A few months ago we posted about how a Japanese RTL-SDR modder disconnected the noisy 1.2v switching power supply on the RTL-SDR and replaced it with three diodes. The diodes reduced the voltage from the 3.3v line to 1.2v. It seems that most of the improvements seen from the previous post were inconclusive, as soon after he realized that there are minor dongle to dongle variations in sensitivity, so he could not be certain if the improvement was due to his modifications.

However, he has continued to modify the RTL-SDR using the same principal (Japanese, use Google Translate). He discovered that to fully suppress the 1.2v switching regulator pin 27 on the RTL2832U chip must be connected to ground. Once this is done the switching noise present at 1 MHz disappears, although there does not seem to be any significant improvement in noise anywhere else.

The first screenshot shows an unmodded dongle with the switching regulator still connected. There is some noise present at around 1.026 MHz. The second image shows a modded dongle, the noise at 1.026 MHz is gone.