[OctaneTwisted]

Hey guys, I've noticed that while listening to my Mad Dogs through my Magni/Modi I'm getting some distortion when I turn up the volume. I have a pair of Grado 325is that always sound crystal clear, so I'm thinking it isn't the amp, but I could be wrong. Has anyone heard of a similar problem, or does anyone have any guesses as to why this is happening?
 
Also, while I have a thread going I have a question about amps/dacs connected to a windows pc in general. When I got my magni/modi I basically just plugged them in and started listening. Are there any settings I should change on the pc so that I get the most out of them? (I did turn off all EQs and enhancements).

 

[OctaneTwisted]

Bump?

 

[Makiah S]

Bump?

 
hmm what is your music player of choice, in addition what are your settings for the Audio Unit it self 
 
Right click the little "speaker" in your task bar and click on 
playback devices select your Magni which might show up as USB Audio, click on properies 
 
 
Click on advance and make sure the Default Audio format is set to 24bit 96hz
 
make sure those settings are teh same in your Audio Driver as well as and also in your Audio Player as it should have a play back setting as well. 
 
in addition amps tend to distort when you make them louder also. Different headphones will react differently to and with that distortion 

 

[elwappo99]

  Hey guys, I've noticed that while listening to my Mad Dogs through my Magni/Modi I'm getting some distortion when I turn up the volume. I have a pair of Grado 325is that always sound crystal clear, so I'm thinking it isn't the amp, but I could be wrong. Has anyone heard of a similar problem, or does anyone have any guesses as to why this is happening?
 
Also, while I have a thread going I have a question about amps/dacs connected to a windows pc in general. When I got my magni/modi I basically just plugged them in and started listening. Are there any settings I should change on the pc so that I get the most out of them? (I did turn off all EQs and enhancements).

 
Hey there! 
 
This is most likely not due to some software setting, but double check you don't have an equalizer on. 
 
Can you give a little more about the distortion? Is it in both cups? Does it occur at the same point in a song over and over? Is it in the bass frequencies? 

 

[OctaneTwisted]

Sorry for the late reply, I've had an incredibly busy past couple of days.
 
Mshenay- I normally just use iTunes, although I recently installed foobar2000.
I have the Modi set at 24bit 96hz like you said, with all enhancements disabled. In the "Realtek Audio Manager" the default setting was 16bit 44.1khz and I changed it to 24bit 96khz. I already had playback set to 24bit 96khz in iTunes and I have it set to "play audio using windows audio session"
 
elwappo99- As far as I know, all equalizers are off. The distortion seems to be in both cups, and is most prevalent in the lower-mid frequencies, especially in parts with electric guitar (everything seems to be muddled together and theres a very slight crackling). At first I thought it might just be the album I was listening to (Ghost Reveries (lossless cd rip) by Opeth) but it is happening across all of my rock and metal, and in songs which my 325is' play with no distortion whatsoever. I've also wondered if there is a possibility that my Mad Dogs have somehow come "un-tuned" or I've damaged them or something, but I've always taken good care of them.
 
One other thing I should mention is that I broke the detachable 3.5mm cable that came with the Mad Dogs and I'm using the stock fostex cable. I've heard people say that the cable itself is low quality, and I remember that when I would alternate between the two cables before I could tell that the fostex cable was much darker sounding. Is it possible that the distortion I'm hearing is because of the cable itself?

 

[TMRaven]

Can you provide a specific file of a song that you hear distortion on?

 

[elwappo99]

I'm running through my own troubleshooting process and this is what I've figured it comes down to:
 
1. A piece of hair or dirt has gotten in the way of the driver and is causing a vibration (unlikely as it's both cups)
 
2. The song has some distortion which the SR325 hasn't been able to reproduce
 
3. Your DAC/Amp has some distortion the SR325 didn't reproduce
 
4. The Mad Dogs distort either because of some damage internally (somewhat unlikely since both cups are having issue), or they distort at that frequency, which is unlikely. I have a pair on hand so if you can provide a specific song and timestamp when the issue happens as TMRaven suggested, I can compare!