[Mong]

Hi guys, I'm pretty new to Hi-Fi listening and just got my first pair of headphones in today. I got a pair of Sony MDR-CD2000s.

I've been listening to them using my Ipod Touch 8GB 1st Gen and I've been noticing a weird echo sort of noise. Odd thing is that I hear the "echo" of the music before the actual sound is played over my headphones. The song I can hear it most clearly is The Pot by Tool. I can hear his voice at the beginning of the song for about 1/2 - 2/3 of a second before the singing is supposed to start. It's very faint and slightly muffled, but very noticeable on these headphones. I can replicate it on other headphones, but it's unnoticeable unless you're listening for it. It also isn't confined to just that album, I've noticed it on a few different albums so far.

My question is this: What can cause this issue?

Could it be a bad rip of the CD? I ripped it myself using Windows Media Player into MP3s using the default settings. So could I get rid of it by ripping the CD using different settings or a different program?

Could it be caused by the Ipod itself? I don't know if anyone else has encountered this on their Ipods but I could use some insight by a more experienced Ipod owner. Maybe it's caused by the internal electronics?

I'm gonna post this now and am going to try and capture the "echo" with a mic, and maybe the sound clip will help you guys identify the issue.

 

[member1982]

its part of the song. i also hear echos before the actual singing happens. Abit more after that as well.
I just played it from the CD.

 

[craiglester]

Pre-echo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ernieBob]

Are your headphones properly plugged into the player ?

 

[member1982]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernieBob /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are your headphones properly plugged into the player ?

yes my headphones are plugged in correctly in the computer.. havent tried it on the iPod but no point if i also hear it.

 

[ernieBob]

lol, I should have made clear that I was asking the question to the OP.

 

[member1982]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernieBob /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol, I should have made clear that I was asking the question to the OP.

Have you listened to that song? do you hear the echos from your setup?

 

[ernieBob]

Yes, it is in fact one of my favourite songs by Tool

I must admit that I noticed it a little but not enought to think of it as a problem (macbook>ms1) . Then again knowing Tool, the effect is probably a deliberate part of the song.

 

[ernieBob]

Actually now that I think about it, I used to experience echoes a lot when my music was encoded at 128kbps or similar and I used any of my better headphones to listen to them.

To the OP:
What are your encoding settings? If the default is 128kbps, try using a higher setting (320kbps) and see what happens.

 

[member1982]

why did you suggest to plug in the headphones properly into the player?
Listening from the CD, the echo was very much audible to me. Compressing it might able to hear it more?
This is probably my first time to hear a pre-echo But its Tool..

 

[ernieBob]

Well, my reason was that when I don't plug in the headphones correctly, sometimes it produces strange results on the heapdhones, where the vocals seem distant and maybe that could be perceived as echo (I know, it is probably just me).

 

[member1982]

yes there are some weird results, but in this case i had a listen to the song first

Generally If it sounds very weird, then try to plug the headphones in properly. I know my ultrasone Pro 750 can sound still ok, but abit weird, like both channels still have sound but of lower quality.

 

[sputnik13]

Could the OP's problem simply be that his new headphone is better than whatever he had before, thus allowing him to hear more detail and effectively opening his ears up to what he's been sonically missing? A start of a slow but inexhaustible/inevitable drain on his wallet?

 

[member1982]

Hehe i just heard the Pre-Echo again.. on another song Day N' Nite by Kid Cudi, during the start.

 

[buddhashenglong]

I remember something like this from the days of cassettes.