[Hifi Man]

I was listening to my sennheiser amperior headphones all day, and I started to notice that there was a crackling sound sound. It happened at certain times in a song, but I don't think it was a part of the music though. It happens in my Bose AE2 headphones too but less so (and those are several years old. It happens when I listen to punk, death metal, and power metal. I've packaged up my sennheiser amperior headphones to return them because this seems like something wrong with the headphones, and I don't want to lose a return on this thing. I've kept them for this long though because I felt like they could be great for on the go. Perhaps all headphones in general make crackling noises?

 

[wolfetan44]

If its making crackling noises, and is less apparent on your AE2. Its because the Amperiors are more revealing, and will make bad things a lot more apparent in a bad recording.

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

If its making crackling noises, and is less apparent on your AE2. Its because the Amperiors are more revealing, and will make bad things a lot more apparent in a bad recording.

I've never head of crackling in a recording. Why would that be?

 

[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

I was listening to my sennheiser amperior headphones all day, and I started to notice that there was a crackling sound sound. It happened at certain times in a song, but I don't think it was a part of the music though. It happens in my Bose AE2 headphones too but less so (and those are several years old. It happens when I listen to punk, death metal, and power metal. I've packaged up my sennheiser amperior headphones to return them because this seems like something wrong with the headphones, and I don't want to lose a return on this thing. I've kept them for this long though because I felt like they could be great for on the go. Perhaps all headphones in general make crackling noises?

 
Are you by any chance listening through a USB DAC?

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

 
Are you by any chance listening through a USB DAC?

No.

 

[EpicPie]

It's more than likely due to the poor recordings of death metal where you're hearing the crackling.
 
Have you tried listening to other genre's to see if you could replicate the issue?

 

[lin0003]

No.

 
I don't think that there's anything wrong with your headphones. It is likely your source or the recording.

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

It's more than likely due to the poor recordings of death metal where you're hearing the crackling.
 
Have you tried listening to other genre's to see if you could replicate the issue?

It happened on several separate recordings. I only started really taking notice recently. It happened on every song on the albums keeper of the seven keys part 1 by helloween, left hand path by entombed, and You're Nothing by Iceage. I noticed it happening earlier today too. I would unpack my headphones again to listen more, but I'm afraid if this is a defect I don't want to do anything but return them. I'm not sure though if it's a defect.

 

[Hifi Man]

Yep, it happens in other genres of music too. I just listened to a song off the album Gloss Drop by Battles. I discovered it only happens on my iPod. Could this be a problem with the iPod? I was using that Go Dap GD-03 amplifier with my iPod classic a little bit (but not when I noticed the crackle) and it's designed for the iPhone 3g. Could I have messed up my iPod?