitched noise. Starts to become audible from about six feet away.

Not a problem for me as if I’m recording anything it’s at the other end of my room.

Thank you. That's what I thought. I'm waiting on Lynx to get back to me on this but I don't expect a solution other than spend an addition $800 or more for a soundproof cabinet only for the Lynx units. Very disappointed. Seems like a major oversight since the purpose is audio. I understand not everybody works on film music and needs the converters in the recording room but Lynx is the only one producing this. Wish I realized this before committing to the Aurora and Hilo but it's not a problem unless it is one in a particular session... Damn.

Have to say I just opened this account to ask a couple of questions and so far lots of the replies sound like corporative damage control to deviate criticism/negativism of a unit or brand. Not sure I'll stay here for long if this is truly the case as it makes the info here mostly propaganda thus useless.

There’s plenty of noisy gear out there, converters or not. My Aurora sits above my Trinnov which has fan noise. On the rack above both is my Mac Mini. More fan noise.

Ultimately if silence is your goal then you have to spend the dough, whether that’s a pro build, a machine room or a silent enclosure.

I do sympathise though!

Right but if I buy a unit with a fan then no surprises, I know what I'm buying. This problem is unique to Lynx and discrete enough that you might not know for a while that it could become a problem and it's not advertised in the specs, as in "this unit has a fan for cooling". If I knew from the start then I might have bought something else, it's not a matter if money. I have Burl converters because I'm ready to put the money on it and no surprise with those. So now this info might hopefully be of use to whoever is making choices about converters in the future. At least that's why this website should be useful for. Cheers.

I don't hear noise, I also put the laptop (no fans) and Aurora behind a gobo and stuck a few microphones around it to see if I could capture a very faint high pitch sound.

Nothing. I can say with high confidence mine doesn't have any high pitch noise.

I hope it doesn't develop one either.

I should say everything in my studio goes thru a high quality voltage regulator and power supply filter. I consulted with Vintage King when I purchased these a few years back, not cheap. At that time the idea was to over do it, to accommodate future expansion.

As I mentioned earlier, I had an electrician do the proper work and install separate 20A dedicated lines, ground, etc... Anything else is a plaster if the electricity isn't done right. Sorry Vintage King!

I would like to hear more about the cause of this and if this is something that could develop over time potentially affecting me

How old are your converters? Where they older and you just upgraded the TB3 card, or did you purchase all together?

Just to appease you, I just turned mine on and its dead silent touching my ear to the aurora.