[slmckay73]

Hopefully this is a pertinent topic for this forum. 
 
Has anyone else experienced a soundstage in a pair of headphones where what (I think) should be in the dead center is slightly to the left or right? This happens mostly with vocals for me, and sometimes with bass frequencies. The thing is that it isn't consistent from song to song (but is consistent for the duration of any one song). Much of the time vocals are shifted to the left, but sometimes they're in the center or to the right. Could what I'm hearing just be how any given song is mixed? Any input from someone more knowledgeable than myself would be appreciated.  

 

[RRod]

  Hopefully this is a pertinent topic for this forum. 
 
Has anyone else experienced a soundstage in a pair of headphones where what (I think) should be in the dead center is slightly to the left or right? This happens mostly with vocals for me, and sometimes with bass frequencies. The thing is that it isn't consistent from song to song (but is consistent for the duration of any one song). Much of the time vocals are shifted to the left, but sometimes they're in the center or to the right. Could what I'm hearing just be how any given song is mixed? Any input from someone more knowledgeable than myself would be appreciated.  

 
I often sense things as quieter in my left ear. Probably a bit of hearing loss. If the asymmetry shifts, it's likely due to the track rather than the headphones. Does the same thing happen with other cans on the same tracks?
 
You could test imbalance with a loudness meter. Measure the loudness of two fully panned sine waves (L and R), and see if the meter picks up differences.

 

[Hudson]

Have you tried putting your headphones on the other way around?

 

[slmckay73]

 

  Hopefully this is a pertinent topic for this forum. 
 
Has anyone else experienced a soundstage in a pair of headphones where what (I think) should be in the dead center is slightly to the left or right? This happens mostly with vocals for me, and sometimes with bass frequencies. The thing is that it isn't consistent from song to song (but is consistent for the duration of any one song). Much of the time vocals are shifted to the left, but sometimes they're in the center or to the right. Could what I'm hearing just be how any given song is mixed? Any input from someone more knowledgeable than myself would be appreciated.  

 
I often sense things as quieter in my left ear. Probably a bit of hearing loss. If the asymmetry shifts, it's likely due to the track rather than the headphones. Does the same thing happen with other cans on the same tracks?
 
You could test imbalance with a loudness meter. Measure the loudness of two fully panned sine waves (L and R), and see if the meter picks up differences.

I'm reasonably sure that I don't have any hearing loss judging from a hearing test, in which my right ear was actually better than my left. I've encountered the same thing both with my ATH-M50x and Steelseries In-ears, but those are the only headphones/earphones I own. I think I agree with you in that it's probably just the track, though. I would think if something were wrong with my hearing it would be consistently louder in one ear across all tracks. Thanks for your input. 
 

  Have you tried putting your headphones on the other way around?

I actually haven't. I don't know how I didn't think of it sooner haha. As I said above to RRod, I'm pretty sure it's just the way the different tracks are mixed, but I'll try that out anyway. Thanks. 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Hopefully this is a pertinent topic for this forum. 
 
Has anyone else experienced a soundstage in a pair of headphones where what (I think) should be in the dead center is slightly to the left or right? This happens mostly with vocals for me, and sometimes with bass frequencies. The thing is that it isn't consistent from song to song (but is consistent for the duration of any one song). Much of the time vocals are shifted to the left, but sometimes they're in the center or to the right. Could what I'm hearing just be how any given song is mixed? Any input from someone more knowledgeable than myself would be appreciated.  

 
 
If the drivers aren't matched well enough then one of them could be slightly louder, or has enough difference in frequency response. That's why when one driver breaks you usually order a (hopefully matched) pair instead of just one. The variances don't look big enough on their own but when you play them together it may result in such issues.

 

[hypersonic]

easy checks you can do:
1. in you music player, choose mono output to see if problem persists
2. reverses left/right channel
3. use some software visualizer to see if one channel of the track is significantly louder then the other
4. adjust your headphone on your head, a bad wearing position could be the reason

 

[SilverEars]

Try this test.  There are possibility of channel imbalance from the sound source and headphones, and of course imbalance of your ears.  Also I find that at certain times sound is leaned toward the left and other times not.