daem0n
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 13, 2012
- Posts
- 6
- Likes
- 10
I've had a pair of ATH-M50s for a few weeks and I'm noticing a crackling/popping sound, usually subtle but sometimes very obvious, on sounds that sound high-volume enough to be clipped.
I found a nice song on YouTube with a downloadable 320 kbps MP3 that demonstrates a remarkable difference between the 240p YouTube compression (causes popping/crackling) and the MP3 (doesn't cause popping/crackling). I looked at their waveforms in Audacity and the difference makes sense because a lot of the peaks and troughs in the 240p version are clipped (versus virtually no visible clipping in the MP3 download).
10 second clip that causes crackling/popping: http://db.tt/Wmg3dNsI
Same clip, but taken from the MP3 (so no crackling): http://db.tt/VtfinZeA
Please post here indicating whether you heard crackling in either file (or in both of them). If you don't hear crackling in the 240p clip, that probably means my headphones are defective, but I'm still interested if anyone can tell me why defective headphones would behave specifically like that. The reason I'm concerned about them being defective even though I know the 240p clip has a lot of clipping is because I hear the same crackling on many other recordings, even professionally made recordings. It happens especially on bass, even quiet bass that shouldn't be clipped.
Example of problematic bass: http://db.tt/efK8klhK (2 second clip from a scene in a film where bass-heavy music is being played in the ghetto in the background; I'd like to know if anyone else hears a very faint buzzing sound on top of the bass. You have to listen very closely, and possibly dozens of times in a row on high volume, but there's an extremely faint buzzing sound as if a grain of sand is vibrating on top of the driver.)
Example of problematic guitar: http://db.tt/YL75d88e (MUCH more noticeable than in the bass clip, and it alternates from left ear to right ear)
I'm basically wondering if my headphones can't handle what a properly functional pair could handle, or if they're so accurate that they've suddenly revealed all the flaws in recordings I used to think were good.
Mostly I'm interested in the science behind why headphones would produce that faint crackling/buzzing usually on bass. Again, it sounds like a tiny grain of sand is on top of the driver vibrating along with the sound.
I found a nice song on YouTube with a downloadable 320 kbps MP3 that demonstrates a remarkable difference between the 240p YouTube compression (causes popping/crackling) and the MP3 (doesn't cause popping/crackling). I looked at their waveforms in Audacity and the difference makes sense because a lot of the peaks and troughs in the 240p version are clipped (versus virtually no visible clipping in the MP3 download).
10 second clip that causes crackling/popping: http://db.tt/Wmg3dNsI
Same clip, but taken from the MP3 (so no crackling): http://db.tt/VtfinZeA
Please post here indicating whether you heard crackling in either file (or in both of them). If you don't hear crackling in the 240p clip, that probably means my headphones are defective, but I'm still interested if anyone can tell me why defective headphones would behave specifically like that. The reason I'm concerned about them being defective even though I know the 240p clip has a lot of clipping is because I hear the same crackling on many other recordings, even professionally made recordings. It happens especially on bass, even quiet bass that shouldn't be clipped.
Example of problematic bass: http://db.tt/efK8klhK (2 second clip from a scene in a film where bass-heavy music is being played in the ghetto in the background; I'd like to know if anyone else hears a very faint buzzing sound on top of the bass. You have to listen very closely, and possibly dozens of times in a row on high volume, but there's an extremely faint buzzing sound as if a grain of sand is vibrating on top of the driver.)
Example of problematic guitar: http://db.tt/YL75d88e (MUCH more noticeable than in the bass clip, and it alternates from left ear to right ear)
I'm basically wondering if my headphones can't handle what a properly functional pair could handle, or if they're so accurate that they've suddenly revealed all the flaws in recordings I used to think were good.
Mostly I'm interested in the science behind why headphones would produce that faint crackling/buzzing usually on bass. Again, it sounds like a tiny grain of sand is on top of the driver vibrating along with the sound.
