[nugget2013]

i think over the years i've heard people speak of bass leaking into the midrange of something along those lines, or causing midrange distortion. and after today i think it could possibly be happening to my headphones.
 
im using bowers & wilkins p5 series 2 wireless with fiio e17 usb amp/dac. playing beyonce's "yonce" and the voices distort a little bit when the bass is playing, although it is boosted quite a bit in the song and i have +10 on the bass boost on my amplifier.
 
are my headphones known to do this? they handle distortion better than my beats studio 2.0 wireless that i sold after they was damaged. although i was hoping for a perfect set of headphones that can play at high volumes with no distortion from the bass at all and i cant get that unfortunately. although still a big improvement over my old ones.

 

[RRod]

If the boost is causing clipping in the waveform then that will cause its own brand of distortion regardless of what headphone you are using. I'd look into that before blaming the cans.

 

[MindsMirror]

  If the boost is causing clipping in the waveform then that will cause its own brand of distortion regardless of what headphone you are using. I'd look into that before blaming the cans.

Agreed. Also, there could be distortion present in the recording. If it is only one song that you hear the distortion in, that song would be my first suspect.

 

[nugget2013]

  Agreed. Also, there could be distortion present in the recording. If it is only one song that you hear the distortion in, that song would be my first suspect.

ill have a listen to some other stuff. either way the headphones still distort at high volumes from the low end unfortunately.