[Surag238]

On iTunes I increased the preamp to 12 db and raised the volume.  While playing anything from mozart to Korn I could hear a certain amount of static in the background.  The music sounded fine, but I could still hear that static.  is this normal?  Or do I have a faulty pair?
 
I thought with high end systems regardles of how high you increase the volume etc it should be fine.
 
Can someone test this for me and tell me if htey have similar issues? 
 
I am not using dac/amp.  realtek audio pc

 

[MrBapti]

why did you raise the preamp all the way?
 
try lowering it and the volume itself and see if there's still static

 

[Surag238]

There is no static with preamp at normal levels.  it only appears when I increase it...
 
I thought because its high end it can handle the highest levels without static.  Why is this not so?  So this is ok?

 

[Surag238]

I can hear subtle static when preamp is normal and I have high volume-its very subtle and happens rarely.  THis is with high quality encoded music (purchased) classical.
 
So I'm curious...is this normal? I feel like this is less clear than my image s4.  Is this normal and true?  

 

[idale]

Quote:

I am not using dac/amp.  realtek audio pc

That's probably the issue, I'd imagine: noise/static from a (slightly) unclean signal coming from the motherboard. Some onboard is pretty clean, others not so much and in those cases you either deal with it or see about bypassing it (discrete sound card, external DAC). It's also possible it could be coming from iTunes or the source audio, but that's less likely. I'd suspect the headphones least of all, personally.
 
I have some quiet static on my work MacBook. The home Windows box seemed fine when I had the headphones here breaking in/testing, but I wasn't looking for static at the time, either, and wasn't going crazy with the volume. But it's not uncommon to have some quiet level of static in the audio signal with onboard.

 

[Surag238]

I can now notice it in other music as well.  its apparant in anything now.  This was not present earlier today.  What? 

 

[TMRaven]

Don't rase the preamp, only lower it if you're trying to EQ certain frequencies higher.  Doing otherwise will cause clipping-- which is the static that you hear.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I can now notice it in other music as well.  its apparant in anything now.  This was not present earlier today.  What? 

Either you are just noticing it now (it's always been like this and likely nothing is wrong), or there's something wrong somewhere (static is GROWING).
 
If the static is from the actual source, then it's not because the headphones are inferior, instead it's better than your headphone/earbud that does NOT reveal the static because it reveals these subtle recorded details.
 
Also some cheap amps cause static background noise.
 
Also other possible reasons by others stated above.

 

[idale]

Are you positive it wasn't there, or could it be that you just didn't notice and now that you know it's there it's more prominent (psychology's important sometimes, unfortunately)? Of course, today's when you'd poked around (in the EQ/volume thread) and got your Realtek working, so it's also possible you weren't hearing it before but now it's there from something the Realtek driver/software is doing (or not doing). Not 100% there.

 

[WirelessRevo]

As mentioned before, don't raise the pre-amp and if you've got a mate with a portable amp/any amp for that matter, try and see if this reduces the static? 

and then i'd flick an e-mail to Audio Technica's customer support.

Also, where did you purchase them from? 

 

[Surag238]

Well it doesn't disappear when I use a fiio e5 with my pc....

 

[Surag238]

I wanted to only buy from an authorized audio technica seller.  The only one authorized and also sells through amazon is audiotopia which i purchased from.  I thought the premium price I paid 140 would ensure its of good quality....

 

[Surag238]

The static is there even when preamp is at zero.  I did not eve rnotice this while playing classical today....
 
I dunno what happened.
 
In between today, I did open my computer up and install a new hard drive.  Could that have done it? I only noticed afterwards-but I cant imagine that causing it!

 

[TMRaven]

Are any of your EQ bars above 0, even though your preamp is at zero?

 

[Surag238]

I think its an issue with my pc/equalizier.
 
I transferred the offending music files to my ipod and had no such issue.  Clearly it has to do with my computer messing up.  GRRRRR.
 
So, now that I know its not my phones THANK GOD, what can I do next?