Hi,

I recently had an 8000NEX installed in my car, and I started to notice a faint high-pitch noise coming from the display. It's not very loud, but it's a frequency that seems to annoy my ears. It's loud enough to hear while driving when the music is paused. It's definitely coming from the display, and not the speakers. I also noticed that the sound completely disappears when the display dimmer is increased to maximum. The sound returns at any setting less than maximum.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you know of any workarounds?

Thanks!

By the way, here is a good way to test for the noise:

Turn on the 8000NEX while your engine and fans are off. Turn down the display brightness to 50%.  Turn your head back and forth slowly as if you're looking around while driving. Do you notice a high pitch noise?

I had the exact same issue you are describing. Display whine, high pitched, and only when some sort of dimming is enabled. 

I went to the shop I got the unit from and checked out some of their other 8000nexs, they all had the exact same issue. I think every 8000 has this issue, just most people aren't sensitive enough to the noise to notice it. I don't notice it when the engine is on so I have just accepted it. Opening a support ticket with pioneer may get you a new one but it is probably going to have the same issue.

This is a common issue on crappy screens with cheap components, it is probably a whiny capacitor that starts vibrating when dimming is enabled. If you open up the unit and find the offending capacitor you could glue it to make it stop, though this will obviously void your warranty. 

Personally I stopped caring once I found that all other 8000s (that i have seen) have the issue . Need to tell pioneer to use some better components in their LCDs.

I wonder if the other NEX units have the same problem. Does anybody know? I'd be willing to downgrade to the 7000NEX or maybe even the 6000NEX if it made the noise go away. It's possible this is only a problem with the capacitive screen of the 8000NEX.

I drove to a nearby audio shop today, and listened carefully to the 7000NEX they had on display. It makes the same high pitch hum that my 8000NEX does. I guess I'll have to leave the dimmer at maximum, and turn down the brightness and contrast at night. It looks crappy, but I can live with it.

This is a common issue on crappy screens with cheap components, it is probably a whiny capacitor that starts vibrating when dimming is enabled. If you open up the unit and find the offending capacitor you could glue it to make it stop, though this will obviously void your warranty. 

Personally I stopped caring once I found that all other 8000s (that i have seen) have the issue . Need to tell pioneer to use some better components in their LCDs.

Another possible explanation: I have seen (or, rather, heard) this happen on an embedded device which used a switching mode power converter to supply power to a daughterboard assembly. If we powered up the device without that daughterboard plugged in, the power supply would make that high-pitched whine because the power load was too low.

I wonder if the other NEX units have the same problem. Does anybody know? I'd be willing to downgrade to the 7000NEX or maybe even the 6000NEX if it made the noise go away. It's possible this is only a problem with the capacitive screen of the 8000NEX.

Luckily (for me) my 8000NEX does not suffer from this issue.

Another possible explanation: I have seen (or, rather, heard) this happen on an embedded device which used a switching mode power converter to supply power to a daughterboard assembly. If we powered up the device without that daughterboard plugged in, the power supply would make that high-pitched whine because the power load was too low.

 

 

 

 

Luckily (for me) my 8000NEX does not suffer from this issue.

Or you can't hear it. I can't , but that doesn't mean it's not there. As we get older, we lose the ability to hear tones in the high kHz range. (above 15 kHz). I'm going to get my SLM out and see if I can see the frequency and dB level of the noise.

Another possible explanation: I have seen (or, rather, heard) this happen on an embedded device which used a switching mode power converter to supply power to a daughterboard assembly. If we powered up the device without that daughterboard plugged in, the power supply would make that high-pitched whine because the power load was too low.

Oh interesting, that one sounds a bit harder to fix than gluing a capacitor 

Or you can't hear it. I can't , but that doesn't mean it's not there. As we get older, we lose the ability to hear tones in the high kHz range. (above 15 kHz). I'm going to get my SLM out and see if I can see the frequency and dB level of the noise.

Yeah its very high pitched, you would have to be  sensitive to the noise and relatively young. I am 24 and really have to listen closely and have my head in the right position to hear it. 

Would be interesting to see what the results are of that test! I have an iphone app that measures frequency, I'll try that too, but im doubting the iPhone mic can pick something up that high in the frequency range 

I measured the sound with my iPhone. It shows a spike at 12-15 KHz and also 20 Khz. I know I can't hear 20 Khz, so I doubt that's it.

Then I did a web search for 12 KHz sound, and found the link below. It sounds very similar to the sound being made by the 8000NEX. It's also behaves the same, in that it's much louder when I turn my head at certain angles.

I measured the sound with my iPhone. It shows a spike at 12-15 KHz and also 20 Khz. I know I can't hear 20 Khz, so I doubt that's it.

 

Then I did a web search for 12 KHz sound, and found the link below. It sounds very similar to the sound being made by the 8000NEX. It's also behaves the same, in that it's much louder when I turn my head at certain angles.

 

Nice detective work! 12 Khz is pretty low, I'll try to remember to do the measurement tonight on mine and see if it is the same. 

I get the same on the 5000 not sure if it has to deal with lights but it goes away sometimes but then it comes back. seems to only happen on bluetooth

The sound isn't too bad once you install the 8000NEX properly (with a full enclosure around it). That seems to dampen the sound a little, and I'm generally happy with the stereo now.

However, it's disappointing that a stereo head unit puts off a sound like this. A company like Pioneer that strives for high audio quality should have found this flaw.

I experienced this exact same issue on my Pioneer 4100NEX. When I was on the Bluetooth source, and activated the dimmer setting either through the Dimmer Settings Menu or the Picture Adjustment Menu, I would experience a very high pitched noise coming through the speakers. It was annoying enough that I could hear it over the music while driving at night.

I contacted Pioneer Technical Support and the technician was able to reproduce the issue on his 4100NEX as well. After a couple of weeks of troubleshooting on their end, they admitted it was an issue with the 4100NEX and sent me out a 4200NEX to replace it. The 4200NEX does not have the same issue and I have since sent back my 4100NEX.

If you experience this issue with your deck, I suggest calling Technical Support and mentioning that others have reported this same issue and new hardware was needed.

Good luck!

So I have the same issue with my 8200. It has to do with the dimming function when used at night or on a dimmer setting.

I reduced/nearly eliminated the noise by setting the dimmer level at 0 and just dropping the brightness down. That way the noise is minimal / gone.

Give that a shot

Ive never had the dimmer wire connected. 

On 4/12/2017 at 6:07 PM, rosenzwa said:

I experienced this exact same issue on my Pioneer 4100NEX. When I was on the Bluetooth source, and activated the dimmer setting either through the Dimmer Settings Menu or the Picture Adjustment Menu, I would experience a very high pitched noise coming through the speakers. It was annoying enough that I could hear it over the music while driving at night.

 

I contacted Pioneer Technical Support and the technician was able to reproduce the issue on his 4100NEX as well. After a couple of weeks of troubleshooting on their end, they admitted it was an issue with the 4100NEX and sent me out a 4200NEX to replace it. The 4200NEX does not have the same issue and I have since sent back my 4100NEX.

 

If you experience this issue with your deck, I suggest calling Technical Support and mentioning that others have reported this same issue and new hardware was needed.

 

Good luck!

Just called about this issue re: my 8100NEX and they indicated that they had no knowledge of such a defect so my only option was essentially just to pay the flat refurbishing fee for the unit.

Wasn't confident that the issue would be resolved seeing as this issue is present across multiple models in the NEX family for a few generations... Not sure if I will be buying another Pioneer.

Do you have any contact information, documentation, or copies of emails regarding the investigation by the technician?