I bought used headphones and guess what. Something is wrong with them.
I can't give them back.
Stereo balance is moved little to the left.
I bought the second hand but they are almost new.
It looks like factory defect and right is little quieter. Like Left - 100% & Right - 95%
I test them with sound downmixed to mono.
When I wear them normal sound is moved little to the left.
When I wear them opposite then sound is little moved to the right.

What I can do with this?
They are new so I can heat them but is this help with stereo balance?
I came up with an idea to heat them to only Right side.
Downmix tracks or sounds to mono and moved all to the right side.
Then only right side will be playing and put it for few days like this.
Is this a good idea?
What will be better? Noise? Sinewave? Music?
Or maybe opposite? Better to heat only left site?
Or maybe change the balance for heating not 100% to one side but maybe 15%?

Please help

 

Last edited: May 11, 2021

I'm dumb. I know that buying cheap used headphones is risky and I bought 2 of them in one week from different sellers.
One pair is ok but second have moved stereo balance.
Maybe for someone else they are ok but I was imadiately hear that something is wrong.
Fuck me!

What to do?
Please help

 

First off, we should skip the 'burn-in' effect topic because according to the rules 'questionable statements about increasing fidelity without providing evidence' are not allowed here and so far there isn't a single scientific proof for this effect.

When both sides have different loudness, I'd try to adjust it with the pan knob of your soundcard's software. But since we all have different sensitivities for different freqs for both ears, this could be difficult. I'd probably take a kick, a snare and a mono vocal track at the same time, center them, of course, and adjust the pan.

 

Thanks but I wanna make everything to avoid this. This is the last thing to do.
At the worst case those headphones will be used as a parts for other headphones.

This is weird because right side is little like muddy but isn't.
It's like double layer of sponge on the speaker. Or maybe like layer of glue on the sponge.
It is weird and something make that right speaker is little more quiet.

Maybe putting there an additional thin layer of sponge or something to the left side isn't a bad idea?

 

Last edited by a moderator: May 11, 2021

Have you dismantled the right side and checked if there's something on the cone?

 

Nope I am too stupid to come up with this idea

But for example someone might have poured a sweet drink over those headphones and right side suffered from it.


*Additionally it looks like I have something with my ears and stereo field in my head is probably
panned like 3% to one side instead of center.
I don't remember which side but looks like one of my ear is better than the other.

How to burnin ear? Haha :D

 

This is weird too because I'm not always feel this.
Sometimes is more. Sometimes is less. And sometimes is gone.
But wait. Maybe it is about what You talking?
And everything is fine with my ears?

 

Not uncommon. Our brain is to some extend able to compensate for this but not when you listen to headphones and focus on specific sounds or freqs.

 

So it looks like that I have a brain?
Something inside my head compensate the balance of the sound

 

I just wanna told You and share my experience with it.
But yeah I could sent it as private message but I forget that this isn't a private conversation.


I love seeing this:





Is it ok that I make double posts sometimes?
I don't like editing and sometimes prefer to separate my thoughs.
But I never post more than 2 together.
2 posts together is the maximum.

 

This has yet to be proven.

I'm sorry to hear this. But out of experience I can tell you it doesn't hurt, Scout's honour.

If you just want to expand your thoughts within a few minutes, you should try editing your post. If your adressing (quoting) different people, two separate posts are ok.

 

Have you tried swapping left and right side to verify the drivers are not defective?
Otherwise I can recommend changing the Balance of the Headphones in Windows (if that's what your using the headphones mostly). I have also had unbalanced headphones (my ears are fine :P) and this did the trick for me.

 

Check the driver is not dirty/obstructed, and everything is snug on its right place..

Check the connection/soldering, a bad connection could lower the volume..

I wouldn't use Pan, but lower the volume of the channel independently,
if your soundcard/interface allows ofc..

I use an ancient Delta 66 card through Spdif, and it allows it by unlinking the channels..


I had to do tat myself few times, it's normal..
Think that even if the headphone was not faulty,
No Headphone is 100% Perfect, no Amp is 100% Perfect, and your Ears are also different from each other.

I modify all headphones with separate RCA connectors,
so cables don't break, they can be replaced easily for a better/more convenient one,
and more importantly I can swap channels easily if necessary.

So all together you can reach a compromise,
I would use the Channel that sounds Louder from the Amp, with the Driver that sounds Lower,
and then also place that lower driver on the Ear that is most sensitive.

This is also true in terms of FR, and it should be considered,
if one driver has more Bass, you can put it on the ear that has less sensitivity on that area of freq..


If this doesn't correct the mismatch enough,
then I would lower the channel that is louder independently with the control panel.


Ultimately if they are good headphones you can replace the drivers;
I had good experience with Beyerdynamic tech assistance, they sent me the best DT880 drivers I've ever heard for a good price,
and I installed them myself with nice Symmetrical wires and the RCA mod.

 

Last edited: May 12, 2021

There IS scientific evidence to support this statement regarding diaphragm inertia.
It MAY happen that new, long unused or cold diaphragms are stiff and therefore cannot reproduce transients adequately. Playing back sound then causes the diaphragm to heat up and become mechanically flexible. Physically, this is absolutely unquestionable. So if someone thinks this could be the case, let music (or whatever you feel like) play over the loudspeaker for a few minutes to half an hour (depends on the typ, condition and size of the membrane) and everything is fine.


It only becomes questionable when it is mystified by some hifi enthusiasts and then for a lot of money some voodoo noise is offered that must be played on the speaker. Of course, a whole night at full moon, with 12dbspl (measured at 30cm distance). and the speakers must of course be connected with by virgins hand-twisted gold conductor cables to an amp, whose tubes are responsible for cleaning the voltage. Yeah....

But on the subject: "burn-in" has nothing to do with the problem. There could be many reasons. What kind of headphones is it? Is the headphone connected with an adapter? Are the contacts clean? Is the coil clean? Are there any cold solder joints?


Edit: corrected spelling mistake and misleading explanation

 

Last edited: May 12, 2021

thats not the worst case! here a cable, there an earpad... everytime you need the phones, something essential breaks. who has got the luxury to own a second (otherwise useless) identical model to slaughter in that case? in his/her home studio of course. in a proper commercial studio one should throw both (!!!) phones in the trash

 

That's right. Problem is in something else.
But I was wondering if I heat one side maybe it helps, gives a longer term result and speaker will be play little louder.
Parts of the right speaker will be lapped more than the left side. More "burned" so then maybe both will be play on the same level.
I wish they'd magically heal themselves after using some simple trick.
You know what I mean.

I must check this.

 

Won't happen.

Yes

 

Yeah. I think I can't check it. Under ear sponge there is plane sponge glued to plastic with holes. Something like old stationary telephones. Just fuck those headphones.
I bought one for €5
And second for €10
And those for €5 sounds great like Sennheiser and those for €10 are like 60% loud on max volume in comparison to the cheaper ones and they are broken and had moved stereo and in overall sounds different and much worser.
It looks like I bought sponges for €10 to the headphones for €5. LOL
Those headphones are lottery.
I am affraid of those sponges.
Those headphones had very delicate sponges.
I can use sponges from broken headphones on different ones.
But how to pull them off?
They easly starting to crack. I don't wanna damage them.

Is there anything to protect the headphones sponges? Like impregnation for leather or something?
Spray or something so that the additional layer protects against cracks?

 

Last edited: May 12, 2021