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Declining sound on HD-25-1s

post #1 of 7
10/28/09 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
So, the HD-25-1s I have (which I've been using for maybe four years now) have never had the tightest sound, but have always been good enough. In the last few months, though, they seem to have had a noticeable decline in sound quality. The seperation of channels is now nearly non-existent, and there is a great deal of sibilance where there was none before.

I'm trying to figure out what could cause this. The pleather earpads are wearing out, and I plan on replacing them as soon as I return to the States (as replacement parts are considerably cheaper there), but I didn't think that would really impact the sound. More likely is that one of the wire's insulation has a crack in it (due to the headband eating into the wire) but it's small, only on one earphone, and the wire itself is undamaged. Again, I plan on replacing the wiring, but don't want to spend all the money on it if it's something else. Could the elements be wearing out?

Thanks for any help you folk can provide!
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post #2 of 7
10/28/09 at 8:59am
My main guess would be the pleather pads and the cable.

Worn out pads would result in the driver being closer to your ear, and this will compress the soundstage. The wire is also made out of Fe, instead of Copper, so that may have some issues with age as well.

Drivers normally last quite a really long time, so I don't think that's the issue.
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post #3 of 7
10/29/09 at 8:47am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, I didn't think drivers wore out that fast. Thanks much for the advice!
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post #4 of 7
11/2/09 at 11:34am
Have they been overdriven? Do you hear clipping?
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post #5 of 7
11/29/09 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
Here's me taking forever to reply.

No, no clipping. Just a continual loss of sharpness/accuracy, a sort of lazy sounds. I suspect that it likely is a degrading cable, particularly giving the one or two tears it now has. I probably should have replaced it with a copper cable long ago, anyway, so I'm looking to do that now.
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post #6 of 7
11/29/09 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aerothorn View Post
Here's me taking forever to reply.

No, no clipping. Just a continual loss of sharpness/accuracy, a sort of lazy sounds. I suspect that it likely is a degrading cable, particularly giving the one or two tears it now has. I probably should have replaced it with a copper cable long ago, anyway, so I'm looking to do that now.
I think you would have had more help in the other forum...

Portable Headphones, Earphones and In-Ear Monitors - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio
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post #7 of 7
11/29/09 at 10:44pm
have you heard of burn-out? people experience it, headphones too aren't immune.
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