[ErkTRK]

Hello everyone.
I have a rather important and serious issue with my system above.

I bought the Senn yesterday. Immediately after, with joy, plugged the thing to my computer and started to listen to some music.

But i'm shocked after listening to first couple of songs: There are lots of cracks in basses. (I don't know how you say this in English, we say cracking in Turkish when the basses are distorted and sound like blowing.)

It's little in some songs and huge in some of them...
I got some Michael Jackson FLACs and tested with them, they were fine though i'm not sure if there some very little distortion with them.

But for example, Avril has a song called Nobody's Home. In its chorus the headset getting crazy. In that song, headset sounds like as if i have given it way beyond gain. (Or increased the preamp to distort. points...)


Is that the same with you? Or my headset is not properly working?
I have some FLACS (MJs) which work fine and some of them (H.I.M and Evanescence) doesn't...

If there's someone with the same configuration as i have, i could send them my sources for testing and see if it's the same. If not, i'm gonna send these cups back to the firm. So it's important to send before the time limit. Any help would be appreciated greatly... Thanks.

 

[Ashirgo]

Your pair can be flawed - or your soundcard does not provide enough juice to power them (which would mean that it is a cheap card indeed). Finally, it may be your card that is broken.

Just check if the headphones exhibit the same problem with other sources - any portable players / receivers / anything.

Finally, check your mixer/equalizer settings, it can also cause clipping if there is too much bass boost or sth.

 

[ErkTRK]

Well, Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro isn't a cheap card.

I know it's more than it deserves but i bought the card with a discount which made the card cost as a standart xtremegamer. Well, that's not our issue.

The headset impedance is 50 ohms. That's not a high value. How could my card doesn't produce enough power? I don't get this. Today, someone said the same thing. But there are lots of people who use the same card with same headset flawless. I could say you're right if the set was 100-150 omhs. But it's just 50? And many people say that it doesn't need and amp to produce enough loudness and bass but it DOES improve with and amp.

The EQ settings are all off, within winamp and creative console. So this is not the issue i guess.

I have a laptop which i tested the things on. With good songs it's fine also but with bad ones it's bad. Also i tried on my friend's laptop which sounded the same as my laptop. I also tried on my onboard card. It has less distortion but also it has less quality and detail.

 

[debitsohn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErkTRK /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro isn't a cheap card. I know it's more than it deserves but i bought the card with a discount which made the card cost as a standart xtremegamer. Well, that's not our issue. The headset impedance is 50 ohms. That's not a high value. How could my card doesn't produce enough power? I don't get this. Today, someone said the same thing. But there are lots of people who use the same card with same headset flawless. I could say you're right if the set was 100-150 omhs. But it's just 50? And many people say that it doesn't need and amp to produce enough loudness and bass but it DOES improve with and amp. The EQ settings are all off, within winamp and creative console. So this is not the issue i guess. I have a laptop which i tested the things on. With good songs it's fine also but with bad ones it's bad. Also i tried on my friend's laptop which sounded the same as my laptop. I also tried on my onboard card. It has less distortion but also it has less quality and detail.

i ran my my HD555s through an extremegamer card.. not the fatal one and it was fine without an amp. try turning the windows volume lower and the winamp higher and vise versa. i found that after i got my portable amp, i had to turn down windows (or creative console) volume down and winamp down and turned up the amp volume. (even after messing with the gain)

 

[1Time]

Seems like a problem with software settings. Might try a driver update. Re-plug your headphones in. Check and double check.

 

[Ashirgo]

So, another alternative is to carefully examine the nature of that distortion you're reporting, to check if it is not the intrinsic quality of music you're listening to. Try with some speakers/other headphones, if it is still there, you have the answer. You mention popular bands, and I can easily imagine some disastrous effects of the ongoing loudness war on the quality of their recordings... even more to be heard with more precise equipment.

 

[ErkTRK]

Well, i downloaded the FLAC version of the Avril's song which named Nobody's Home.
Nothing changed. If you have it, please give it a try, or you can find it on YouTube.
At the chorus, it has a quite a lot distortion. It's like everything is messed.

By the way, i gave a try to games which turned out to be a good experience. Games are fine as expected.

Well, i began to suspect that the problem is the source itself. In my case, the recordings... I have no audio cd at the moment unfortunately.

But i'm getting more FLACs to be more precise. For example, another song of Avril named Skater Boy. There is a bass (i guess) at the second 20. Which continue a few times in the following 20 seconds. Can you listen to this song and tell me what you hear on that 20th second?

 

[Ashirgo]

The compression (eg. FLAC, mp3 etc.) is not at fault. You can make 64 kbps mp3 out of your FLAC files and there should be no clipping. It is just that popular music has compressed dynamics and it happens during the production stage, before you can buy a CD or otherwise get it. Good examples are "Californication" or "Death Magnetic", notable for very listenable clipping. The same goes for your example (Skater Boy, I can clearly hear clipping, too).

"Stop the Loudness War" - for more on the topic

 

[ErkTRK]

Ah, i'm so sorry but, what do you mean by clipping? Is it the distortion?

I know English well enough to speak but i don't know audio terms much, sorry.

If it's the distortion you mentioned, i guess we notice the same thing in the 20th second. And you say that my equipment is working normal?
And by the way, what's your equipment?

 

[Ashirgo]

You can find that in my public profile. Digital clipping: Clipping (audio) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ErkTRK]

Thanks, i got the idea.
I also listened to the YouTube clip in your signature. The difference is really drammatic. At the original recording, my pair played quite perfectly where afterwards (after clipping) i noticed lots of distortion as i mentioned in this topic. (And also at Skater Boy...)

In the related videos section at YouTube, there was a video about "Smells like teen spirit in today's recording" (or something like that-the idea was to show how would it be if it was recorded today)

So i downloaded the Smells Like Teen Spirit FLAC, which plays quite well. No distortion at all. Because there is little, or no clipping at all?

That's amazing. Really amazing... I used the Plantronics Gamecom | 1 before the Senn. It was a entry-level headset with a comperable price. (At least for entry level) I never ever heard any kind of clipping or distortion with it. (Unless i drive the preamp beyond acceptable levels) It's really amazing with the stuff that shows what reality is. Listening to the smells like teen spirit is really enjoying.

Thanks for all help guys. I love you and this forum.

 

[Gilly]

is the xfi crystaliser turned on? i found that that caused simliar symptoms. the only clipping I heard off my Xfi was during Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse during the piano solo, its just on 2 notes.

and my HD595's are 50 ohms too.

Try running in "Audio Creation" Mode, with "Enable Bit-Matched Playback" and see if the symtoms disappear.

 

[ErkTRK]

I had already done these with my Gamecom 1.
Senn 555 just came when everything was perfect.

I don't like artificial effects much, like crystalizer.
Even in games, i run my card at audio creation mode. (I play earlier games now thus i don't need EAX5)


By the way, i'm just 20. In Turkish we have a word (ağabey) which means the elder brother. I would like to say, "Ağabeylerimin yanında biraz genç kaldım.

" which means "I have been like a child near you, my ağabeys.

" (That's a respectful thought in Turkish but, don't get wrong.

)

Studying electronics engineering and thinking about developing my skills in sound stuff. Though i assume that age 20 isn't an early age to enter the audio world. I'm also highly interested in microprocessors and computer graphics both in hardware and software. So i haven't decided yet what particular branch i'm gonna advance in.

 

[Ashirgo]

Glad to be of service

Sound science may prove unrewarding, because nowadays people tend to be satisfied with low quality sound and therefore it was always better to appeal to their sense of sight (for instance). There is still point improving performance of graphic adapters, but when you do the same to audio equipment, one may ask: what's the point, we can't hear the improvement! (and it is usually true). Just random thoughts