HD 6XX crackling under certain conditions

[Leiker535]

Hello all. Firstly, if this is in the wrong sub, moderators please feel free to close it or move it.

So, today my HD 6XX started crackling with music. It has never done this before, and it only produces that crackling sound (like a distorting driver) under certain conditions: it only produces these noises over the Loxjie D30 headphone out and the Topping L30 fed through the D30 RCA out. I've tried other headphones in these same conditions and nothing happened, they played fine.

To rule out the 6XX driver failure itself, I tried it through a Little Dot MK3 I have, fed through the same D30, and it didn't distort. Same with my receiver, even at Amir testing™very loud volumes. What could be causing this? Only things I could pinpoint so far is that both the testing gear that it performed well have high Output Impedance (over 60 on the LD, and probably more than 10 on the old Sony receiver); while the problematic gear has very low, today stantard, OI. I have no electrical background to proper sense of this though.

Thank you for the help, in advance!

 

[Paolo]

I’m not expert, but I’ve broken many headphones .
It’s either a connection problem, if your lucky, or a driver going for retirement.

Try an headphone test: https://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_index.php
If the noise is all over the place you may just want to check the cable, but if the noise appears on specific frequencies it should be the driver, sometimes it’s simply the paper membrane that’s starting to detach, but it could be worse…

 

[Leiker535]

I’m not expert, but I’ve broken many headphones .
It’s either a connection problem, if your lucky, or a driver going for retirement.

Try an headphone test: https://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_index.php
If the noise is all over the place you may just want to check the cable, but if the noise appears on specific frequencies it should be the driver, sometimes it’s simply the paper membrane that’s starting to detach, but it could be worse…

Turns out I'm lucky. I switched cables and the problem went away, but it doen'st make an ounce of sense, as with other gear it played fine with the stock cable (I'm now using a 3m cable from Senn)

 

[Paolo]

Turns out I'm lucky. I switched cables and the problem went away, but it doen'st make an ounce of sense, as with other gear it played fine with the stock cable (I'm now using a 3m cable from Senn)

Happy for you!

But it does make sense, different gear means also different cable positions.
When the connector starts to misbehave it may be just very slightly loose, and so a different angle can make a huge difference in connection stability. Something similar happened to me many years ago with a pair of HD558, I clearly remember how baffled I was initially. The HP sounded good while in bed, and hissing while sitting on the couch… obviously the connector was going awry, but it took some time for me to get it.

 

[tobiaser]

I used to have the same problem but I was making some combination of sounds using VST Plugins so at first I taught that was the problem. But as it seems it wasn't.

 

[Dunring]

Turns out I'm lucky. I switched cables and the problem went away, but it doen'st make an ounce of sense, as with other gear it played fine with the stock cable (I'm now using a 3m cable from Senn)

Heh I just sold a bag of three Drop broken cables from those I'd accumulated from buying and selling that model. The cables are legendary for their failure rate. I think it might be their length, with the inability to withstand being run over by a computer chair wheel more than a few times

 

[Geert]

I just sold a bag of three Drop broken cables

To @Leiker535 ?

 

[Leiker535]

So, my case was actually due to the 6.5mm adapter that comes with the cable. I got rid of the cable and some weeks later tried using the adapter on a iem and had the same issue.