[sahyle3]

With IEMs, I hear crackling noises (kind of like if it's a lower quality transducer) during some passages, usually somewhat trebly, such as female vocals in my left ear. Strangely, it's only in my left ear since if I reverse the left and right earpieces I still hear it in my left ear. What could be the cause of this?
Edit: Ah, sorry, I guess this belongs in the "Help & Recommendations Forum" but not sure how to delete or move it.

 

[msing539]

How did you reverse it? Did you swap the cable connections or just the iem into the opposite ear? What's your source and have you tried a different cable with the same results? Have you tried a different iem on the same source?

Just trying to narrow down if it's your source, the cable, the actual iem, or something else.

 

[podnosimyszafe]

With IEMs, I hear crackling noises (kind of like if it's a lower quality transducer) during some passages, usually somewhat trebly, such as female vocals in my left ear. Strangely, it's only in my left ear since if I reverse the left and right earpieces I still hear it in my left ear. What could be the cause of this?
Edit: Ah, sorry, I guess this belongs in the "Help & Recommendations Forum" but not sure how to delete or move it.

I have a similar issue from time to time also with left ear (not woth female vocal though) and what is also worth noting, it happens with many different iems. I have tighter seal with my left than with right ear, so my best guess is that it is some combination of tight seal and specific frequencies. Maybe something like phase cancellation also plays role(I guess that is the name of the acoustic phenomeon I am thinking of).

 

[sahyle3]

How did you reverse it? Did you swap the cable connections or just the iem into the opposite ear? What's your source and have you tried a different cable with the same results? Have you tried a different iem on the same source?

Just trying to narrow down if it's your source, the cable, the actual iem, or something else.

I put the left earpiece in my right ear and the right earpiece in my left ear. I do get the same issue with another IEM.

 

[msing539]

I put the left earpiece in my right ear and the right earpiece in my left ear. I do get the same issue with another IEM.

So you're saying both iems with different cables do the same thing? Have you tried a different source? If the same thing happens on a phone vs. a laptop, for example, try different tips.

 

[sahyle3]

So you're saying both iems with different cables do the same thing? Have you tried a different source? If the same thing happens on a phone vs. a laptop, for example, try different tips.

Yeah, it's the same with two different IEMS each with different tips and cables. It's the same if I try on a different source (phone).

 

[msing539]

What are the iems and what source are you using for the music that's crackling (local files (if so, what type), Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, etc.?

Is this happening at all volume listening levels?

 

[sahyle3]

What are the iems and what source are you using for the music that's crackling (local files (if so, what type), Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, etc.?

Is this happening at all volume listening levels?

IEMS are u12t and one that came with the phone. Music is Amazon lossless. For example, on "Bad Romance" when she goes "You and Meeee" there is that crackling. Basically all listening levels except very soft.

 

[Ruprit]

Oh Man!

I never realized that this was an issue that other users experienced!

I had, word for word, the same issue for a while. Since it was happening across multiple IEMs and a truckload of various ear tip brands and sizes I started to think the issue was with me. It wasn't until I got my PAW 6K that I noticed I never experienced the problem when using said DAP.

Anyhow, my fix was to replace my LG V30 as my portable DAP. For on my PC, I moved my L&P usb dongle to a different USB port (from USB 2.0 to a USB C port). I guess it was just a noisy port for me.

Outside of that though, I have no understanding or scientific reason for why this occurred in the first place.

 

[HAMS]

Distortion? try slow sine sweep if you can find any distortion. It happened to me before, I found out it caused by blocked filter.

 

[sahyle3]

It turns out the reason this was happening was that there was a significant channel imbalance around the 2000-2500 frequency range. There was often graininess in the audio in that range and the left ear was getting a lot of that graininess while the right ear wasn't.

The main cause of this imbalance seems to be some sort of resonance due to the individual ear anatomy that is greatly exacerbated with IEMs. Playing test tones and sine waves in the left and right channels separately revealed that the "frequency graph" in terms of what is actually perceived through the ear was extremely different between the left and right ears.

EQing each channel individually to remove the unnatural peaks and dips in loudness greatly reduced the problem.