[Technicolour]

I bought the Crative Aurvana Live!'s a few months ago and until now I couldn't have been happier with them.
 
However, about 2 weeks ago while listening to music via an mp3 player, I noticed a strange crackling sound that occurs during particular notes, especially at higher volumes, in some songs (some songs are fine). I am also experiencing strange popping sounds at random intervals. I can't detect these during gaming with these on. The crackling sound is extremely distracting, near painful, to my ears when I am just listening to music.
 
Can this be caused by my mp3 player or another factor or is it time to call in the warrantee?

 

[SoSpecial]

Sounds like your feeding it to much power, but that would be like 5w which i enough to knock your head across the room.

 

[ericj]

Probably a hair stuck through the material over the driver. Try using a piece of sticky tape to pull hairs out of the fabric.

 

[Technicolour]

Hmm ok I'll give that a go.
 
Can this problem be caused by errors in manufacturing?

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Hmm ok I'll give that a go.
 
Can this problem be caused by errors in manufacturing?

Yeah. But these cans were made by Foster, who makes most of the headphones you see from the likes of Denon, and some headphones for Harman (AKG) and many, many other makes. And Fostex, of course, which is their own house brand.
 
Foster makes good stuff with excellent quality control, and 'grattle' caused by a hair stuck through fabric or foam in front of a dynamic driver is a very, very common problem.

 

[WhiteCrow]

or it could be a crap bitrate song and be cracking out on the highs.

 

[blackzarg]

What bitrate is the song? It's also possible that there could be clipping on the track, and you've just never heard it before.
 
On Coldplay and Muse, there's actually a lot of clipping that I never heard before I got into audio.

 

[ericj]

yeah but you have to figure that most people listen to more than one album before reporting a problem with a headphone.
 
And the Aurvana Live isn't all that resolving anyway. (I have one. I've even listened to it for several minutes over the last few days).

 

[Technicolour]

Hmmmm. Thanks heaps for your help so far guys.
 
The problem is coming from more than one .mp3, the most appearing so far in Linkin Park songs (I'm not really a regular listener to these guys, I just happen to have them on my mp3).
 
Anyway, I sat fiddling with my mp3 player for a bit. I tried using sticky tape against the material, but that made no difference (maybe the hair is stuck too far in).
 
Heres a bit I can't figure out: After switching them around and experimenting, the problem SEEMED to be coming from the right driver. I was listening to a New Zealand song you won't know, and found a particular section where it was occuring during a bassy note. I tried messing round, and looked at the equalizer, which had a VERY low hz enhanced (all others are same), so I shut off my equalizer. Now this song came out nicely, but that didn't explain why it only happened from one driver. Could this be my ears? I do seem to listen more with my right ear, but I don't really understand these things.
 
The popping sound must have come from a particular artist (more classical style), as I can't find it elsewhere except for on Moby, but I think that's his recording too. Anyway, for that same artist the same crackling (it's more of a fuzzy crackling) occured during a higher note, particularly in a usage of crash symbols. Could this actually be a poor recording on their part? i.e a different problem all together or am I simply swinging and missing?

 

[blackzarg]

Do you have Audacity?
 
If so, open the file using Audacity and you can take a look. During the loud parts of the music - if the ridges touch or go beyond the top and bottom, you're going to get clipping. Many mainstream artists now use compression so their music plays at a consistent level, but the quality definitely decreases.
 
Also, have you tried listening with another pair of headphones? If it's a headphone of lower quality, you might be able to hear it still, since you're aware of it now.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Never had a problem with my Creative Aurvana Live. Best headphone purchase I ever had when it comes performance/price ratio. LOOOOVE them. Sorry to hear OP having problems.

 

[blackzarg]

Here's what Audacity shows for Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes.
 
That's a lot of clipping =) I never heard it, though, until I got "nice" headphones.
 

 

[Technicolour]

Thanks for all the help guys I'll be sure to give everything a try when I get the chance.
 
As I said, until then CALs have been fine, and it may have not been their fault. I agree with the performance/price ratio being good, Mad Lust, they are a nice pair of headphones.
 
I'm a fan of Muse and have lots them on my mp3. I haven't listened to them since making this thread but I hope I am unable to detect any issues with their songs. You may have just ruined them for me

 

[WhiteCrow]

 
Quote:

Thanks for all the help guys I'll be sure to give everything a try when I get the chance.
 
As I said, until then CALs have been fine, and it may have not been their fault. I agree with the performance/price ratio being good, Mad Lust, they are a nice pair of headphones.
 
I'm a fan of Muse and have lots them on my mp3. I haven't listened to them since making this thread but I hope I am unable to detect any issues with their songs. You may have just ruined them for me

I'm a muse fan also, i don't think you will notice it with the cans on if its a high bit rate MP3 the singer uses allot of static in his voice overlays so even if you do hear crackling...it may be intentional lol.

 

[Technicolour]

I love how it simply being intentional suddenly means it's not bad any more.