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Hi there, I'm new to the forum so apologies if this has been covered before.

We have just purchased the above digital piano (new Korg 170SP). We are both new to digital pianos and thus I wanted to run this by you guys before I spoke to the shop.

Having set it up, I'm surprised at the amount of audible hiss from the speakers in a quiet room. Its quite loud when putting your ear to each speaker, but also audible standing next to it if you intentionally listen.


The same hiss is replicated in the headphones (tried multiple, including a decent set of over the ears Shures) but to a lesser extent.

It does not seem to change with the volume control.

However, if you listen very carefully (its quite subtle), you can hear the background hiss increase when you play a note, particularly as the note dies off. This "surge" of hiss dies a fraction of a second later. As stated, this is very subtle and I have to listen carefully to detect this.

I'm used to hearing some degree of background noise from other amplified circuits (my Sonos also does this to a degree), but was not expecting it to be quite so obvious on a digital piano.

Does this sound normal, or should I ask the retailer to swap it for a new one. They have none in stock so I cannot perform a direct comparison.

Many thanks for any help.

You may well have a time limitation for taking this back if you`re not happy with it, for any reason. The "Cooling off" period, is what we call it. Part of your Consumer Rights I think. But I`m not sure about the details of how it works. . . Return it ASAP I would say. Whether the fault`s normal for that piano or not, you clearly find it unacceptable. And most of us would too.

Not normal, in general, but don't know about this particular DP. So return it, and get another one, or different brand/model after listening with headphones in shop.

Thank you for the replies.

Its my other half's piano and she isn't bothered so if it's the same on all of them we'll keep it - IMO it looks considerably better than the alternatives at this price point, and I'm very impressed with the build quality of the stand (which we got for free).

I guess I'll take it back and see what the guys in the shop say.