Bad headphone sound quality

  • am I the only one who hears an harsh/bad sound when playing with headphones?

    I have Beyerdynamic DT 880 PRO: I've tryed with "space" control, with Pure Cabinet but it remains an horrible sound. <X

    who likes to play with headphones?

    if I play K with my PA it's amazing!

    thanks.

  • The h'phone amp sounds absolutely-amazing to me. Sennheiser HD25-1.


    Switching between the HD25s and Opal monitors exhibits no character-loss. I picked both the headphones and monitors for their "natural", "organic" sound with zero apparent hype. Critical when auditioning a crapload of headphones 20 years ago before-purchase was my goal that if I were to remove them from my ears whilst good monitors were playing, the only audible difference would be the obvious one of the closed, near-eardrum space versus the room one.


    The fact that the Kemper's headphone amp, when the 'phones are removed from my ears, offers the same predictability I experience with any other high-quality h'phone source vs the monitors tells me that the tonality and response of that thing is spot-on. It seriously rocks IMHO, brother. If it's not delivering for you I'd personally blame whatever 'phones you're using, unless of course the amp's faulty, which I'd say is extremely-unlikely. I've not seen this in a KPA before, but of course it's theoretically-possible, however unlikely it may be.

  • Is your Kemper new?


    If it isn't maybe you need to Initiate Globals in the System menu. You might have some configuration creating that harsh sound.


    Other possible reason is if you have an audio interface connected to the Kemper, in some cases you can hear twice the sound thru the headphones because you hear the original sound and also the return sound coming back to the Kemper from the monitor outs of the interface.


    This would also be corrected when doing an Init Globals in System so I would try that first.

  • Can't say that I've had anything other than a positive auditory experience using either my Sennheiser HD580 Precision open air or my HD280PRO closed back headphones through the Kemper headphone jack. I'm still mid-reorganziation of my study/music room, so I haven't had a chance to hook it up to my MOTU Traveler or RME Fireface 400 audio interfaces connected to my Yorkville YSM-1p powered monitors. But once I do, I'm sure the eardrum nirvana will continue. Good luck in sussing out your issue, but I agree with Atlantic that you might benefit from a nice factory reset or wiping out the current global settings in case something got fubarred in there.

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • ToThe h'phone amp sounds absolutely-amazing to me. Sennheiser HD25-1.


    Switching between the HD25s and Opal monitors exhibits no character-loss. I picked both the headphones and monitors for their "natural", "organic" sound with zero apparent hype. Critical when auditioning a crapload of headphones 20 years ago before-purchase was my goal that if I were to remove them from my ears whilst good monitors were playing, the only audible difference would be the obvious one of the closed, near-eardrum space versus the room one.


    The fact that the Kemper's headphone amp, when the 'phones are removed from my ears, offers the same predictability I experience with any other high-quality h'phone source vs the monitors tells me that the tonality and response of that thing is spot-on. It seriously rocks IMHO, brother. If it's not delivering for you I'd personally blame whatever 'phones you're using, unless of course the amp's faulty, which I'd say is extremely-unlikely. I've not seen this in a KPA before, but of course it's theoretically-possible, however unlikely it may be.

    Gotta agree with Nicky here I have the HD25-II’s (a slightly newer version but basically the same drivers) and the kemper sounds the dogs danglies to me..

  • I have Beyerdynamic DT 880 PRO

    You have very decent headphones, I doubt that they sound harsh/bad/horrible. Of course every brand/model sounds different and our ears certainly are different as well. So it would be perfectly ok for someone to prefer model X while another one prefers model Y.

    But the attributes you used are either exaggerated or something is just setup wrong.


    Let's start to hunt the issue down. :) Very simple questions for a start:

    1. In the OUTPUT menu, go the the "Output Source" page and tell us what source is selected for "Main Output" and which one is selected for "Monitor Output".
    2. Which physical output(s) do you use for your PA?
  • Hi,


    First of all, it is worth checking: If some profiles sound bad to you, than there is a chance those are not good. If most/all of them sound bad, than you have to fix your monitoring method.


    I play mostly through headphones and I know what you mean.

    I have a pair of DT 880 Pro and DT 770 Pro, both 250 ohms.

    The fact is these headphones are great for MONITORING / MIXING WORK, specially the DT 880 Pro IMO as its freq resp is flatter than the DT 770, which has some slightly scooped upper mids and is a bit boomier in the low end.

    However when it comes to LISTENING I would rather not have all that piercing high end content these headphones have, which translates into harshness and fizzyness.


    What I found to be the SIMPLEST solution for me: to play using my Senheiser Urbanite XL headphones.

    It just sounds great out of the box. I just have to tame a bit the low end, make it less mid-heavy and that is it.


    What I found to be the BEST solution for me: KEMPER -> Presonus Quantum and to monitor through the DAW using Sonarworks Reference 4 plugin to correct the freq resp of the Beyers.

    I manage to low latency monitor (green Z) through the quantum with an RTL of 1,5 ms, on top of Kemper's latency.

    Good thing of this plugin is I can add the correction EQ to taste and tweek it if needed (change the target from flat to predefined target curves, tilt it, etc)

    My experience is I get much less ear fatigue when playing for longer periods of time, specially when using the semi open DT 880's


    Another work around I have done in the past was to dial in EQ presets in the kemper to match a "flat freq resp corrected" DT 770 / 880 in the DAW using the Refercence 4 plugin and then use that as a global locked FX block in the kemper. Matching was never perfect, but quite good.


    Other than EQ corrections, I always have some "space" dialed in the global menu or some reverb for ambience. I m not a big fan of the pure cab feature though, but found some use for it in certain situations already.


    This post was not suppose to be so long, but I thought it would have been good to share this experience and hopefully it can give you some hints how to make your headphones playing experience more enjoyable! :)

  • The headphone amp and converters sound better to me than any other digital modelers I’ve tried. Heck, it’s better than the headphone amp on most interfaces I’ve tried haha. I haven’t had any crazy high end ones but still, it should not be the problem.

  • urpilus I enjoy playing with headphones and backing tracks from iPad. It sounds same or better than my PA.


    Sometime ago I've heard harsh sounds. I realized that it was my AUX-in setup. Once I had the Y cable properly connected to the iPad, problem solved.


    Try to isolate the source. Just connect your guitar, kemper, and headphones, disconnect everything else. If you still hear harsh sounds, check every cable. Try with other headphones, too. If the problem persists, contact support.

  • Could it not be that the sounds are a little harsh (possibly clipping) and the headphones are more revealing and true to the source than the monitors you are using. When I listen back to mixes on headphones I generally find little details (minor clipping, mouth fret or other annoying noises) are more noticeable.

  • +1 for the Sennheiser HD25! After years of use, my Sennheiser HD400 (which i boughts back in the 80's) died. After reading a lot on this forum, I bought the BeyerDynamic DT880 two weeks ago. It is not a bad headphone, but I wasn't completely happy with the sound either. So after reading this thread, I decided to buy the Sennheiser HD25. And I am very happy I did. The guitar sound is a lot bigger and more fun to play. The BeyerDynamic goes back.

  • +1 for the Sennheiser HD25! After years of use, my Sennheiser HD400 (which i boughts back in the 80's) died. After reading a lot on this forum, I bought the BeyerDynamic DT880 two weeks ago. It is not a bad headphone, but I wasn't completely happy with the sound either. So after reading this thread, I decided to buy the Sennheiser HD25. And I am very happy I did. The guitar sound is a lot bigger and more fun to play. The BeyerDynamic goes back.

    Another convert to the HD25’s Monkey_Man .


    Glad you like em Jacques65 personally I don’t think they can be beat as they are a great flat EQ monitoring headphone.

    Edited once, last by Deej09 ().

  • I know DJ, I know mate. :D


    I've had his post lined-up for a response in my dock for a few hours, but I'm not able to submit consecutive posts within a certain timeframe and had others to attend to, so it was waiting in-the-wings.


    Jacques65 , I'm so happy for you that you made that brave decision, mate. As a "bonus", those things will last you a lifetime.

  • Hi & thanks to all for use your time to help me.

    The situation is:

    I've done reset Init.Global

    I've bought HD25 headphones

    I've checked all cables

    I've listened a little bit difference, but it still sounds harsh harsh & harsh. ;(


    Time to open a support ticket...

  • Congrats on the new 'phones, mate. 8)


    Here's a thought:

    Are you able to record the headphone's output via a 1/4" stereo jack -> 2 x mono adapter to your interface? If so, you'll then be able to compare this with the output/s you usually use with your PA.


    You'll have to start with the level set at "0" and raise it slowly 'til it's roughly-correct for recording. I'm guessing that this will be really-low on the headphone-amp side 'cause it produces way above line level, but for a quick-and-dirty comparison this might be a logical next step.

  • What PA are you using - I stand by my point that the PA might be 'flattering' the sound and your headphones might be revealing those harsh frequencies which are there anyway but which the PA is masking through a more limited frequency response (and the fact it isn't really close to your ears).

  • good advice: I'll try it! thanks mate

  • What PA are you using - I stand by my point that the PA might be 'flattering' the sound and your headphones might be revealing those harsh frequencies which are there anyway but which the PA is masking through a more limited frequency response (and the fact it isn't really close to your ears).

    I'm using an Hi-Fi TEAC A R-600 with passive speaker (don't remember the name): the sound is amazing with high definition!