A lot of distortion
Oct 2, 2011 at 1:46 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6

A.Mir

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Hi!
 
Not sure if this is the proper section for my thread. Feel free to move it if it isn't.
 
My problem is that the sound coming from my FiiO E7 sounds very distorted - especially with bass heavy music - even with EQ turned off.
 
I just got a new iMac (21.5" model), and I've hooked my E7 to it via USB. My Headphone & IEM are Grado/Alessandro MS1i and Vsonic GR07.
 
I use Clementine and MPlayerX as media players. Mostly Clementine for music. Only reason I don't use iTunes is because 90% of my collection is ripped in FLAC.
 
As I've written above, my problem is that I get a lot of distortion when listening to music. It really sounds like "clipping". I simply have to lower the volume to about 30-40 in the media players to avoid this. The volume on the FiiO E7 is set to 12-16 (max). 
 
I've never encountered this problem before on my old Windows-based PC. I always had the volume set to 100% in Foobar2000 without problems.
 
Is this normal? If I have to lower the volume in e.g. Clementine and MPlayerX I won't obtain "bit-perfect" sound, will I?
 
 
Hope someone can shed some light on this.
 
Thanks!
 
Oct 3, 2011 at 9:44 AM Post #3 of 6
you are probably clipping the amp.  And yes you are loosing resolution when you change any software volume control from 100%, Unless that software actually goes over 0db and some do.  So you could be taking the signal of the file being played and amplifying it with the software then amping it again in the Fiio.
 
I would not worry too much about losing some resolution with a FIIO E7, you will probably never notice it.
 
Oct 3, 2011 at 12:31 PM Post #4 of 6


Quote:
you are probably clipping the amp.  And yes you are loosing resolution when you change any software volume control from 100%, Unless that software actually goes over 0db and some do.  So you could be taking the signal of the file being played and amplifying it with the software then amping it again in the Fiio.
 
I would not worry too much about losing some resolution with a FIIO E7, you will probably never notice it.


Clipping the amp is highly unlikely at the volumes I listen to. The MS1is are easy to drive and the amp's volume is always between 12-16 (it goes to 60).
 
 
Oct 3, 2011 at 12:35 PM Post #5 of 6
I just tried to set my E7's volume to "1" and turned the volume on MPlayerX to "100%". Sound is very VERY badly distorted. So it's definitely not the amp.
 
This is getting quite odd. Something to do with Apple's audio interface? 
 
Oct 3, 2011 at 12:59 PM Post #6 of 6
The volume sliders in MPlayer and VLC actually go way beyond 100% (0 db) when fully extended to the right. VLC goes up to 400%. I don't know why they made it like that, because that will definitely cause clipping.
 
I keep mine at 0db, which is somewhere  around 1/4 to 1/3 on the left side of the slider. If it's exactly at 0db, it should be bit perfect.
 
 

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