[ebwly]

I've had those for about 3 weeks. In the first two i have being playing them day and night with songs, then i used pink noise for around 4 days at reasonably high volumes. (not extreme) but louder than average. I also took those with me, and had them in my bag.
 
Thats the extent of usage/abuse. Other than that they've either being on my head or lying around.
 
Anyways, around 3-4 days ago I've noticed subtle crackling and popping noises now and then when I listen to music. I haven't noticed them before, but maybe I wasnt paying attention. This is running alac thru iTunes, with 96k and 24 bit out to Fiio e17 to hd 650. I am concerned because when I hear the cracking in a song, i'd rewind it and when it plays over again i dont hear the cracking again. its the same sound headphones makes when you are plugging them in, and the connectors click in.
 
I don't know if it is the fault with the phones, or the E17, or the source material, although my logic tells me if its the source material, then when I rewind and play it again, I should hear them again in the same places, but its random. Any suggestions?

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

I've had those for about 3 weeks. In the first two i have being playing them day and night with songs, then i used pink noise for around 4 days at reasonably high volumes. (not extreme) but louder than average. I also took those with me, and had them in my bag.
 
Thats the extent of usage/abuse. Other than that they've either being on my head or lying around.
 
Anyways, around 3-4 days ago I've noticed subtle crackling and popping noises now and then when I listen to music. I haven't noticed them before, but maybe I wasnt paying attention. This is running alac thru iTunes, with 96k and 24 bit out to Fiio e17 to hd 650. I am concerned because when I hear the cracking in a song, i'd rewind it and when it plays over again i dont hear the cracking again. its the same sound headphones makes when you are plugging them in, and the connectors click in.
 
I don't know if it is the fault with the phones, or the E17, or the source material, although my logic tells me if its the source material, then when I rewind and play it again, I should hear them again in the same places, but its random. Any suggestions?

 
First things first....check the cable and wiggle the connectors at the headphone end.  Loose connectors can cause crackle in and out, or defective cables can as well. 
 
If it's not that, I still suspect it's software.  Can you play music from a different source?  A home theater AVR or old CD player, or anything else for a while and see if it happens?  If it were a corrupt music file it would happen in the same spot every time, but if it's issues with iTunes, USB interferance, or E17 drivers or whatever, it would just kind of be at random or unrelated to particular parts of a song. 
 
Loose cable connectors drive me crazy though.  My old Cardas cable had a break in it from rolling over it with a chair too many times....if it was in the wrong position it would crackle and sputter in one channel.   My Silver Dragon sometimes gets shimmied a bit since it's stif and the headphone connector at the cup will make it drop out or crackle until I wiggle it back in properly.   Doesn't happen often and doing so usually fixes it for weeks.  It just gets in a bad spot sometimes.
 
I doubt it's driver issues.  If the driver voice coil were separating, driving the same frequency at the same volume again would likely cause the same or similar static or heavy distortion.   I had a blown set of drivers, and it was kind of obvious if you turned the volume up.

 

[ebwly]

ok, so i've tried it with a different usb cable...no change. I suspect its the e17, because when I'm driving it from the macbook or itouch, i dont hear it as often, but then again, im confused because it could just be the issue with the recording, as I can still hear the pops, and they sound a lot like bad recordings should sound like, except its strange cos the stuff I listen to is all ALAC or at least 320kbps. I hear it in e.g. westlife 320kb songs, and also in songs by Sarah Mclachlan...which are lostless...and from respect recording artists. Last night I was listening to a westlife song and there is def a place where theres crackling/popping, i rewinded it, and a second time its not there. I unplugged the e17, and plugged it directly into my MBP, song played back flawlessly...so I think its def the e17.

 

[ebwly]

right?

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

ok, so i've tried it with a different usb cable...no change. I suspect its the e17, because when I'm driving it from the macbook or itouch, i dont hear it as often, but then again, im confused because it could just be the issue with the recording, as I can still hear the pops, and they sound a lot like bad recordings should sound like, except its strange cos the stuff I listen to is all ALAC or at least 320kbps. I hear it in e.g. westlife 320kb songs, and also in songs by Sarah Mclachlan...which are lostless...and from respect recording artists. Last night I was listening to a westlife song and there is def a place where theres crackling/popping, i rewinded it, and a second time its not there. I unplugged the e17, and plugged it directly into my MBP, song played back flawlessly...so I think its def the e17.

yep its definitely the e17. my own amp (hippo box amp) produces some static beeping as well which is annoying. i was told it was excess static electricity. so your HD650 is fine. only amps and maybe sources (a laggy com maybe?) cause this type of problems ^^