Muffled headphones

[Newtoaudio]

I am using the Liquid Spark headphone amp with AKG 702. When I plug my headphones in I often have to readjust as the sounds sounds very muffled and distant. I suspect there is some issue with how the connection is happening. Any ideas on if this is most likely a problem with the amp? It eventually works fine once I pull it out and plug it back in 1 or 2 times, but annoying.

 

[staticV3]

Could be the cable, could be the Amp.

To test this, simply try using another Aux output with your K702.

If the same thing happens, then the most likely culprit if the headphone cable. As the K702 has a replaceable headphone cable, that should be a fairly easy fix.

If the problem goes away as you use any other headphone output, then the most likely culprit is the Liquid Spark's Headphone jack.

Fixing that is still possible, but not nearly as easy.

 

[solderdude]

I am using the Liquid Spark headphone amp with AKG 702. When I plug my headphones in I often have to readjust as the sounds sounds very muffled and distant. I suspect there is some issue with how the connection is happening. Any ideas on if this is most likely a problem with the amp? It eventually works fine once I pull it out and plug it back in 1 or 2 times, but annoying.

This is a clear sign of the sleeve or the cable connected to the sleeve is intermittent.
1st thing to do is thoroughly clean the connector.
Could also be a break in the cable (of the common wire/sleeve)

When you rotate the plug does this help ?

Also a common problem for these headphones is a dodgy solder joint on the metal rods in the headband.

Loss of bass, hearing 'echo' in recordings and voices sounding weird is a tell-tale sign.

 

[Newtoaudio]

Both are brand new and in the returns window, so will try to test this out and see. When I rotate it doesn't necessarily fix the issue, but when I pull it out and plug it back in then it fixes it. It's in snuggly the first time as well.

 

[solderdude]

sometimes the contacts of a plug just need cleaning or the headphone socket in the amp is dirty a little even when brand new there could be some residue of cleaning agent on it.
When all is fine after plugging in-out-in a few times it was just a dirty contact.
When the issue remains test the headphone on another device to see if it is the amp or the headphone.

 

[Newtoaudio]

Thank you

 

[DVDdoug]

Both are brand new

I assume you have something else that you can plug the headphones into to test them?

You may also want to buy a cheap pair of headphones for testing and/or as a backup.

Loss of bass, hearing 'echo' in recordings and voices sounding weird is a tell-tale sign.

Right... The loss of the ground correction creates a "center channel vocal remover". It kills anything that's identical in both channels (usually the bass, the lead vocals, and other stuff). And you get "mono".... the same thing in both ears.

That can be on either side of the connection (the headphone amp or the headphones). When things aren't brand new, it's usually the headphone cable that's been flexed too much.