White noise - is it the recordings?

[86svo 10+ year member]

Hey guys (and gals). So I've recently installed a new setup in my daily and the white noise I hear in a lot of songs is driving me nuts. I rarely listen to the radio anymore since there's more ads than music, so everything is downloaded from iTunes or Google Play. I listen to a combo of classic rock, country and metal and the older the recording, the more I hear the hiss/white noise.

I've bypassed the RCA connections and connected straight to the front channel input of my amp from my mp3 player, same result. I have a solid ground for the head unit and my amps are grounded separate of each other as well. Tried a ground loop isolator, but that just introduced a lot of noise into the system.

Any ideas on this? I have an Lc7i laying around I could try throwing in to clean up the signal..but doubtful that will help. What else could I try out?

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[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like you have a high noise floor. Gains up high? Otherwise the issue may be with the input section of the amplifier.

 

[86svo 10+ year member]

Gains are extremely low, that was my first thought. This is a "dent/repair" unit from Crutchfield, guess I'll call and get it swapped out.