Getting feedback/static from unamped HD590s, what can I do?

[EMTurano]

I'm using a pair of Sennheiser HD-590s through my Audigy 2 ZS. I'm not using an amp.

Say if I'm playing back a bass-heavy or treble-heavy track, I get this feedback/static that's pissing me off.

What should I do? Would buying an amp cure the problem? I'm ready to buy a Headroom Airhead.

Also, I'm using a pair of Klipsch ProMedia 5.1s, and this problem doesn't happen on those.

 

[hawat]

If you are receiving statics adding an amp would just amplify that.

 

[EMTurano]

So what should I do?

 

[hawat]

You should try to fix your problem before adding an amp.
Do you still hear statics if you mute everything but wave ?

 

[EMTurano]

WAVs are fine, I think the only main problem I'm having is with Reason.

 

[sgrossklass]

I'm not really sure what you meant by feedback/static. Maybe clipping distortion? (Try turning down the wave out volume level a bit. You are using decent-quality resampling?) If it were on heavy bass only (use Audacity or similar to create some sine test tones) I'd suspect the usual stubborn hair stuck near the driver, but then it would mainly be in one ear.

 

[hawat]

I meant go to the control pannel and chose the sound option and go into property and display all the in/out then mute them all except wave (cd line , line in1 and 2 , phono,spdif, mic etc..) with a bit of luck one of them is doing that .

 

[catscratch]

I think you're overdriving the headphone out on the Audigy, and it's clipping. This is hardly surprising - the Audigy isn't anywhere near audiophile quality. The HD590's are revealing enough that they'll pick up clipping where it might slip by a consumer-level system.

I would disable whatever EQ you're using and see if that helps things. Foobar has a software clipping limiter, but it damages sound quality something fierce. If nothing helps, it may be time to switch to a different card. For starters, you could try a Chaintech AV-710, which costs all of $25 and improves music playback quality substantially.

I had the HD590's with an Audigy 1. Boy, did it suck.

 

[hawat]

hmm I did read that the 590 were over sensitive but I tested my friend's pc equiped with an audigy 2 with my cd3k and hd497, both are low impedance headphones and the cd3k is very good at picking details and statics

.
The sound wasn't as good as it could be but I couldn't hear any statics/humming coming from his audigy 2 after disabling the line in of his pc wich was connected to his ps2 rgb box and causing some statics before.