[lollercheese]

I've had my HD497s for about two weeks now and suddenly (about 30minutes ago) I noticed sporadic crackling mainly on the left speaker which seems to have come and gone about twice during that time. I am using the line out from my computer, which has a crappy onboard Realtek AC97. It's the only thing I can connect them to though... I play music at very reasonable volumes (hardly exceed more than a 1/3rd of max volume). So is the lineout damaging my headphones or is the crackling something else? Because i've seemed to have lost several earbuds for no reason to this comp, and my old one... It will be a while before I can get true headphone out when i buy a revo 5.1...

oh NO it just crackled again *cries*

 

[jerb]

no i dont think that a line out can damage headphones.

however i dont think your using the line out if you have control over the volume, a true line out is at linelever so changinh the volume will do nothing

on another note i wouldnt worru y about, i get the same thing whenever i plug my headphones to the back of my soundstorm and they still wirk fine on ohter sources

 

[lollercheese]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerb no i dont think that a line out can damage headphones. however i dont think your using the line out if you have control over the volume, a true line out is at linelever so changinh the volume will do nothing on another note i wouldnt worru y about, i get the same thing whenever i plug my headphones to the back of my soundstorm and they still wirk fine on ohter sources

I'm controling the volume on the computer, in the motherboard booklet it is a lime green plug that says 'line out'.

But yea, good, I was getting worried for a second there, you see, I have bad luck with headphones

 

[Inkmo]

OH dang, talk about some coincidence. I just came here to ask the exact same question. I basically don't have any other choice at the moment for listening to my computer except to plug the headphones straight into the motherboard lineout (integrated sound card and all). At least for the meantime, since I am worried about damaging my good headphones, I have these Koss UR30s that my brother left at the house that I am 'borrowing'. Won't cry too much if those get zapped

Anyways, if anyone has a definitive lineout answer, I would love to hear.
I don't THINK there should be a problem if I think about it... Amps are supposed to go into a lineout. That would suggest that whatever is coming out is too weak to do anything...

 

[EdipisReks]

if anything the headphones would damage the sound card, as phones often times demand much more current than a line out can reasonably supply.

 

[Albatross05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lollercheese I've had my HD497s for about two weeks now and suddenly (about 30minutes ago) I noticed sporadic crackling mainly on the left speaker which seems to have come and gone about twice during that time. I am using the line out from my computer, which has a crappy onboard Realtek AC97. It's the only thing I can connect them to though... I play music at very reasonable volumes (hardly exceed more than a 1/3rd of max volume). So is the lineout damaging my headphones or is the crackling something else? Because i've seemed to have lost several earbuds for no reason to this comp, and my old one... It will be a while before I can get true headphone out when i buy a revo 5.1... oh NO it just crackled again *cries*

Probably depends on the headphones and how much power your onboard audio puts out. The Realtec (as far as I know) is similar to the Advance AC97 that I had and that thing could go damn loud (but the quality sucked).

I had some cheap Koss phones connected to it once and had the volume turned way up (for some reason or another). And it easily drove them to a level where I was hearing the diaphrams snap (I wasn't wearing them at the time or I'd probably be deaf right now). So yeah, I'd say it's possible to damage a set of 'phones with it. Keep the volume to reasonable levels and you shouldn't have anything to worry about. You might wanna disable Windows sounds (if you're using a windows system) as some of those sounds can be pretty loud (depending on your settings).

 

[Inkmo]

I was talking with one of my buddies that runs audio for the college. His answer: definitely possible.

I guess I won't be taking my chances anytime soon?

 

[ACAVant]

Bizzare. But you say the crackling is intermittent? If there was a fault in the cans it would be all the time I would think. But if it's random... it could be interference from components in the PC kicking in? I've got my PX100s hooked to my PC at the moment and it crackles ALL the time. The only thing to do is turn the volume up so it's not heard on mine. But when the hard drive is churning, the crackles change in pitch.

 

[rickcr42]

No way any line stage can damage a set of headphones unless it has some serious Dc issues and that is not likely.as for damaging the stage itself also most unlikely.

headphones like loudspeakers will attempt to draw what they need and if the powering stage is not up to the task you will hear distortion immediately if a really bad match and on peaks only if just a bad match.Your ears will tell the tale better than any answers here

So try it,you never know until you know

 

[Drakemoor]

i get something similar on my audigy 2 value when it's set to 24bit output in foobar. It will be fine but when you move the progress bar a few times it's starts making a hissing crackling noise until you move the progress bar again and it'll be fine. Setting it to 16bit is fine and never has any problems