Denon D2000 bass static...

[Horripilate]

I finally received these headphones in the mail yesterday, along with a Fiio E7 and an E9 LOD. I got them for a steal, I think, at $210 as an open box item. Now, I've been listening to them all day, testing out different types of music, and some songs sound amazing. However, I've been noticing with increasing concern that there tends to be a slight static/crackle sound accompanying the bass in a good number of songs, with varying degrees of prevalence. I thought that it could be from lower quality mp3s that I have on my ipod, so I downloaded The Dark Knight soundtrack at 320kbps, and it sounded really good, but at times when it got loud and low, I would hear some faint static. How worried should I be about this? Are there some forms of bass that are supposed to have static? Will break-in fix this? I don't want to keep these if they're defective..
 
Here's an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ona42jz8w0k
There's a pretty consistent static/crackle in this song that is accentuated with each bass hit. It isn't loud but it's there...
 
 
 
 

 

[Horripilate]

But like I said, some songs sound absolutely perfect, like this:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g34B-YOaC7c&ob=av2e

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

I finally received these headphones in the mail yesterday, along with a Fiio E7 and an E9 LOD. I got them for a steal, I think, at $210 as an open box item. Now, I've been listening to them all day, testing out different types of music, and some songs sound amazing. However, I've been noticing with increasing concern that there tends to be a slight static/crackle sound accompanying the bass in a good number of songs, with varying degrees of prevalence. I thought that it could be from lower quality mp3s that I have on my ipod, so I downloaded The Dark Knight soundtrack at 320kbps, and it sounded really good, but at times when it got loud and low, I would hear some faint static. How worried should I be about this? Are there some forms of bass that are supposed to have static? Will break-in fix this? I don't want to keep these if they're defective..
 
Here's an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ona42jz8w0k
There's a pretty consistent static/crackle in this song that is accentuated with each bass hit. It isn't loud but it's there...
 

 
Quote:

But like I said, some songs sound absolutely perfect, like this:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g34B-YOaC7c&ob=av2e

Heya,
 
Those all sound messy and have a lot of noise. They should. They're 480p YouTube audio rips.
 
I would suggest you try plugging into different sources to see if the static remains, it may be a cable issue, it may be a connection issue with the E7. It's most likely just the audio you're listening to. Even 320kbps MP3 is compressed and you can hear a difference between it and a FLAC.
 
Go to HDtracks.com and listen to some music on there. See if you hear static/hiss/noise.
 
Very best,

 

[Horripilate]

Thanks! I think you may be right, everything I preview on there sounds perfect. It's bittersweet upgrading to legitimate headphones, because now I'm aware of how poor the quality of the majority of what I have on my iPod is.  
 
I read that amps don't work very well with iPods, is that true? Also, I've been researching past head-fi threads on denons lately and you seem to be well acquainted with them; are there any EQs you would recommend, or is that frowned upon? (I'm talking stock iPod ones)
 
Quote:

 

Heya,
 
Those all sound messy and have a lot of noise. They should. They're 480p YouTube audio rips.
 
I would suggest you try plugging into different sources to see if the static remains, it may be a cable issue, it may be a connection issue with the E7. It's most likely just the audio you're listening to. Even 320kbps MP3 is compressed and you can hear a difference between it and a FLAC.
 
Go to HDtracks.com and listen to some music on there. See if you hear static/hiss/noise.
 
Very best,

 

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
I don't tend to use EQ or anything. When I use my Denons portable, they're coming from a Sansa Fuze -> LOD -> Fiio E11 -> Denon. And I use only FLAC, only lossless. I get a lot of my music from HDtracks.com and otherwise just rip my CD's to FLAC for use on portable player/PC/etc.
 
Very best,

 

[catsup]

Quote:

I finally received these headphones in the mail yesterday, along with a Fiio E7 and an E9 LOD. I got them for a steal, I think, at $210 as an open box item.

 
 
 

You bought all 3 for $210 or just the Denons. That would be a super deal if it was all 3 lol.

 

[Horripilate]

Oh, ok. Do you have any experience with apple lossless?
 
Quote:

Heya,
 
I don't tend to use EQ or anything. When I use my Denons portable, they're coming from a Sansa Fuze -> LOD -> Fiio E11 -> Denon. And I use only FLAC, only lossless. I get a lot of my music from HDtracks.com and otherwise just rip my CD's to FLAC for use on portable player/PC/etc.
 
Very best,

 

 

[Horripilate]

Haha, I wish. Just for the headphones.
 
Quote:

You bought all 3 for $210 or just the Denons. That would be a super deal if it was all 3 lol.

 

 

[catsup]

Oh btw, amp/dacs don't really change the quality of the music you have; in fact it might make bad quality music worse because it will increase clarity of the sounds. With Denons amping improvement will be very very subtle since it doesn't take much to drive anyways. You should try getting higher quality music if you can. That will make a huge difference.

 

[Horripilate]

Kk, thanks
 
Quote:

Oh btw, amp/dacs don't really change the quality of the music you have; in fact it might make bad quality music worse because it will increase clarity of the sounds. With Denons amping improvement will be very very subtle since it doesn't take much to drive anyways. You should try getting higher quality music if you can. That will make a huge difference.

 

 

[pyramid6]

I had some a similar problem with the D7000.  For me a new DAC seemed to clear it up (I was using a cheap soundblaster card while I build a new headphone system).  That being said, badly encoded music is badly encoded music.  No amp/dac/headphone is going to make the encoding better.  
 
The Denons are very sensitive, they will pick up everything. 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Oh, ok. Do you have any experience with apple lossless?
 
 

I've found apple lossless to be relatively poor quality compared to actual lossless.
 
You're best bet is to buy CD's (Half.com, get 'em used) and rip them to true lossless FLAC. It's the cheapest way and the best quality short of buying from HDtracks.com.
 
Very best,
 

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

I've found apple lossless to be relatively poor quality compared to actual lossless.

????? Flac or alac, are just a container, and if it's lossless, it's lossless.
Let's say you have a track in flac , and the same in alac.
If you convert both track then to wav (flac to wav for first & alac to wav for second) , and do a binary comparison, it should be the same exact file.
Just like winzip, if you  unzip you expect to find the original file unmodified.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

????? Flac or alac, are just a container, and if it's lossless, it's lossless.
Let's say you have a track in flac , and the same in alac.
If you convert both track then to wav (flac to wav for first & alac to wav for second) , and do a binary comparison, it should be the same exact file.
Just like winzip, if you  unzip you expect to find the original file unmodified.

In theory this is true. Containers are just containers. But the players that play said containers and the hardware they work on are different. When I listen to apple lossless compared to my own CD rips or HDtracks.com tracks, there's a difference. Apple stuff really just reminds me of compressed MP3's.
 
Very best,

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

In theory this is true. Containers are just containers. But the players that play said containers and the hardware they work on are different. When I listen to apple lossless compared to my own CD rips or HDtracks.com tracks, there's a difference. Apple stuff really just reminds me of compressed MP3's.
 
Very best,
 

One problem is that apple use same extension for aac & alac, ie m4a . Perhaps you were playing lossy files.
Also there's the possibility you bought lossy files re-encoded in lossless , which is a kind scam.
If you re-encode your cd rips into alac, it should  sound exactly the same.