The last two weeks I have been having a nap after finishing work and listening to Apple Music in lossless and hi-rez as I laid on the couch. Setup as follows:
2016 iPad 2 Air as source, via camera adapter to USB input on Topping D70S MQA DAC. Balanced out to DROP THX 789 headphone amp. No EQ.
Music was everything from folk rock, jazz, art rock (RUSH) classical, guitar picking (Lindsay Buckingham) etc, with everything lossless or hi-res up to 96khz.
I spent a week with the Drop Seinnheiser HD6XX. I had picked up a balance cable from DROP and was plugged into balanced output of the 789. As I listened to the music, usually half or fully asleep, but it just didn’t seem alive. Very flat and lifeless, when I realized the treble, on a couple of songs where I would have really expected it, was almost absent. The last straw was two hours ago when Fleetwood Mac Little Lies. That album is full of cymbals and the song was totally flat.
So, I downloaded an app called Sonic Hz, by the way there needs to be better ones, but it was the first that popped up when I searched for Dogwhistle…maybe should have gone with it, but I digress… Now, about 10 years ago, I was messing with my iPhone and the Dogwhistle app and it appeared that I could hear up to about 15,000 hz, give or take. I have had my hearing tested since, and I definitely suffer from some loss (age 60, not a surprise), so I would expect to have had some reduction in ability to hear higher frequencies in the passage of time.
Note I have had covid for the last two weeks, starting last Monday, so stuffed up a lot, sinuses bad, wicked sore throat, and body aches for a few days. Most have subsided and I am on the mend, so my hearing is likely better than last week, and I am more awake after 10 hours at the desk. Hence my noticing things amiss today as opposed to in the throes of it last week.
So I start running thru some frequencies with the HD6XX. 60hz is fine, all the way up to 10,000, then very little at that level. Like wtf? I have lost 5,000hz? Tried and tried, I could get some left ear at 10,700hz, no right ear. I swapped out the cable for the unbalanced cable and had the same results. All other headphones were run via the unbalanced output on the amp….
So I go grab my AKG 702 (Austrian made), probably 15 yrs old. I can clearly hear up to through 16,000hx, though I go have to turn them up. But the hearing is there. Went back to The song, and there was the treble as I remembered it. Wow, OK, emergency over.
Drop AKG 7XX: Less punchy on the music, but the fit was looser and I wasn’t going to fiddle too much, so I kinda held on with hands. BUT, I could hear up thorough 15,000hz with these, so they had some capability. Note, I can’t perceive the flatness of the response, only that I definitely could or could not hear a certain frequency.
Audio Technica ATH M50x: Yep, music was punchy and treble was there. Back to the frequency generator, and could pretty clearly hear to 16,000 hz.
So the Seinnheiser‘s are likely relegated to the junk drawer. Something is defnitely wrong with them. I will have to see when I bought them, but it was likely 4 or 5 years ago. Not sure. My son years ago had broken an earcup mount on a cheaper set of Seinnheiser and they basically sent him a new pair for $50 (full retail was $175, theoretically studio phones for recording work).
I have a pair of DROP Focal Elex on way from their sale (was hemming and hawing between those and the Dan Clark Audio RT) . I am hoping these don’t disappoint!
I will also run the same with my Meze Audio as well. Maybe try my 16 yr old Etymotic ER-4Ps as well…
I may have a headphone problem…
2016 iPad 2 Air as source, via camera adapter to USB input on Topping D70S MQA DAC. Balanced out to DROP THX 789 headphone amp. No EQ.
Music was everything from folk rock, jazz, art rock (RUSH) classical, guitar picking (Lindsay Buckingham) etc, with everything lossless or hi-res up to 96khz.
I spent a week with the Drop Seinnheiser HD6XX. I had picked up a balance cable from DROP and was plugged into balanced output of the 789. As I listened to the music, usually half or fully asleep, but it just didn’t seem alive. Very flat and lifeless, when I realized the treble, on a couple of songs where I would have really expected it, was almost absent. The last straw was two hours ago when Fleetwood Mac Little Lies. That album is full of cymbals and the song was totally flat.
So, I downloaded an app called Sonic Hz, by the way there needs to be better ones, but it was the first that popped up when I searched for Dogwhistle…maybe should have gone with it, but I digress… Now, about 10 years ago, I was messing with my iPhone and the Dogwhistle app and it appeared that I could hear up to about 15,000 hz, give or take. I have had my hearing tested since, and I definitely suffer from some loss (age 60, not a surprise), so I would expect to have had some reduction in ability to hear higher frequencies in the passage of time.
Note I have had covid for the last two weeks, starting last Monday, so stuffed up a lot, sinuses bad, wicked sore throat, and body aches for a few days. Most have subsided and I am on the mend, so my hearing is likely better than last week, and I am more awake after 10 hours at the desk. Hence my noticing things amiss today as opposed to in the throes of it last week.
So I start running thru some frequencies with the HD6XX. 60hz is fine, all the way up to 10,000, then very little at that level. Like wtf? I have lost 5,000hz? Tried and tried, I could get some left ear at 10,700hz, no right ear. I swapped out the cable for the unbalanced cable and had the same results. All other headphones were run via the unbalanced output on the amp….
So I go grab my AKG 702 (Austrian made), probably 15 yrs old. I can clearly hear up to through 16,000hx, though I go have to turn them up. But the hearing is there. Went back to The song, and there was the treble as I remembered it. Wow, OK, emergency over.
Drop AKG 7XX: Less punchy on the music, but the fit was looser and I wasn’t going to fiddle too much, so I kinda held on with hands. BUT, I could hear up thorough 15,000hz with these, so they had some capability. Note, I can’t perceive the flatness of the response, only that I definitely could or could not hear a certain frequency.
Audio Technica ATH M50x: Yep, music was punchy and treble was there. Back to the frequency generator, and could pretty clearly hear to 16,000 hz.
So the Seinnheiser‘s are likely relegated to the junk drawer. Something is defnitely wrong with them. I will have to see when I bought them, but it was likely 4 or 5 years ago. Not sure. My son years ago had broken an earcup mount on a cheaper set of Seinnheiser and they basically sent him a new pair for $50 (full retail was $175, theoretically studio phones for recording work).
I have a pair of DROP Focal Elex on way from their sale (was hemming and hawing between those and the Dan Clark Audio RT) . I am hoping these don’t disappoint!
I will also run the same with my Meze Audio as well. Maybe try my 16 yr old Etymotic ER-4Ps as well…
I may have a headphone problem…