Edifier MR4 distorted sound in specific songs

[zazzko]

Hello,
An year ago I bought Edifier MR4 which initially worked fine, but around 5 months ago I noticed that some songs sound distorted. And this issue does not affect the whole song, but only certain parts of it. I tried different options to "feed" them, but the result is more or less the same.
I tried the following:

1. RPI with piCorePlayer -> USB -> FiiO DAC -> MR4
2. Laptop -> External sound card (optical) -> FiiO DAC -> MR4
3. RPI with piCorePlayer COAX -> FiiO DAC -> MR4
4. RPI with piCorePlayer -> DAC HAT -> MR4

Also tried with Sine generator from Windows, but I don't see any audible issue in this case.
The distortion is difficult to explain, but it is more pronounced in pop/hard rock music and I cannot notice it in Jazz and classic. I tried to record it, but since I used my phone probably the result is poor.

Any idea (based on this limited information) what can be the problem or it is just in my head

 

[somebodyelse]

It's hard to say given the lack of information. Which bits of which songs from what source?

 

[Steven Holt]

Buy a CD player and wire it in, then buy a CD of your favorite rock band. Pick a song from the CD and STREAM IT. Play the exact same song thru the CD player. If the song plays clear on the CD player, but not on the stream, then you have a source problem (which is what I think it is). In that case, try switching streaming services. Our membership tends to like Tidal and AppleMusic. And by the way -- Welcome to ASR!

 

[zazzko]

Hello,
Thank you for the answers so far. To eliminate the source I plugged the my MacBook headphone out straight to the MR4 and I still hear this distortion (especially in the first 1 minute of Nickelback - Far Away and Dido - Hunter). Then I plugged the same source to one of my headphones and this time the sounded was just fine. Then I tried AirPlay (via LMS) to second system in the living room (SMSL SU-6, SMSL A300 and Polk ES15). I cannot hear the same issue there. What still prevents me of returning the MR4 is the fact that my wife cannot see any issue with them .

So I'm wondering is there any way to measure their output objectively without buying equipment 4 times price of MR4.

 

[Cbdb2]

Whats your source, a music streaming service? What audio quality is it set to? Have you got any of there preferences set to modify the volume as in spotifys "volume level". Are you using any EQ to boost levels?

 

[zazzko]

Usually I'm either streaming from Spotify via LMS (because of the good integration with LMS) or listening FLACs stored on my NAS (also via LMS). Less frequently I'm streaming via AirPlay (v1) from Apple Music. Also, I used Apple Music the last test that I did. What is interesting is that - I don't hear any distortion (or it is not audible for me) if I use a lossy source like MP3 or TuneIn stream.

Sometimes I really think that is a not problem with the equipment, but we me!

 

[Hoosierdaddy]

"Then I plugged the same source to one of my headphones and this time the sounded was just fine."

That's a pretty good indicator that there's something wrong with the MR4. All the more so because it worked fine up until 5 months ago.