[winty]

Hi all,

My main listening environment is headphones plugged into a cheap extension cable (until I can afford a headphone amp) and then directly into the headphone output of my RME9632. I am finding that at high volumes my UE10Pro earphones are distorting, whereas at the same (subjective) volume level my Sennheiser HD600s are fine. Is the UE10Pro very hard to drive, or is it possible that I have a faulty set?

Many thanks in advance for any ideas

 

[ampgalore]

How loud are you listening? UE10's are very efficient earphones, you don't need that much power to drive them.

 

[winty]

I don't usually listen that loud, but in an excited moment I decided to have a little burst of volume whilst listening to the start of Clocks by Coldplay. I would say it was louder than I would usually listen, but not *that* loud. I'm certainly not a volume freak.

Surely HD600 must be far harder to drive than UE10Pro right? In other words, surely this distortion is coming from the phones and not the amp on the soundcard?

 

[ampgalore]

HD600's impedance is 300ohm. So if the amp can drive the HD600 to a similar volume without distortion, then the amp is probably not the culprit. Have you tried the UE10 on a different amp? A different portable?

 

[gorman]

Distortion? What's distortion?

Seriously, though, this sounds really new to me. I've never had my UE-10 distorting. Not even while reviewing them, and then I was listening to them at a very high level.

Be careful about the volume you listen to. It could damage your hearing.

I'm waiting for some data from cmascatello, then I will be able to publish an analysis that Jerry Harvey, from Ultimate Ears, conducted for me, regarding safe hearing levels with both iPod and Rio Karma.

 

[winty]

How strange! I tried the same MP3 on my iRiver iHP140 and it's clean as a whistle all the way up to intolerable volumes. Well at least I know the headphones are capable of playing loud without distorting. Thank you for your help.

It still doesn't make sense though. Why would the soundcard amp distort with easy-to-drive headphones and not with hard-to-drive headphones?

 

[ampgalore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by winty How strange! I tried the same MP3 on my iRiver iHP140 and it's clean as a whistle all the way up to intolerable volumes. Well at least I know the headphones are capable of playing loud without distorting. Thank you for your help. It still doesn't make sense though. Why would the soundcard amp distort with easy-to-drive headphones and not with hard-to-drive headphones?

Maybe your soundcard doesn't like the UE10

Seriously, I have no idea why.

 

[lindrone]

Just listened to the same tracks from my iPod with UE-10 and 2X-S. Yes, the distortion is there, it is real, and it isn't just your soundcard or your set-up. There's some distortion in certain frequencies that was made when it was recorded, namely something with the drums interacting with the vocals created this really weird noise in the background.

On the UE-10, it is more apparent, partially because the bass is really clean, so there's no mask over this effect, partially because UE-10 enhances certain frequencies anyway, and it happens to fall in about the frequency that UE-10 enhances. It is less apparent on the 2X-S, because the warmer bass helps mask some of the distortion, but if you listened for it, it's still there.

UE-10 is rather unforgiving in this manner, any recording that has any distortion will likely show up as a big sore.


Quote:

Originally Posted by winty How strange! I tried the same MP3 on my iRiver iHP140 and it's clean as a whistle all the way up to intolerable volumes. Well at least I know the headphones are capable of playing loud without distorting. Thank you for your help.

I used Apple Lossless on my iPod. Now you know what MP3 compression does to your songs

It takes out details... ouch!

 

[winty]

No I don't think it's that, Lindrone, because the distortion I'm talking about disappears completely when I lower the volume beyond a certain point. The tiniest movement of the volume control brings it back.

 

[gorman]

I have the CD at home. Will do a test with it.

 

[winty]

Hang on, please forgive my schoolboy science, but doesn't the low impedance of the UE10Pro mean that you have to put a large current through it to achieve the same voltage? Could this be too much for my soundcard?

 

[ampgalore]

Hmmm, which track, which album are you guys talking about? I don't see it mentioned anywhere in this thread.

 

[winty]

Clocks by Coldplay

 

[Takashi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by winty Hang on, please forgive my schoolboy science, but doesn't the low impedance of the UE10Pro mean that you have to put a large current through it to achieve the same voltage? Could this be too much for my soundcard?

Yes. That's the problem with impedance mismatch.

 

[winty]

Thanks for confirming that Takashi. Darn, sounds like maybe I need a headphone amp!