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Sound harsh with DAC + headphones

281 Views 5 Replies 2 Participants Last post by adisch, May 22, 2021

adisch

Discussion Starter · May 20, 2021

Hello, I have a lot of music digitized on my computer (FLAC) and I listen using a USB Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS and AKG701 headphones. The frequencies around 3 KHz (a tenor aria for example) sound very harsh, to the point that I have to reduce them almost to nothing using the equalizer (in AIMP, or Winamp). This is very frustrating and I am trying to locate the source of the problem. I have tried in the past another DAC and also another pair of headphones (I do not remember which) and the problem was still there. I am willing to buy what is needed to get rid of this problem. Only if I knew what this fenomenon is about. Thank you!

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altpensacola

· #2 · May 22, 2021

Confirm they are Flac and are not, or were not ever MP3?, asking because that is about where compressed digital distortion is detected.

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adisch

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 22, 2021

altpensacola said:
Confirm they are Flac and are not, or were not ever MP3?, asking because that is about where compressed digital distortion is detected.

No, they were never compressed. In fact I noticed that mp3 don't suffer as much from this fenomenon, being less detailed. I don't know how to describe it properly, it's some kind of reverberation that almost hearts your ears.

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altpensacola

· #4 · May 22, 2021

Frustrating. Sounds like you have a resonance issue (inner ear) at that frequency, if it occurs with different headphones.
,

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altpensacola

· #5 · May 22, 2021

Can you confirm the recordings don't have the issue to begin with? There was issues when original analog recordings were converted to CD back when CD's first came about. That is why so many artists went back and re mastered them.

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adisch

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 22, 2021

I'm afraid this is not dependent on the recording, as I experience it with most of them. Actually I was thinking about this too, that it might be an issue with my hearing. I plan to get a closed pair of heaphones (Beyerdynamic DT-770 maybe), who knows, maybe it'll be better. Thaks for your answer.

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