How to tell if headphones are blown?
May 29, 2012 at 1:26 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13

renergy

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I put on my DT 990's when I got home tonight and they sound horrible all of a sudden. I have no idea what's wrong. I checked my receiver, sounds card, etc, everything appears to be functioning normally. I was EQ'ing my headphones last night at some pretty high volumes and got the bass up way too high at one point. I'm worried I may have blown a driver or something. Is there a simple way to check this without returning the phones first?
 
May 29, 2012 at 2:28 AM Post #2 of 13
An EQ should not blow the headphone. If you were using an amp, then maybe. Most of the times, a blown speaker's bass is where you can see the change. The 'thud' will sound loose, with no punch.
 
May 29, 2012 at 4:17 PM Post #3 of 13
Quote:
An EQ should not blow the headphone. If you were using an amp, then maybe. Most of the times, a blown speaker's bass is where you can see the change. The 'thud' will sound loose, with no punch.

i had them hooked up an receiver. This "thud" is exactly what I am hearing. Kinda of pffft, pffft, instead of a boom. I guess I'll go ahead and contact Berer and see about a replacement if possible.
 
May 29, 2012 at 9:13 PM Post #4 of 13
Quote:
An EQ should not blow the headphone. If you were using an amp, then maybe. Most of the times, a blown speaker's bass is where you can see the change. The 'thud' will sound loose, with no punch.

Do you have any idea what I did wrong? I really don't think I ever turned the volume up past a good hearing level. I can't figure out why I would have blown them. Im listening out of a yamaha HTR 5830 receiver and I've never had the volume above -15db.
 
May 29, 2012 at 9:17 PM Post #5 of 13
Did you plug them into the headphone out? If yes then the chances of blowing your headphones are small.
Also try turning off the EQ and whatever settings you changed to ensure its really your headphones that are the problem.
 
May 29, 2012 at 10:01 PM Post #6 of 13
Quote:
Did you plug them into the headphone out? If yes then the chances of blowing your headphones are small.
Also try turning off the EQ and whatever settings you changed to ensure its really your headphones that are the problem.

Welp, I discovered the problem. Turns out, I'm an idiot. It was a bent audio extension cable the whole time. I tried it on a bunch of different sources, just not with different cables.  
blink.gif
 When I plugged straight in they sounded good as new. Now I just need a new cable. 
 
May 30, 2012 at 9:07 PM Post #7 of 13
I hardly think that qualifies you to be an idiot.  It just didn't occur to you that a cable can go bad too.
 
In any event, you're older and wiser now!  Look on the bright side, a new extension cord is a lot cheaper than a new set of cans!
 
 
Apr 17, 2014 at 5:40 PM Post #9 of 13
This is so strange, I just googled ''how to test if my headphones are blow'' and this came up.
 
I'm actually testing my DT990 600ohm headphones because I think possibly the right speaker mite be blown.
 
Strange thing is that I quite literally baby these cans, they have never been dropped slammed over driven or had anything spilled on them. They are just over one year old and are still in new condition as far as the eye can see. I do however use them every day just about for probably 4 hours or more a day, I use them for work and for personal use. If they are blown I will contact Beyerdynamic and see what can be done, I still have the box and receipt.  
 
 
What I have done so far is firstly try to use them on a completely different device and then I tried making sure it was not another piece of equipment that was the problem.
 
Jul 12, 2014 at 3:40 PM Post #13 of 13
From my experience with car audio equipment the two most common scenarios when determining if your speaker is "blown" are either:
 
1) It makes no sound at all.  This could also be due to a lose connection somewhere, so don't give up just yet.
 
or
 
2)  It makes a sound equal to a brick being thrown in a blender when playing any type of low frequency note.  Doesn't have to be heavy bass, maybe 200Hz or lower.
 

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