HCSE and headphones

[mikeab]

I recently purchased an AC30 Vox Amplug after my new HCSE totally revitalised my interest in playing. Using a top quality set of noise cancelling (not used) MDR NC60 Sony headphones I was really pleased with the device except when playing two high strings together loudly, when I got a kind of thwacking distortion noise. I was living with that as the Amplug was still very good, and as it was fine when used without the HCSE etc in the line it obviously wasn't faulty. I assumed the use of echo etc in the line was overloading the Amplug and this only showed up at higher 'clashing' frequencies - and by setting the Amplug tone to it's most extreme 'treble' the distortion was reasonably minimised. However I began to notice that if I played through small speakers (eg PC types) there was no distortion, which seemed odd - and so I tried a second pair of noise cancelling (again not used) MDR NC6 Sony phones which my Wife used - only slightly cheaper than the other set with both originally costing around three figures I think. The difference was staggering - with the second set there was no distortion and by being able to turn the Amplug tone to a more mid-range setting I got a fantastic Hank sound, so good I can hardly believe it and occasionally I even accidentally stop playing because I forget it's me I'm listening to!

As far as I can tell both sets of phones are in good nick - hardly used before really, and both excellent with normal music listening. But - the 'cheaper' set gave less distortion and a far superior 'Hank' sound as well.

Moral of the yarn - check out your headphones are the best for the job.

Mike

[mikeab]

Further to my old post above I find my standard white iPod phones don't distort but a cheap set from the local hospital do (they aren't very good).

Has anyone an explanation why the most expensive and the cheapest sets both distort but the 'in-betweeners' don't?

Is it fixable by using a better connecting wire for instance? The 'best ' Sony set won't take standard jack plugs, needing a smaller diameter 'end' to locate properly, so I haven't been able to test this myself yet.

Mike

[Charlie Hall]

It could be differing impedances. If the impedance is higher then more power is needed to get a certain sound level. If impedance is low, then more current would flow and this could also cause distortion.
Regards,
Charlie

[mikeab]

Well the headphone plot gets ever thicker. What I now wanted from the 'non-distorting' NC6 set was a much more comfortable design of ear pads - so I purchased 'over the ear' mock leather pads just like those on my more expensive NC60 phones. I used these to replace the original 'on the ear' felt pads which cooked your ears quite well after 20 minutes or so.

You can see what's coming by now - yes, the distortion was now there on the NC6's!! This must have been due to the new pads, so maybe some sound cross-talk/resonance is going on actually in the space inside the pads (or something!)?

Even stranger I suppose - putting the original cheapo pads (hardly 'pads'!) underneath the new comfortable pads eliminated it again.

I give up. Hope it's interesting stuff for everyone though.

The new pads do make a better sound I think - more bass and smoother so eventually I am well pleased with using both sets of pads - but it's no wonder we battle to get the sounds we want!

Mike

[mikeab]

Last post on this I promise. I decided using 'two' sets of earpads on the NC6's removed too much treble.

Lo and behold on trying the new over-ear pads on their own again - no distortion. Then I moved the earpads around a bit on the more expensive but still distorting NC60's and they got much better - so the exact position of the pads seems important.

In any case having gone back to the NC60 set to experiment I think the NC6 give a far better Strat/Shads sound - so the NC6 with the new earpads are the end of this little saga!

Mike