DT-100 Beyerdynamic Problem

[dshogan]

Hi all,

I bought some Beyerdynamic DT-100's Headphones (400 ohms) not so long ago and have been experiencing distortion at "loud-ish" listening levels.

I am using a Delta 66 soundcard which is outputting to a yamaha MG12/4 mixing desk, I have used this set up for a little while and I am confident it isn't anything to do with clipping at the yamaha's stage (or from cubase/winamp outputting too loud. I say this because I can listen to a track without distortion with the headphone level set to a 1/4, but as I increase this headphone level it begins to distort.

As far as I know these headphones haven't been mistreated (i.e. accidentally still sounding at excessive volumes whilst not on the head)

I use these headphones for monitoring my saxophone and it does clearly distort on louder notes.

I chose the 400ohm as it recommended them for studio use for use in mixer's etc, rather than the 16ohms they recommended for stereo/home use.

Could it be that my yamaha mixing desk is not compatible with the 400ohm headphones unlike most desks?

Thanks so much for any info.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Hero of HOGAN:

Just today I had some "sound overkill" via a wireless pair of cans I use to just knock around. I then moved back to check on my Beyer 250 cans--kind of a tad loud too.

Got into input of sound balances, including micpres that also had a tube built into the unit. As I adjusted 3 types of input, I found I got the sound coming back to a nice full loud input.

I'm guessing you may just have some input problem via the gear that goes into your other Beyer cans.

Just a suggestion.

Green Hornet

 

[dshogan]

Thanks for your reply Hornet

I had a look at the Yamaha Specifications for the MG12/4 Mixer and found that the headphone stereo jack output has an impedance of 100ohms and it suggests an appropriate impedance of 40ohms (my headphones are 400ohms???).

It goes on to say that the rated level is 3mW and the 'maximum level before clipping' is 75mW - whether this bares any relevance to the question I don't know..

(The Beyerdynamics have an input power rating of 100mW = 124 dB SPL and a nominal SPL of 94 dB)

I've just used the same conditions and plugged my Sony MDR-V700 headphones in and there is distortion just like on the beyer's except the beyer's are overall much much quieter. So in turning the volume of the Beyer's up, the 'frequent crackle' becomes constant distortion.

Is my yamaha mixer not sufficient to power the cans properly? do I need a seperate headphone amp?

Ta again!