[Valaire]

Hi, I have a pair of HD595's. The right speaker on the headphone one day stopped working correctly, emitting little to no sound, and bass played through it made horrible loud pops.

I contacted Sennheiser and they were nice enough to repair my headphones free of charge. They later informed me that they were sending me a new pair but they were on backorder.

I just got them today and to my surprise these headphones also have problems with low to moderate bass producing a loud pop in the right speaker!

Is there ANYTHING that could be causing such a pattern and is there a way to fix this or once the headphone starts exhibiting this sound it is ruined and I should contact Sennheiser again?

I do not listen to bass-ey music. I don't like a loud bass nor do I listen to rap. I just listened to some regular music and noticed it. Moderate to low volumes.

A little frustrated because I also have continual problems with the speakers I have (I've been through -3- pairs of Swans M200's) and it just seems like 2007 has been a bad year for me and music-listening apparatuses.

 

[Valaire]

Okay, just a quick discovery: My X-Fi Crystalizer setting at 50% seemed to be aggravating the bass pops; when it's 0% it does not happen at lower volumes but still pops at normal listening volumes.

 

[Valaire]

bump

 

[xollox]

Have you tried them with a different source (such as an ipod)? Have you tried different headphones from the same source? Are you using any sort of amp?

 

[Valaire]

No amp. I'll hook up the headphones to my iPOD tonight and post the results. Thanks.

 

[Nuwidol]

If its just from your soundcard its probably just your drivers.
Try updating them maybe?

 

[Valaire]

Okay, I'm having a little trouble here:

I tried them with my iPOD. I put on some bassy music, even turned it up. No popping or static in right speaker as far as I could tell.

I go back and plug it into my soundcard and I don't think I can force the static/poppy bass to occur in entertainment mode just listening to music. I think it gets aggrivated when I am in game mode and play a game like CS:Source or WoW, and have Vent on. At that point, I can tell the Vent noises come in with static and pops on right speaker and CS:Source starts messing up. When I close those programs, it seems to hang around.

Obviously I need to do some further testing.

 

[Valaire]

Okay, I'm at a loss here and would like some input. I still cannot figure out what is wrong with my HD-595's that makes it full of static and crackles in the right speaker only. Here's a summary of my troubleshooting:

1. Started happening to my first pair of HD-595's. Returned them and got a brand new pair. Also exhibiting SAME problem. The headphones are not amped and connected directly to the front line-out of the X-Fi ExtremeMusic. I normally use a Plantronics headphone-speaker switch but for troubleshooting purposes I have eliminated it from the chain (it is not the culprit either way). When listening to speakers, my X-Fi is at 80% volume. When listening to my HD-595's, my headphones are at 30-50% volume.

2. Seems to trigger 5 minutes into being in X-Fi Game Mode. Will carry over to Entertainment mode and Foobar. However, it will take longer to cause the static when starting out in Entertainment mode. All EQ, crystalizer, etc. is OFF.

3. Using my speakers (Swans M200) does not have the same problem. On what may be a related note, my Swans have always had a very small amount of static on the higher frequencies, but on the LEFT speaker, not the right one. Once the static starts while playing a game or talking on Vent with headphones, I can immediately switch to my speakers and the corruption will disappear.

4. Using a $20 pair of headphones removes the problem, but on a possibly related note, the headphones are muddled on the LEFT speaker.

5. Playing the headphones with an iPOD source produces no distortion whatsoever after 15 minutes of playing at loud volumes and bassy music.

6. Reinstalling X-Fi drivers has no effect. Re-seating sound card and cleaning out dust has no effect. There is no other PCI cards in the computer and it is in farthest slot away from video card. Power supply is a 350W Enermax; ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, Athlon 64 3400+, nForce3 Mobo (not the nForce4's rumored to have a crackling problem).

7. Not sure if rebooting has an effect. When I sit down at the computer, distortion only begins 1-5 minutes after beginning to play. I leave my computer on 24/7.

As you can see I have some conflicting evidence of whether it is my sound card, my software installation, my headphones, my power supply/electrical interference. I really can't afford to buy another sound card right now and would love to get to the bottom of this so I can enjoy my headphones.

Right now, the crackling gets so bad, that when talking on Ventrilo, I get a pounding headache from my $200 headphones--which is ironic to say the least. It quickly gets to the point where someone's mild breathing on Vent produces a constant static/crackle.

Everytime I think it's the headphone or the computer, I find something else to dispute it. I would much appreciate another opinion in this matter for some other things to try or if any of you have any experience with this problem. I have googled several times and come up with several conspiracy theories but I really have no idea where to start. The X-Fi is just about the only component in my aging 5-year-old computer I DON'T want/need to upgrade, so it would suck if it was to blame and beyond hope.

I am considering wiping Windows and starting over as well.

Thanks,
Chad

 

[warrior05]

From what I've read you can first rule out that it is your headphones since the problem is non-existent when you plug them into your iPod.

I've never heard of a soundcard's drivers or software causing a one channel distortion. It is common to have a channel imbalance at lower levels and you said you do have the volume setting lower for your headphones than the M200s. Have you tried higher volumes when the Senns are plugged in? (I would recommend you doing this without the headphones on so you don't hurt your ears.)

I don't mean to be a wiseguy but you're sure the headphone plug is completely seated in the jack? Sometimes it is a simple answer. I certainly have been victim to something like that more times than I care to admit.

 

[patrox89]

are you plugging the headphones directly into the soundcard on the back of your computer? if not, try that. sometimes the wiring inside the case leading from additional headphone outputs on the font/top can be shoddy at best. plug your headphones right on in the back. hope this helps

 

[Valaire]

Warrior: I can't listen to the Sennheiser's at any level past 50% because they would be too loud. And I didn't want to damage them. Also, Sennheiser support said the same thing about the jack. Yes, it's plugged in tightly, as I've checked it numerous times and I've wiggled it in the jack and it has no effect on the distortion, for better or worse.

Patrox: It is plugged directly into the line-out of the soundcard on the back of my computer. I eliminated the switch I use for testing purposes. It is not the switch, however.

 

[Valaire]

bump; if this is the wrong forum for this post can a mod please move it? thanks.