[jacdan]

I'm currently breaking in a pair of 280s (64 ohm) and have only one issue with them. When played at high volume, there tends to be too much distortion. Right now I only have about 15 hours worth of break in time with them. Is it still too early to judge on whether the distortion is permanent or not? Also I'm using a pretty old A/V receiver with them, a Sony STR-D711. Could that also be a factor behind the distortion at high volume? My music source is CD, mainly symphonic (classical, soundtrack) and rock in addition to movies on DVD.

Other than the distortion issue, I love the sound of these phones. Particularly with symphonic music, I hear aspects of the music I've never heard before because older phones I've owned, like the Koss Pro4X, have too much bass that overwhelmed the sound. I also like the snug feel of them as well which makes for fewer position adjustments while listening.

 

[Earwax]

I don't know about distortion, but before mine were burned-in, I heard what I thought were weird resonances. After somewhere around 120 hours of use that disapeared.

 

[hottyson]

Quote:

Originally posted by jacdan Right now I only have about 15 hours worth of break in time with them. Is it still too early to judge on whether the distortion is permanent or not?

Yes, it is too early. Let them play at a slightly louder than comfortable volume with bass heavy music for one full week and then give them a listen. If you like the sound then, keep them and do it again for one more week to finish the burn-in. Otherwise return them.

Quote:

Originally posted by jacdan Also I'm using a pretty old A/V receiver with them, a Sony STR-D711. Could that also be a factor behind the distortion at high volume?

Not likely unless there is something broken in the receiver. If you don't have a problem with your Koss headphone then there should be no problem with your Sennheiser.

Quote:

Originally posted by jacdan My music source is CD, mainly symphonic (classical, soundtrack) and rock in addition to movies on DVD.

The Sennheiser HD-280pro is my favorite movie headphone.

 

[commando]

Mine (2 weeks old) have never distorted, before or after break-in. I've never had the volume to max, but i've had it louder than I can comfortably listen, and no distortion. If you bought them locally i'd take them back and compare them to another pair in the shop.

Could it be your source that's distorting?

 

[jacdan]

No source distortion. I double checked that with the Koss phones. It's definately in the Senns. I'll go with hottyson's advice and burn 'em in for a week. If they still distort after that

, I'll send them back. I'll update this post with the results for any people going through the same thing with 280s.

 

[Jbroad572]

Is it possible that the source just sends out a very weak signal thus causing distortion? I've had that problem before on some of my phones, but figured it was due to my eq settings sometimes, out of my computer.

 

[jacdan]

Welp, the source is my Sony STR-D711 A/V receiver. There's not much info to go on in the manual. Under headphones, the manual says "Accepts low and high impedance headphones."

I'm beginning to think the best thing to do is return the 280s and upgrade to a Senn HD 580.

 

[Distroyed]

It's called ampage. Get an amp.

 

[jacdan]

Headphone amps are completely new to me. Can you recommend one?

 

[commando]

Quote:

Originally posted by jacdan Headphone amps are completely new to me. Can you recommend one?

Try the amplification forum. I just ordered one from http://headphone.com, their low end ones seems pretty reasonable price wise, but I can't comment on how well they work.