Only place it fits is about 6 feet from my ears - man it is noisy - and after a couple hours cutting it really gets to me.
I have wrapped the output hose in a thick towel which cut some of the immediate output fan noise.
Experimenting with wrapping the left hand side in insulating foam to cut the cooling noise down, but not very successfully.
Anybody else had any luck keeping the noise down?
Is the forge standing on a surface that is amplifying the noise level, I wonder ?
For example, if it’s on a hard surface with an open shelf below it, and the surface is acting like a sounding board, that’s the first thing you might do to improve matters.
A soft layer underneath it, like ‘softboard’ (if your in UK, like me) or a layer of towels or blankets, and see if that helps.
If it does help, consider something like rigid foam(ceiling tiles, or thicker, or even egg cartons !
John 
Yes, that is one of my tasks for the day, stick a big sheet of kingspan insulator underneath it. The desk probably is a bit “boomy” - I think it might even be hollow
You might add a layer of towel on top of the kingspan to cut down any reflected noise from the bottom of the GF onto the foam board.
Whatever you do finish up with, remember to make sure the whole GF is ‘square’ and not slightly twisted - the fit of the lid is a good indicator.
John
If you search the forum for noise reduction you will find a number of solutions people have come up with. Here is one:
Yup.
Mine is reduced to just intake fan noise.
I changed the exhaust hose to this: https://amzn.to/2BKrxS6
Seems to have made a noticeable difference.
I did pull the original aluminum hose through to replace the plastic one. Just taped the 2 together and pulled 
Scanning round with an iphone decibel meter I get the worst noise from the output and input fans by a huge margin.
Interestingly, raising it onto a sheet of kingspan upped noise from around 87db to 93db - huge failure!!
foam mat laid over the top has made most difference - just 1/2 inch upholstery foam
1 inch thick blue foam laid against the side by in and out fans also makes a difference.
Think I might have to find a way of securing a foam mat to the lift up load (that doesn’t invalidate warranty for now)
Decibel level at my ears has dropped from 73 to 69 - which is a lot of difference
Make sure you still allow for proper airflow!
And have a way to Watch the cutting area.
Hah, I’ve just gotten into the habit of wearing ear buds while it’s running.
Yes, aware of both of sight and airflow
Tried earbuds, but actually, with this level of noise I can actually listen to music
This gave me basically a 7 dB reduction from 3 feet away from the exhaust outlet. And a 10 dB reduction 3 feet away from the window outlet.
The stepper noise itself measured in right at 65 dB.
Just using the NIOSH noise app - so not as concerned about absolutely dB values, but relative values.
My solution was noise canceling headphone and crank them up to 11.
That’s an impressive difference. I shall have to see if i could make that fit my work space - though I’m getting just as much noise on the input side too.
If you’re venting out a window, don’t forget that part of the equation. They way my window works there’s quite a sizeable gap between the two panes when it’s partially opened. Sealing that up really well made a big difference in noise and smells.
The intake fan is rated about 64 dB I think. That’s basically the remaining noise that I have (where I measured was closer to the intake than the exhaust). I don’t know of a simple solution to reduce intake noise with the limited space and not reducing airflow.
The quality of noise though is very different between the intake and exhaust. The intake has more surface area to bring in the air versus the forced hi-velocity 4” exit.