Sorry for not replying, things are very busy here... I'll have a listen to my 2600 tomorrow and see if I have that 'shhh' noise. I've been using headphones mostly, with TV in background and can't say I've noticed it in that situation. Am only using the KN on it's own so can't help with 2nd question, or 3rd as I'm not interested in purchasing the Panasonic reader required yet.