[enjoyer]

I had my spirit pro's delivered a couple days ago, and, excitedly, hooked them up to my phone and began listening. To my dismay, they hissed harshly in the upper registers. I fiddled with the jack in the hopes that it would clear up, but to no avail. Desperate, I connected them to my laptop, and the sibilance evaporated.

I couldn't find anything online relating to this, but it also doesn't seem to me like the headphones are at fault. For clarity, my phone is a motorola one 5g ace and the laptop is a newish thinkpad. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[castleofargh]

You're describing background hiss or sibilance? they're not the same thing and don't have the same causes.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I had my spirit pro's delivered a couple days ago, and, excitedly, hooked them up to my phone and began listening. To my dismay, they hissed harshly in the upper registers. I fiddled with the jack in the hopes that it would clear up, but to no avail. Desperate, I connected them to my laptop, and the sibilance evaporated.

I couldn't find anything online relating to this, but it also doesn't seem to me like the headphones are at fault. For clarity, my phone is a motorola one 5g ace and the laptop is a newish thinkpad. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I'm confused here...do you have hiss or do you have sibilance? Or you got rid of the hiss but you still have sibilance?

Those are two different things. "Hiss" is when you can get to a silent part like between tracks and hear what sounds like a snake doing one long, constant blow through its tongue. Sibilance is when "s" and "t" in the lyrics and cymbals are like jamming teeth or drumsticks into your ears.

 

[enjoyer]

You're describing background hiss or sibilance? they're not the same thing and don't have the same causes.

I'm confused here...do you have hiss or do you have sibilance? Or you got rid of the hiss but you still have sibilance?

Those are two different things. "Hiss" is when you can get to a silent part like between tracks and hear what sounds like a snake doing one long, constant blow through its tongue. Sibilance is when "s" and "t" in the lyrics and cymbals are like jamming teeth or drumsticks into your ears.

Sorry for the confusion, I'm still a lowly newbie when it comes to this hobby. From protege's description the issue I'm having definitely has to do with sibilance, not hissing.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Sorry for the confusion, I'm still a lowly newbie when it comes to this hobby. From protege's description the issue I'm having definitely has to do with sibilance, not hissing.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-spirit-professional-impressions-thread.702029/

Based on the uncompensated measurement there seems to be a 3500hz peak. Compensated measurement might not match your own hearing, ie, you may have hyperacusis. I also have kind of the same problem on the HD600 - older drivers are measured with an even taller peak at 3500hz, my ears make it worse.

One relatively easy way to get around this: wear them looser. If the drivers are too close to your ear and the earpads too compressed, it can boost some frequencies, which in this particular case may be that region. On my HD600, I don't just wear them looser, I also put Brainwavz angled pads on them. Before you try such pads, move them forward so the drivers aren't directly over your ear canal (I still do this with the angled pads). If just pushing them forward and loosening don't work, then maybe try angled pads, but note that in some headphones it may do more than just reduce the glare of the upper midrange, like reduce the low end as well.

 

[enjoyer]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-spirit-professional-impressions-thread.702029/

Based on the uncompensated measurement there seems to be a 3500hz peak. Compensated measurement might not match your own hearing, ie, you may have hyperacusis. I also have kind of the same problem on the HD600 - older drivers are measured with an even taller peak at 3500hz, my ears make it worse.

One relatively easy way to get around this: wear them looser. If the drivers are too close to your ear and the earpads too compressed, it can boost some frequencies, which in this particular case may be that region. On my HD600, I don't just wear them looser, I also put Brainwavz angled pads on them. Before you try such pads, move them forward so the drivers aren't directly over your ear canal (I still do this with the angled pads). If just pushing them forward and loosening don't work, then maybe try angled pads, but note that in some headphones it may do more than just reduce the glare of the upper midrange, like reduce the low end as well.

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. One thing I still haven't gotten my head wrapped around though is why the sibilance wasn't an issue when I switched to my laptop. It went from unlistenable to completely normal. Could it have something to do with my phone's built in amp or something? Either way, it's not huge issue. I can just stick to my laptop and be just fine. Thanks for the help!

 

[castleofargh]

Trying another potential angle, maybe there is a DSP at play? Did you look for all the possible audio stuff on your phone like "Moto audio" or whatever, that might change the sound? Or the other way around, could some DSP on the laptop give something you happen to prefer?Some EQ with the audio card, some EQ with the player, some surround stuff that makes sibilance less obvious thank to some extra reverb or whatever?

If you don't find anything, you might want try to have some EQ from whatever player app and fool around with the 3,5 or 4kHz. As @ProtegeManiac mentions, that's really the only area of that headphone that might be a little too strong for your ears.


It's always possible that the cellphone just has garbage internal amplifier and that you're really hearing distortions, that doesn't seem too likely because it's really not a tricky headphone to drive, but I also can't say I'm 100% sure it's not the issue. I just wouldn't start by betting on that. Nowadays, there are DSPs everywhere and we don't even always know it, so that would be my first guess.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. One thing I still haven't gotten my head wrapped around though is why the sibilance wasn't an issue when I switched to my laptop. It went from unlistenable to completely normal. Could it have something to do with my phone's built in amp or something? Either way, it's not huge issue. I can just stick to my laptop and be just fine. Thanks for the help!

Your phone might be distorting already. Depending on the phone's audio chip, it may have as low as 5mW before 1% THD kicks in. Or even less, but enough to exacerbate that 3500hz peak.

It may also have some kind of DSP feature that boosts everything on either extremes of the freq range, kind of like Night Mode on AV Receivers.