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Is clipping bad for HP's?

post #1 of 5
2/2/13 at 12:03pm
Thread Starter 

Let's say I  EQ them JUST below clipping. Although on some tracks with very strong bass it goes beyond that to slight clipping (which doesn't sound so harsh to ears when they are vibrating and music is loud, lol). So the question is, apart from music distortion, can HP's be damaged by driving them that hard? I can't lower all frequencies instead of increasing them to archieve desired sound signature, as there are EQ independant tones and many different other sound tweaks as well,  so lovering EQ alone fcuks up overall sound, tried many times lowering everything, but couldn't archieve same result. 

 

PS. No amp, but i'am sure it's HP's, not DAC.


Edited by SmOgER - 2/2/13 at 12:12pm
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post #2 of 5
2/2/13 at 12:36pm

Well, get an eq with a master volume slider (I don't no what it is called), and then turn it down a bit, preferably just as much as you eq the bass up.

 

I don't think distortion coming from the pc is bad for your 'phones. You should beware if the drivers distorts

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post #3 of 5
2/2/13 at 12:49pm
Thread Starter 

Like I said, distoting are HP's, not DAC... DAC is far from normal full volume. Lowering  digital preamp substantially below 0 srews up sound as well and doesn't seem to help much for clipping either. 

 

EDIT: Seems I managed to tweak em just right with peak limit + replay gain (-4db). But still, question remains the same, does slight HP clipping damage the drivers? And if so, what damage are we talking about?


Edited by SmOgER - 2/2/13 at 12:55pm
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post #4 of 5
2/2/13 at 3:55pm

Yes, I think clipping on a regular basis can damage headphones.  What happens is the clipping + distortion means the headphone drivers are no longer under control.  They may be exposed to any type of frequency, including DC in the worst case.  The entire reason you're experiencing the distortion is because the amp has lost control over the signal and thus, the headphone driver (yes, there's still an amplifier of sorts in the DAC, otherwise, you couldn't drive the headphones at all).

 

You don't even have to have DC.  Monotones at a particular frequency and volume level (such as test tones) can damage headphone drivers at certain levels.


Edited by tomb - 2/2/13 at 3:56pm
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post #5 of 5
2/2/13 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 

Ok, fair enough. biggrin.gif

Thanks for the answer.

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