[wlai]

Haven't listened to the CX300 for a long while, ever since the AKG K81DJ arrived. Pulled it out today and listened to it out of an iPod and starting hearing a "distortion", for the lack of a better word, that happens during a song's louder passage for a transient second. Seems to be worse with female vocal more than male vocal. Tried it with iPod headphones out, iPod lineout to GoVibe v3, all have the same problem.

I don't have the vocabulary for it, and so I searched around for "hiss" but that's a constant background noise, right? It also isn't "microphonics" because I'm not moving the cables, right? So is this a "crackle"?

Secondly, is this a cable problem? I tried wiggling the stress relief on the mini jack and it seems to have some effect, but it's still there...

Any ideas?

 

[zyxwvutsr]

clipping is the first thing that comes to mind. Does the same thing happen with the k81dj with those specific songs?

 

[wlai]

You are right, it was clipping!

The red herring was that the clipping was only evident when I use the portable rig, and on the laptop + Echo DJ headphone out it wasn't as audible. I got thrown off the trail there.

I did some forensic and found that the offending songs were ripped using iTunes v4, and somehow it clipped. Serves me right for not using FLAC.

I guess the Echo's dac/amp was just alot more forgiving than the iPod+GoVibe. Good to know!

Thanks for your help!