[308med]

I just got my first pair of high quality headphones-Senn HD595's. From listening to it a couple times, I've found that I love the quality and sound, especially because i am running it on only my ipod and my pc w/o amp or aftermarket soundcard. After some time however, I noticed that there is some static that is appears whenever the the volume of my music is soft or during quiet breaks in a song.

So, i was wondering, could this odd static be just because I am running it w/o an amp or a decent soundcard, or could this be because it hasn't "burned" in yet? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[hwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 308med So, i was wondering, could this odd static be just because I am running it w/o an amp or a decent soundcard, or could this be because it hasn't "burned" in yet? Thanks for any and all help!

The "static" is in all liklihood coming from your source. There is also a slight possibility that it is actually encoded in your MP3s, particularly you are using low bitrates and "joint stereo" settings to rip your music. Below a certain point, MP3s can have an almost "wooshing" quality to the sound.

If you had a broken driver in your headphones, you would hear the distortion at high volumes rather than at low volumes.

 

[308med]

Ok, so then should i just buy a soundcard for my pc? I've read that these headphones don't really need an amp, so I'm not sure right now whether or not I will get one. Do you have any suggestions for a soundcard that would work well with or without an amp for my 595's? Again, thanks for the help.

 

[hwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 308med Ok, so then should i just buy a soundcard for my pc? I've read that these headphones don't really need an amp, so I'm not sure right now whether or not I will get one. Do you have any suggestions for a soundcard that would work well with or without an amp for my 595's? Again, thanks for the help.

Yeah. Probably upgrading the sound card would make a big difference. It did with my PC. I'm not up on all the options. One really good, easy option would be the Total Bithead. It's a small Digital to Analog Converter and headphone amp that plugs into a USB port on your computer. That bypasses everything in your computer soundcard. $199.

There are also several souncard options for less money that have decent DACs and headphone outputs.

BTW, part of the problem is turning down the volume control on your computer. That volume adjustment is done digitally. Full digital resolution will be achieved by leaving the computer's volume sliders max'd out and using the volume control on an outboard headphone circuit to reduce the volume.