Specifically cordless headphones – am getting a lot of interference when my mobile is close by. Is this usual or could something else be causing it? Or is it because I'm too poor to afford Naim? 😉

Thank you so much. 🙂

please don't mention 'cordless' and 'hifi' in the same sentence or they'll be tossing their cookies 🙁 For that matter, just the mobile alone will ruin the ambience…

Yes.

am getting a lot of interference when my mobile is close by. Is this usual or could something else be causing it?

If it disappears when you move the phone away, what else could be causing it?

Someone's bitten. 😉

Oh do share teh hilarious joke!

Dear C_G,

If you are experiencing interference when your mobile phone is nearby, but not experiencing interference when your mobile phone is not nearby, then the interference that you are experiencing is probably caused by having your mobile phone nearby.

Look – my hearing is rubbish, I've got neighbours with a screaming baby, just trying to be considerate here. But if I move the phone away, how will I know when it rings?

Apologies – I forget to include the word "bimbo" in the title. 😉

Oh do share teh hilarious joke!

1) she's deaf
2) she hasn't got a mobile
3) she's actually a man

PS: Also, you're too poor to afford NAIM. Or at least, NAIM AND a fox fur…

AND a fox fur…

now available on the hoof really cheaply somewhere near you 🙂

Oh dear. I knew I should have stayed away from here, having been ridiculed recently. 😳

OK, so if I was to use non-Naim non-cordless headphones, would it make any difference?

having been ridiculed recently

you love it! Fact.

Simon – I was genuinely shocked by the reactions, especially as I wasn't, for a change, attention-whoring! Now feel I need to avoid group rides cos of pointing and laughing. 😳

I was genuinely shocked by the reactions

sorry c-g, but having cried wolf too many times I just don't believe you! And anyway, the reactions were quite mild – or do you mean on some other thread ?

No, I don't want a wolf!

Just trying to ascertain what's causing this interference. Could the PC affect it?

If you cover your phone in tin foil it will solve a lot of problems.
Use the back of a tea spoon to smooth the foil down over the awkward bits.

No, I don't want a wolf!

just think of it as a large grey fox…

at the risk of giving a serious answer (although before all you physicists out there shout me down, I know this is the simplified version)…..

audio cables (like the one on your headphones) are often affected by mobile phones, power cables near by and basically anything else close to them that can cause or modify a magnetic field around the cable (generated by passing electricity down a wire)

It is however possible to get headphones with decent shielded cable on them which will minimise this problem as much as possible but they get in to the territory of big bucks quickly. Reality is that you will struggle to get rid of it completely, short of moving the phone away from the cabling.

You will find that different phones cause the effect to different levels, my iphone for example is particularly bad for this (as are blackberry's before you all start).

i will now put my geekyness away until it is next required!!

Tin foil? But how can I text?

OK, this may have some bearing – mobile reception is sketchy here, sometimes you get a reasonable signal, sometimes the minimum then nothing. Or could other electrical appliances be causing this or next door's screaming baby?

unlikely to be anything other than your mobile. Mobiles send out signal every few minutes to try and locate a signal. This will happen more regularly in an area where the signal is unreliable

Good point.
You'll have to cover each appliance in tin foil until the interference finishes. You might need some bigger spoons for the fridge and next door's baby though.

best test to see if its your phone is next time it does it, move the phone closer to your headphone cable. it will get worse if its the phone

audio cables (like the one on your headphones)

They're cordless.

c_g, it's your mobile continually 'hand-shaking' with the local cell towers to maintain a connection, which is why you get that regular 'da da daaaa, da da daaaa, da da daaaa' noise on the tv or radio when someone has a mobile on near a microphone. If you have a transistor radio, try putting your phone near that and you'll hear the same noise. Cordless 'phones will pick up the signal if they are using radio rather than infrared. I would suggest getting one of those little jobbies that light up when your phone rings and put your phone where you can see it but out of close interference range. A mate at work had a similar problem this week when he tried another workmate's iPod speaker unit with his iPhone, and the noise was impossible to tollerate. Couldn't put it into aircraft mode 'cos he wanted to stream radio through the phone.

Thanks for all the replies. 8)

niallmb – excellent reply, thank you! Forgot to mention that I am very close to pylons.

Count – yes, the mobile does murmur a lot and I always know when a call is about to come through as a right old racket comes through the headphones.

Just feel I'm slightly losing the enjoyment of music with this.

Paint this on your door and stop using the headphones, the neighbours will understand.

Naim don't make headphones and their kit is 'star earthed' I thought in order to reduce the very problem that naillmb identified.

Just turn the phone off.
That's why you have voice mail.
Or, if it's urgent, they'll phone back.

Buy NAIM. Sell the fox. Hold the mayo.

How are you getting on with "Bitches Brew" BTW?

One other thing you mentioned is that your reception is somewhat patchy, well that'll make your phone work a lot harder to keep the network connection, so it'll keep interrogating the network more frequently. See if you can find one of the little dongle jobbies that were popular a couple of years ago to attach to the phone which would flash when a call came in. That way you could see the phone 'ring' from a distance, rather than needing to actually hear it.

Here you go, this could be just what you're looking for:
http://www.mjelectronics.com/pages/specials/cell_phone_detector.html
EDIT: should have known deal extreme would have just the thing, and cheapo too:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19089
/EDIT

Thanks for more replies!

Count – ah that could be good, cheers! Shall search to find a U.K. supplier. I feel like an elderly person needing a 'special' phone. 🙄

How are you getting on with "Bitches Brew" BTW?

First 3 times or so were a real struggle. Starting to 'get it', it's coming together and being less scary. Very different to 'Kind of Blue' which is brilliant. 8)

Trouble is I'm currently completely obsessed with guitarists, in particular Joe Bonamassa.

Any more recommendations for me please? e-mail is fine, thanks. 8)

As regards selling the fox, I suppose I could sell 2 pairs of Fox's but that still wouldn't be enough for Naim. 🙄

Hairychested – reckon the neighbours already think I'm a weirdo, they give me a wide berth having taken in a package with 'Wiggle' on the outside. 😉

Guitarist suggestion: Adrian Legg. Released an album some years back called 'Psycopicker', IIRC. Astonishing fingerwork, sounded like he had double the normal complement of fingers. Not sure if he's still recording, but well worth hunting down.
Regarding the phone light, you're probably just as well going to DX, I doubt you'll find similar in the UK, and you won't match that price, for $2.99 or whatever they are you could buy half a dozen and leave them dotted around the place so you won't miss seeing one. Might even get a couple myself.