Help Understanding Distortion

[Purplezorz]

On fullrange drivers the same driver plays (or tries to play) 20hz to 20,000hz. It does not matter if it's dynamic, planar, or electrostat, if it's a single fullrange driver design, you have a single driver per channel trying to play full spectrum.
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There was a lot of information in there. Thank you for taking the time. In regards to subwoofers and bass, my Sundown Audio X-10 does the business for me in my tiny MINI Cooper. You can't beat the experience of a full sub and one day when I have a large house and enough money and a reliable wife who won't leave me, I will acquire the SVS PB16 ULTRA >=D But...I digress.

I'm pretty much clued up now. At some point I will start looking into other ways to create bass curves to get the most out of my headphones with tools posted by the Music Alchemist as well as browsing the basshead forums. It's just depressing when you they start to show you something amazing and then reach their limit. I'm pretty sure when I acquire the SZ-2000s and the V-Moda M-100 I will simply find that it was the limits of my current headphone as opposed to the amp - but hey, you never know. I'll let you know next year when I can finally justify all those purchases xD

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Purplezorz]

I literally fixed the distortion problem with my X2s yesterday prrof is in my last thread.

Basically with my EQ i lowered everything to - 3ish db as my flat line then i added my bass and a touch of treble

Sound is night and day. Im using a fiio a3 amp though

Hmm, the sound of the Fidelios is already so nice without EQ. But I will give it a go

 

[Purplezorz]

To me it sounds like the amp is clipping, my feliks audio espressivo tube amp will do this if I go above 12 O'clock with power hungry planars (Susvara, HE-6, HE-500 etc....), it sounds crackly and distorted.

Also as others have said, with EQ if you want to boost 5dB in the bass, don't boost it, instead drop all other frequencies by 5dB, this will help prevent clipping, but the main factor in your equation is the amp in my opinon.

Well, for experience, some headphones take curves much better than others. But looks like it's a case of the Creative saying "just because I can power 600ohm headphones, doesn't mean I can do it well".

I'll have to wait a while before I can get a new amp (because I want to go straight to the iDSD), but I do feel it does play a big part in this.

Ha, the HE-6. The gift that keeps on giving...or taking in this case.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Well, for experience, some headphones take curves much better than others. But looks like it's a case of the Creative saying "just because I can power 600ohm headphones, doesn't mean I can do it well".

I'll have to wait a while before I can get a new amp (because I want to go straight to the iDSD), but I do feel it does play a big part in this.

Ha, the HE-6. The gift that keeps on giving...or taking in this case.

Have you tried taking any of your headphones to a richer sounds or possibly audio sanctuary and trying with another amp, or even plugging them into the headphone socket of a hifi system if you know anyone that has one?

The HE-6 are one of my all time favourite headphones, I don't own them but really enjoy them. Best enjoyed out of the speaker taps of an integrated amp, or with something like the Violectric V281.

 

[Purplezorz]

Have you tried taking any of your headphones to a richer sounds or possibly audio sanctuary and trying with another amp, or even plugging them into the headphone socket of a hifi system if you know anyone that has one?

The HE-6 are one of my all time favourite headphones, I don't own them but really enjoy them. Best enjoyed out of the speaker taps of an integrated amp, or with something like the Violectric V281.

Hmm, the only problem with that, is that I wouldn't have the setup I'd have at home. All that will happen is my headphones will get loud. They will get too loud to listen to before the bass reaches a visceral, pleasing level and that's assuming I would be able to try it with my own music. Speaking of which, the bass tones in this song is a good indicator of what I'm listening to bass wise. Only when listening to rap bass music (which is usually in my car, because subwoofer - shame about the lyrical (or lack there of) content =/) do I have notes more powerful in the bass region.

That Violectric is really expensive o.o Probably not for what it can do, but still!

 

[Danielbea122]

Hmm, the sound of the Fidelios is already so nice without EQ. But I will give it a go

100% agree they definitely don't need EQ but its amazing that they can have so much bass being open back. I've had mine a cpl months now and never messed with the EQ until yesterday on a whim then i read this thread and figured I'd give you my 2cents

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Hmm, the only problem with that, is that I wouldn't have the setup I'd have at home. All that will happen is my headphones will get loud. They will get too loud to listen to before the bass reaches a visceral, pleasing level and that's assuming I would be able to try it with my own music. Speaking of which, the bass tones in this song is a good indicator of what I'm listening to bass wise. Only when listening to rap bass music (which is usually in my car, because subwoofer - shame about the lyrical (or lack there of) content =/) do I have notes more powerful in the bass region.

That Violectric is really expensive o.o Probably not for what it can do, but still!

You also need to consider your hearing, it is easy to listen too loud and over time it will damage your hearing.

Take some test songs on your phone with EQ or whatever, and they should let you plug it in, then you can test and you will probably see it is the amp that is clipping, if they still distort, turn off EQ and see if thats what's causing the problem.

Just listened to that track with some DT990 600 Ohm and my Topping A30 amp, no distortion but I don't use EQ.

 

[Purplezorz]

100% agree they definitely don't need EQ but its amazing that they can have so much bass being open back. I've had mine a cpl months now and never messed with the EQ until yesterday on a whim then i read this thread and figured I'd give you my 2cents

Thanks for the thought

Do you mean something like this (but with a hint more treble)?

 

[Purplezorz]

You also need to consider your hearing, it is easy to listen too loud and over time it will damage your hearing.

Take some test songs on your phone with EQ or whatever, and they should let you plug it in, then you can test and you will probably see it is the amp that is clipping, if they still distort, turn off EQ and see if thats what's causing the problem.

Just listened to that track with some DT990 600 Ohm and my Topping A30 amp, no distortion but I don't use EQ.

Haha, don't worry, I'm somewhat treble sensitive and even though I listen to music loud at times, I always aim for a pleasing sound. If there are any harsh sounds I turn it down.

I don't know the capabilities of the 990 and how they react to bass. But with my amp, no EQ, 50% volume on the player and 50% on the amp, using my DT 770 80Ohms you can start to hear the fan effect on the lower bass tones. It's not as pronounced as if I had modified the EQ, but that's a given. To be honest, they're just not capable of outputting sub bass at medium to high volumes. YET, when I listen to movies, they are the best. Explosions are amazing. So it's not that it can't go low...just, for music it can't handle it. Oh perhaps more accurately, it can't handle it above somewhat low listening levels (contradiction again, because I'm not exactly listening to movies at very low listening levels, so I don't really get it *shrugs*).

But OK, when I next have a free weekend, I will give the local Richer Sounds a go. Hopefully they're friendly.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

There was a lot of information in there. Thank you for taking the time. In regards to subwoofers and bass, my Sundown Audio X-10 does the business for me in my tiny MINI Cooper. You can't beat the experience of a full sub and one day when I have a large house and enough money and a reliable wife who won't leave me, I will acquire the SVS PB16 ULTRA >=D But...I digress.

No substitute for a subwoofer. I think what you really need to do is lower your expectations, ie, accept that headphones can't duplicate the SPL of bass much less have your whole body tingling with it (which is why they use a lot of bass to get people to buy cocktails and ecstasy in da club - it gets people really dancing so they get thirsty).

 

[Purplezorz]

No substitute for a subwoofer. I think what you really need to do is lower your expectations, ie, accept that headphones can't duplicate the SPL of bass much less have your whole body tingling with it (which is why they use a lot of bass to get people to buy cocktails and ecstasy in da club - it gets people really dancing so they get thirsty).

There really isn't any need to lower my expectations. Between the V-Modas and the XB1000s, I know what I'm looking for is definitely possible in terms of output. Tactile bass devices would be what I explore if I were looking to somewhat recreate the actual experience of a sub. Had I already tried to the SZ2000s with a decent EQ curve and a powerful amp behind it and I still wasn't impressed, then for sure I would lower my expectations.

But yes, SPL subs and deep bass notes provide an immersive, addictive feeling. Water and bass at a rave is enough for me.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Also as others have said, with EQ if you want to boost 5dB in the bass, don't boost it, instead drop all other frequencies by 5dB, this will help prevent clipping, but the main factor in your equation is the amp in my opinon.

Although this is indeed the better (and harder) way of going about it, if you use headphones that can handle extreme bass along with a sufficient amp and lower the gain in the player by at least the amount of the largest boost/cut, it won't distort even when you just do extreme boosts, by practically any amount.

There really isn't any need to lower my expectations. Between the V-Modas and the XB1000s, I know what I'm looking for is definitely possible in terms of output. Tactile bass devices would be what I explore if I were looking to somewhat recreate the actual experience of a sub. Had I already tried to the SZ2000s with a decent EQ curve and a powerful amp behind it and I still wasn't impressed, then for sure I would lower my expectations.

But yes, SPL subs and deep bass notes provide an immersive, addictive feeling. Water and bass at a rave is enough for me.

The SZ2000 can rattle your head with the right EQ settings, but yeah, speakers are a different experience entirely. I got floorstanding speakers (Klipsch RP-250F) yesterday. With some tracks, it's like there's an earthquake in here, and I'm not even using a subwoofer or EQ. (I think their bass is pretty accurate, though.)