Headphone Talk!

madmax

I got my Sennheiser HD600's and an Antique Sound Labs headphone amp. This is considered to be a great match of equipment. So far I'm still sorting out problems though. The amp distorts everytime a bass note hits unless you turn it down to a very low level. I am going to try some different tubes when they come in but right now I'm not too impressed. Anyone else familiar with headphones? Maybe I'm expecting too much? At the lower levels the sound is excellent and very detailed. I can hear many things my speakers never produce. With CD's which have little bass the volume can be increased to concert levels and sounds incredible. But again, as soon as there is a little low bass it all falls apart...
madmax

Ceruleance

I would try and isolate the problem, use the headphone output on another device you have handy and see if the bass is distorted. If so you probably have a lose cable or driver in your headphones, I think this happened on the left side of my HD497's. When I push the cable a little bit though, it fixes itself. Odd..

Gary Robertson

I also own the hd 600's but i just plugged them into the phone jack on My ADCOM GTP-450 preamp and no problem i have bass and treble controls bu i also have an EQ for this and that gives me total control over the spectrum..
I'm no pro but your phone amp could have dust in the connects or something.
i'm probably not a lot of help on this
but i just had to say something because i have a pair and like them..

hoosier21

Maybe a bad set of headphones??
Maybe you have a bad set of tubes on the new amp?

It's been two day, what have you discovered?

madmax

Well,
I replaced the tubes and that helped a lot. I've figured out that only a small selection of music really causes problems. Stuff that has unnaturally low synthesized bass causes problems. I think the amp cannot handle the sub-bass. Maybe I just need a filter for those few CD's. I have an EQ which I plan on trying. I tried my HD-600's on other equipment with mixed results. Some of the equipment sounds good with them but they seem to need a lot of power. I'm still not sure where I'm at right now.
madmax

gidrah

Have you listened to either previously? You may be expecting too much, but so would've I.

setzer808

I have the Sennheiser 535's and rarely ever have them distort on bass. They drivers are very similar to those of the 600's, but take a lil less power to drive. I'd try your filtering idea and remember that headphones are meant to shake your head with sythesized bass like a good sub can (something I had to learn for myself as well).

madmax

OK,
I've sorted things out a little. When I listen to these things at the office they sound awesome but at home in my normal listening position they seem low powered and distorted. It's a mind thing! I guess when I'm sitting in my normal place to listen to music I expect certain things subconciously. How weird is that???

A comparison of the HD-600's to the Polk 1.2's showed a very close frequency response up to the treble region where the 1.2's seemed rolled off. I was quite surprised how close the two were to each other.
madmax
madmax