[TeddyShot]

Hey I'm new to the Hi-Fi headphone world. My first experience with decent audio was from a $300 turtle beach headset. I sold it and am deciding between the ATH m50x and Senn HD 598 (or 558 with foam mod). I have both with me now and I'm trying to figure out which sound signature I like most.
I wanted to know if there are any precautions I should take in order to not damage the headphones. For example, I have a Fiio E6 amp with me, I turn up the volume on it full way, turn it on (with my headphones connected), and connect it to my iPad Air via the 3.5 mm Jack. Whenever I do this I hear a cracking (popping) noise on my headphones when the cable is entering the Jack. (sometimes it's very loud other times not); Is this normal or safe for the headphones? I've tried connecting it and the powering on the amp, but I feel the headphones don't sound as good (maybe it's just me).
I use these headphones mostly for music and gaming on my PS3 (with a Turtle Beach DSS 7.1 audio processor connected to the Fiio amp connected to my headphones). I also plan on buying a better amp on Cyber Monday (need a bit of help here too). In between the Fioo E11k, Fiio E07k, or PA2V2, though if there are better options in this price range or a little higher up, I would like to know.
And thanks in advance for anyone taking the time to answer

 

[Makiah S]

yea as a rule of thumb turn your amp all the way down to zero before you plug into or out of it. You don't want to hot swap a headphone into or out of an amp 
 
aside from that, sorry about your wallet and welcome! 

 

[TeddyShot]

yea as a rule of thumb turn your amp all the way down to zero before you plug into or out of it. You don't want to hot swap a headphone into or out of an amp 

aside from that, sorry about your wallet and welcome! 

Do you mean I should have the amp connected to my iPad, turn it on, lower the power to zero, then connect my headphones? Or connect the headphones to the amp (with it on at zero volume), then connect the amp to the ipad? Or are both these methods acceptable?

 

[Makiah S]

Do you mean I should have the amp connected to my iPad, turn it on, lower the power to zero, then connect my headphones? Or connect the headphones to the amp (with it on at zero volume), then connect the amp to the ipad? Or are both these methods acceptable?

back in the day, I hooked up my amp to my Zune, set my Amp to 0 then plugged in the headphones, or removed them. at zero volume 

 

[TeddyShot]

Ok sounds reasonable, but to be clear, hot swapping a headphone into an amp can damage it?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Ok sounds reasonable, but to be clear, hot swapping a headphone into an amp can damage it?

 
When powering up or powering down, I guess there can be some kind of surge?
I'm guessing when you have the headphone plugged into the E6 and the E6's volume turn up all the way, then you plug the E6 into the Air pad, there might be some kind of surge when the E6 first gets it's signal from the air pad
So plug the E6 into the air pad first, then with both air pad and E6 turn on, but the E6's volume set low, then plug in the headphones and turn up the volume on the E6 to what ever volume you want.
When your finished using this stuff for the day, turn down the volume on the E6, unplug the headphones, then turn off the E6 and air pad.
 
For best audio quality, you want the air pads volume near high, like 75% (85%?) and just use the E6 for volume control.
I believe the stronger the air pad feeds a signal to the E6, gives the E6 more to work with, if that makes sense.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Ok sounds reasonable, but to be clear, hot swapping a headphone into an amp can damage it?

 
You want the volume control on the amplifier (E6) set to near zero, when plugging or unplugging the headphones.
I think it's the weird power surges with the amplifier, when it's turn on or off, with the headphones plugged in, that can cause damage (or one way to cause damage).
But I guess it's on the cheaper amplifiers, that have surge issues.
Guessing high priced amplifier have built in protection, like power delay to the headphone, when the amplifier is first turned on.

 

[Makiah S]

   
When powering up or powering down, I guess there can be some kind of surge?
I'm guessing when you have the headphone plugged into the E6 and the E6's volume turn up all the way, then you plug the E6 into the Air pad, there might be some kind of surge when the E6 first gets it's signal from the air pad
So plug the E6 into the air pad first, then with both air pad and E6 turn on, but the E6's volume set low, then plug in the headphones and turn up the volume on the E6 to what ever volume you want.
When your finished using this stuff for the day, turn down the volume on the E6, unplug the headphones, then turn off the E6 and air pad.
 
For best audio quality, you want the air pads volume near high, like 75% (85%?) and just use the E6 for volume control.
I believe the stronger the air pad feeds a signal to the E6, gives the E6 more to work with, if that makes sense.

Yea the higher the Better, shoot for like 90% ish 
 
at 100% your gonna clip it a little, but 90 should b fine. I kept my Zune at like 30-35/40 when I had it and I fed my Zune HD into my E6 back in the day  

 

[TeddyShot]

Yea the higher the Better, shoot for like 90% ish 

at 100% your gonna clip it a little, but 90 should b fine. I kept my Zune at like 30-35/40 when I had it and I fed my Zune HD into my E6 back in the day  

Hmm, I thought it was optimal to have the volume on the amp all the way up and use the device for volume control. Also in the case of my Turtle Beach DSS Surround Sound processor for gaming (which also has a built in amp) do I turn the volume to 90% and use the E6? It's basicly two amps working together.

 

[Makiah S]

Hmm, I thought it was optimal to have the volume on the amp all the way up and use the device for volume control. Also in the case of my Turtle Beach DSS Surround Sound processor for gaming (which also has a built in amp) do I turn the volume to 90% and use the E6? It's basicly two amps working together.

yea that's the issue. An if amp 1 starts to clip, amp 2 will amp that clipping 

 

[TeddyShot]

yea that's the issue. An if amp 1 starts to clip, amp 2 will amp that clipping 

Not sure what clipping is.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Hmm, I thought it was optimal to have the volume on the amp all the way up and use the device for volume control. Also in the case of my Turtle Beach DSS Surround Sound processor for gaming (which also has a built in amp) do I turn the volume to 90% and use the E6? It's basically two amps working together.

 
You want to use the last amplifier in the chain for volume control.
It's the last amplifier in the chain that is driving the diaphragm in the headphone/speaker
So up the volume setting on the TBS DSS and just control volume from the E6.

 

[Makiah S]

   
You want to use the last amplifier in the chain for volume control.
It's the last amplifier in the chain that is driving the diaphragm in the headphone/speaker
So up the volume setting on the TBS DSS and just control volume from the E6.

indeed 
 
I used to keep my Zune HD at like 90% that way I always had a little extra umoph if ever I wanted it, 9/10 I forgot it was there, till I needed it and some times I remembered xD