I received by blue dot unit yesterday for the hiss issue and I don't know what to think.

I swapped out the unit and calibrated normally - volume at 00, sound meter at 75 dB. I started the test tone and was expecting to have to trim back due to this new "extra" gain over previous versions. My meter went off the scale and I trimmed each channel in sequence to get them to 75 dB. Then after I made it once around, the volume was lower. After having trimmed things to -8 or -11, now the meter was reading low. I trimmed them back up to reach 75dB, and they all we within a few dB dB or 0, + or -. Then I realized I had somehow lowered the master volume to -7 from 0. So I bumped that back up to 0 and recal'd, but after I did that, the trims were not really any lower. That really confused me. Did something blow in my unit and cause my gain to drop or...?

Besides my apparent lack of gain that everyone else is getting on their blue dot, I also don't know if I like the new one. For a digital input, the hiss is less, but they put that mute circuit in, so it is hard to assess. But I also don't like hearing that mute click/pop whenever there is no digital input. When trimming channels, pausing a DVD, FF or RW'ing a DVD, the mute does its thing with a annoying, but not dangerous, popping/clicking sound. With the mute engaged, obviously the hiss is almost nil. But even when I listen quickly prior to the mute engaging, it sounds like less hiss than before.

I am also concerned about gain for digital inputs. I couldn't try it out last night, but I need to see how loud movies are at -10 or 0 and compare to what I had before. If my apparent gain went down, that would be very surprising.

Now on to analog inputs. No muting circuit for these, and yes, the hiss is very volume dependent. At -10 and below, the hiss is definitely better than before. Once you get to a volume of 0, the hiss is getting noticeable. From 0 to +10, the hiss gets LOUD, plus I get some hum and crosstalk from other inputs. This could be due to extra gain on these analog inputs, but I watched a TV show via the analog VCR input, and I wasn't aware that I had to run the volume any lower than normal. If I ever had to turn teh volume up above 0 for an analog input, the hiss/hum is definitely unacceptable.

So, unlike all other blue-dotters, I guess I am the odd man out with less than stellar opinions of the fix. The mute circuit is an annoying band-aid and masks any improvement or not. Analog seems quieter at modest levels, much worse at loud volumes.

Does anyone else have these issues? Any comments/suggestions. I will have time to do more evaluating this weekend.

Thanks.