Hey guys, could someone please help me get a grip on a mystery?
To begin with, I would like to ask you guys if anyone has found their V200 or V100 to impart some channel imbalance on any headphone connected to it?
I have a V100 and just recently found that on any headphone hooked up on it the physical left channel always sounds slightly louder than the right channel...
I've noticed this imbalance months ago but I thought that it was coming from the headphones themselves, but recently I actually verified that the problem was coming apparently from the amp.
I've tested all possible variables: digital sources, interconnects, software (channel reverse), pre-gain settings (of course!, I used the same for both channels duh!), volume knob position, etc... and the imbalance remains always the same regardless of the above configurations... The left channel of the headphones sounds louder than the right one.
So it seems that it's an issue within the amp....
My ears detect this imbalance mostly on the upper midrange - treble frequencies, on the lower frequencies I'm not sure I was able to discern any imbalance as strange as it seems...
I'm not sure if it's right to call it an imbalance, it's a sort of sound image shift to the left channel...
As if a sound that was supposed to appear in front center position of the sound field appeared to be coming slightly from the left (channel)... it's like a slight incoherence between the channels, and the left channel always seems to sound a bit more dynamic or detailed? than the right channel which sounds comparativelly kinda dead... but this could just be the impression caused by the volume mismatch.
This is not simple to describe.
I hope I'm making sense here...
My amp is currently at Lake People instalations undergoing inspection, but they already informed me that they measured the channel imbalance to be within norms, nothing major, way below 0,5 dB...
But the difference I hear is most certainly of several dBs it's quite apparent in the higher frequencies...
I'm not sure if they tested it at 1000Hz tone only though...
I don't get this channel imbalance from my other sources my PC integrated HP-out nor my Sansa Clip+, so it seems to be a real issue with my V100...
Note that this is not the usual low volume channel imbalance, this is omnipresent regardless of how loud the sound/volume knob position is.
And it's always the left physical channel of the headphone that sounds louder.
Even if I reverse channels through software (foobar2000, for example) and swap channels in my head it's the left channel of the headphone that sounds louder, regardless of being routed the left or right channel stereo signal from software.
I'de like to ask if anyone has noticed this behavior with their amps Violectric or not?
Is this a normal occurence with amps?
What could possibly be causing this issue on my V100?
AFAIK the previous owner didn't mess within the amp, but could this be caused by DC coupling issues or incosistency between the opamps/transistors used for each channel?
Any help or clarification would be much apprecciated.