Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
The thicker mid-bass is part of the signature of the headphone - that has nothing at all to do with the amplifier. The iDEA's 0.5 Ohm output impedance is low enough to avoid coloration of almost any headphone's sound.
I also tried them out of my iphone se (around 4 Ohms output impedance). This also sounded very good, with the mid-bass nicely attenuated. Unfortunately, the sub-bass through lower-mids were also equally attenuated which made the upper end of the spectrum sound a bit brighter too. Some people may really like that more neutral sound. I am just not one them.
The output impedance of the iphone se results in about a -6 dB attenuation from sub-bass through ~500 Hz, less after that range. IMO, what you're hearing as soundstage improvements is just mids/treble accentuation. Also, there is a bit of noise picked up from the iphone with the uber-sensitive andromeda (scrolling motions make an easily audible hiss). The iDEA is dead silent with the Andromeda, indicating a very low noise floor.
Points being, andromeda is a great sounding headphone, "sounds good" is entirely subjective, and the iDEA is objectively a good dac/amp. I would rather hear the signature of an earphone uncolored by impedance issues, that's all.
Portable DAC/amps you should check out are the Dragonfly Red, Oppo HA2SE, Chord Mojo, ifi iDsd Black Label and the mini version of the Black Label. Personal preference is one thing but, I assure you, there's no way you'd still think the iDea or your phone's built-in soundcard is acceptable to drive the Andros once you try out any of the ones I've mentioned above.
Also, there's no need to obsessing over impedance really. If hissing the issue, from my experience there are probably more portable DAC/amps that don't hiss with the Andros than those that do. If it's about sound, low or close to zero impedance doesn't necessarily equate to better sound either.
I'm sure all the amp/dac you listed sound great with the Andros. Which specifically have you tried with the Andro?