headphone issue

[KazmanN]

I have a pair of noise canceling Sennheiser PXC 450 headphones. I'm using it with a CEntrance dacport on my computer. I'm extremely impressed with this headphone amp. It was much better than I had anticipated and I couldn't be happier. However I do have an issue, and its not with the dac. I get this weird high pitched/light buzzing popping sound coming from the right earphone. It doesn't matter if I'm plugged in to the dac or straight to the computer the problem is the same. This noise is most noticeble with the noise canceling on. In bypass mode it still does it, but its barely noticeble. I've been reading up on it, and its not just me who is having this problem. Although I couldn't really find a fix for it, but some people mention it could be ground issue.

 

I will mention that there is a quick fix. If I put my finger on the 1/4" while music is playing the noise goes away. As soon as I take my finger off the noise starts again. Adjusting the headphone jack doesn't do anything either. Just to make sure its not the computer I did try using the headphones on my smart phone, and the noise goes away.

 

Although this issue is tolerable, I would still like to get it fixed if I can.

 

Thank you

 

[esldude]

Sounds like a grounding issue. Probably one of those that may seem to need voo doo to fix. Goes away with your smartphone because it is battery powered and not part of your AC house wiring I think.

 

Since you say touching the 1/4" stops it I would try touching chassis ground with a short piece of wire and touching the 1/4" with the other end of the wire and see if that stops it. Or makes it worse. Any metal screw in the chassis should be grounded if the chassis is metal. If touching the 1/4" with the grounded wire does stop it, maybe it should be grounded internally in the headphone plug and is not. Not knowing the construction of your headphones I don't know if that is something you can pull the cover off of and fix or not.

 

BTW, when you say touching the 1/4" do you mean the outer plug on the headphones or the female part of the plug on the equipment you are plugging into?

 

 

 

[KazmanN]

Sorry for the late reply, but I think I figured out the issue. I'm certain its a grounding issue with my laptop. When I use my cell phone or my other laptop with my headphones all is well. I only get the weird noise issues with my gaming laptop. The laptop has an aluminum surface around the track pad that spans the width of the machine. When I touch the surface of it with my hand most of the noise goes away. Oh well no biggie, but still annoying. Thanks though

 

[Mulot]

Hello Folks,

 

I think I have a similar issue, when I have the AAA battery inserted into the right headphone, I can hear an annoying repetitive ticking in the right headphone, in both bypass and normal mode (for normal mode, if noise cancellation is turned on the noise disappear).

 

If I use the bypass mode I need to take out the battery of the headphone and then the noise will stop. It's not a convenient solution for me since the battery can be easily lost and the battery door doesn't seems as solid as the rest of the headphone.

 

Anyone with the same result, I don't think this issue is related to grounding issue like previously.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Mark Powell]

I have read in several places that noise cancelling phones should never be used for high quality audio. Can't remember what they said, but I have my own ideas - to remove noise but allow your music, the amplifier inside the headphones must mix your high quality incoming signal with the input from it's own internal microphone and intrenal amplifier and send the result to the coils that move the diaphrams.

 

Thus the sound quality is dependent on the quality of the headphones internal amplifier (usually low quality) and not on the quality of your amplifier.

 

Easily fixed - permanently remove the battery.

 

[Mulot]

Thank you for this information. The point is that this "ticking" is only present with the AAA battery on, both bypass and normal mode on. If I activate the noise reduction feature by turning on the headphone, the noise disappear (even if the Jack isn't plug), it doesn't change anything to plug it or not.