[hafgola]

apparently i'm getting some distortion from the alt out, no matter how i alter the settings or which player/headphones i use. in some cases, to get a clean playback, i must slide the master volume as far down as 50%. there are no problems with the lesser quality line out.

as i'm unable to see anyone else with similar complaints, should i consider my card defective?

 

[breez]

If you are trying to drive headphones straight out of the alt out, it's normal and you need to get an amp.

 

[proxops-pete]

I don't know about that... mine drives my 150-ohm HD-535 pretty well and without distortion. Make sure the cable is free from any other electromagnetic interferences... (aka. other wires and cables... as well as monitor and computer).

 

[breez]

He might be using some power hungry low impedance cans which are the least suitable for the line out from Chaintech.

 

[hafgola]

i'm using grado sr80s and sennheiser sp 25-1s, neither of witch are too demanding.

 

[Imyourzero]

I've listened to both my SR60's and my HD 580's out of the AV-710's hi-res output and both sound fine...all I can say is if you get distortion, keep playing with the volume levels in the Windows control panel and in the VIA control panel. I had distortion at first also, until I went to Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices --> Advanced and noticed that both my Main volume and my Wave volume were set as high as they could go. I lowered the volumes accordingly and now everything is fine.

 

[breez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hafgola i'm using grado sr80s and sennheiser sp 25-1s, neither of witch are too demanding.

But still possibly too much for a line output which lacks the capability to drive low impedances without too much distortion. My former headphones, cheap but efficient philips 32ohm cans started to distort badly at around 50% master volume with the chaintech. That volume level was too much for any listening, but the safe margin between horrid distortion and sane sound was small (normally master volume was at 15-30%).

 

[breez]

You could try to listen if it is the DAC chip distorting under too heavy load or just digital distortion (faulty software).

 

[Mr.Radar]

Because line-outs provide more voltage than current, which is what high-z cans like, they'll have much less distortion. With low-z cans, like Grados and my DT440's, I get horrible distrotion and no bass responce.

 

[Annihilator]

so if im using line out with my low impedance cans(a900's), I still need an amp to avoid distortion? would a cmoy work in this case? or is there a sound card/external sound thing that would drive my a900's well

 

[Mr.Radar]

A CMOY or a home stereo/receiver (with line-in and headphone-out) would probalby work well for your A900's.