[caterham09]

Hi im pretty new to higher quality audio and i have a few questions. I have a pair of ATH- Quiet Comfort anc27's and lately ive noticed when i turn up the volume to a high level the bass just starts cracking and it sounds terrible. This issue doesnt arise if the noise cancelling is off but when its on it does this.
 
This only happens on my cellphone while using the app power amp. when i use the normal player it doesnt crack but it also doesnt  sound nearly as nice. On my laptop i can turn it up much louder before it starts to crack so i assume it has something to do with my phones power output.
 
My question is: Is getting a portable amp going to help the problem at all ( I read that getting more power will help resolve the issue ) 
 
Another thing is if there is no way to fix it i dont mind using it without noise cancelling as long as im using the power amp app. With the normal player the cans turned off dont sound as good but the new player makes it sound just as good.
 
 

 

[NA Blur]

It could be a couple of things.  The first is to set the volume on your portable device to 75% instead of full.  This will prevent any clipping of the signal when it goes through any signal processing.  The next thing is to not boost the bass as much with EQ settings if you have.  Digital EQ is a great way to mess with a good signal and who knows exactly what the EQ is doing to the bass without actually measuring it.  The last thing it may be is simply the signal processing of the amp built into the headphones.  In order to cancel out any noise the output from your portable device and thus input to your headphones is processed to suppress the excess noise in the environment.  This of course affects the signal itself especially in the bass region where the driver typically has higher impedance.  Turning your volume down to 75% on the portable device may help cure this by avoiding further clipping of the signal within the amp inside the headphones.  I image if you use a non-noise canceling headphone the problem goes away?
 
Let us know what you find.