[the5chord]

Sorry I am a bit of a noob.  I was wondering if anyone could help me.  I have a pair of Grado SR80i and a fiio e11 headphone amp.  I like the sound of my grados a lot but I find when I turn them up on some bass heavy songs I get some clipping and have to turn the volume down so its clean again.  Is my problem the headphones?  The amp being underpowered?  Would going up the line of Grados help me in anyway?

 

[planx]

Quote:

Sorry I am a bit of a noob.  I was wondering if anyone could help me.  I have a pair of Grado SR80i and a fiio e11 headphone amp.  I like the sound of my grados a lot but I find when I turn them up on some bass heavy songs I get some clipping and have to turn the volume down so its clean again.  Is my problem the headphones?  The amp being underpowered?  Would going up the line of Grados help me in anyway?

 
I don't think it's either. My E11 never has any distortion, clipping, un-natural sounding noises... The amp can't be underpowered with the SR-80i. If I paired my E11 with my 600 ohm AKGs, yes it might be underpowered, but never clipping noises. I think it might be a problem with your source? Poorly recorded tracks? Or maybe your SR-80i is broken?

 

[the5chord]

The source is an apple iPhone 4s. It happens on the new single from the xx 'angels' downloaded off of iTunes.

 

[planx]

Quote:

The source is an apple iPhone 4s. It happens on the new single from the xx 'angels' downloaded off of iTunes.

 
Only that song? If it's only that song, obviously it's the source causing the problem. You should consider HD Tracks? Or buy CDs like me and that way you KNOW that the file is done right

 

[the5chord]

I can get it to happen other bass heavy tracks from them. Love is Blindness - U2 or Blue Orchid from White Stripes. I have the eq on 2 and the gain on hi.

 

[planx]

Quote:

I can get it to happen other bass heavy tracks from them. Love is Blindness - U2 or Blue Orchid from White Stripes. I have the eq on 2 and the gain on hi.

 
I don't think you need to put the gain on hi for any Grado products due to their high sensitivity and low impedance. It looks like you want a bassier can! Also, I have both the E11 and SR225i and I can't hear such things on High gain and Max bass with my iPhone and Hifiman HM-602. Hmm I don't know..

 

[formula1]

You are expecting more bass from non bassy hp? i think you should buy something different. 

 

[the5chord]

Could be that I want a bass heavier can but I love how this headphone reproduces guitar sounds and vocals. I like the sound up until the clipping but I probably shouldn't be listening to them that loud anyways. My ears ring afterward. Still I wish it wasn't possible to make them clip. I don't think I want much more bass. I have some Bose A20 that have way too much bass for me. I like the Grado bass much better.

 

[planx]

Quote:

Could be that I want a bass heavier can but I love how this headphone reproduces guitar sounds and vocals. I like the sound up until the clipping but I probably shouldn't be listening to them that loud anyways. My ears ring afterward. Still I wish it wasn't possible to make them clip. I don't think I want much more bass. I have some Bose A20 that have way too much bass for me. I like the Grado bass much better.

 
Hey it seems like you're a true Grado fan. If you have the funds, maybe the PS500 is a good option. I found the bass to be boomier than the Grado SR and RS line. However, I found the mids to be a little recessed on the PS500 compared to other Grado headphones. Guess you can't have the best of both worlds.

 

[the5chord]

Hey it seems like you're a true Grado fan. If you have the funds, maybe the PS500 is a good option. I found the bass to be boomier than the Grado SR and RS line. However, I found the mids to be a little recessed on the PS500 compared to other Grado headphones. Guess you can't have the best of both worlds.

Thanks I will try those out when I can find somewhere to demo them.

 

[DaBomb77766]

Do you have bass boost on...?

 

[SMBuscemi]

That happened to me once when I was driving my PS500s with my Continental V2.
 
I think it was a tube thing/static. Needless to say, I did send them back to Grado in the pizza box and they sent it back and haven't had a problem since. And I like a lot of bass heavy music too sometimes.

 

[katterna]

Quote:

That happened to me once when I was driving my PS500s with my Continental V2.
 
I think it was a tube thing/static. Needless to say, I did send them back to Grado in the pizza box and they sent it back and haven't had a problem since. And I like a lot of bass heavy music too sometimes.

I am experiencing the same thing with my PS500s and my Burson HA-160D, regardless of the source. I hope it can be solved through warranty since i just bought my PS500s in the states this spring.