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iPod touch headaches from audio on touch

W

Warped1

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2005
79
0
I am convinced the touch is over amplified which causes my sensitive ears to give me a headache. I have the problem with the included buds, cx-300s, and the best option for me is over ears but they still do it.

Anyone else notice this? It seems over driven even at low volumes.
 
It's not a volume too high issue. The problem occurs with it very low. The limiter doesn't even come into play at these low volumes.

I'm starting to wonder if it may be RF interferance coming up the phones but that is unlikely as it occurs even with the wifi off.

I can listen on my nano or shuffle all day without ear fatigue so something is different.
 
what are you suggesting here? If the RF signal was interfering with the audio, you would def. hear it since everything would be played out of phase.

maybe its not the ears, but the eyes. Are you looking at the unit all the time when its playing?

If you think that its causing you headaches, stop using it then. There really nothing else the posters on this forums can do for you.
 
I think I have found a solution, kind of. I'm using Flat on the EQ and turned on the music normalization - "Check Music". It seems to have helped. Being a bit of an audiophile I usually do not like any EQ or normalization but being this is a mp3 player and it reduces whatever is causing my headache, I'm sticking with it.

I am surprised I am the only one who has this problem. I can actually feel the headphone drivers moving with low volumes. It's too loud. I wonder if jailbroken, is there an OSX setting to lower the total volume output. The best way to describe it is when you hook a source up to an external amplifier with the headphone jack and have the volume too high on the device. My older music sounds fantastic (which is recorded at a lower volume in the studio). New music that the studio already over drives is the killer that leads to my problem.
 
I been listening for this specific problem. I have a set of MDR-V6's and also a set of high end shure inear monitors (for recording, not for the listening). I've listened to base intensive tracks to see if I could determine a frequency range that would be causing a problem. With inears, I always have to watch the base response because it seems to overpowering with every set of inears I've ever used. The shure monitors (SCL5) do a good job of no overpowering me here as do the V6's. I dont know, I would say that if its causing you alot of headaches it could probably be a specific frequency that your ear is sensative to. I've noticed this in my car stereo that installed w/in the last 2 years. The thing gives me a headache and its native EQ sucks... it was 75 dollars... and I was broke... and it had AUX in and i wanted quick fix. I'm sure that ive more than paid the price for my poor, cheap decision.

All this to say, it seems really unit-specific. Other people have been complaining about humming in their audio. I dont have any. I have hooked the ipod up to a nice pair of Studio Monitors and they only hiss I hear is from the orig. recordings.

To add to your note about studios overdriving their songs. In the last ten years I have noticed this more and more. It's really annoying that it seems to be the norm. It's all those trance music people out there that are screwing us all (jk!).

Also, since the ipt has a nice LCD I would guess alot of people are looking at it and getting headaches while they listen to their trance music...hehe. Little LCD's always give me headaches.

Anyways, good luck with finding EQ nirvana

Arisian
 
Finally someone who understands what I am talking about! :)

I agree it may be a certain frequency and it's certainly on the low bass end that's doing it. When it occurs, it resonates with pressure right through me.

I also have no buzzing in my audio but I do get a pop when booting up. It's like the sound an amp makes when you plug in and it's hot.

I also agree about the LCD can cause the issue. I specifically listened with minimal LCD usage to ensure that wasn't causing it.

I've done some more critical listening with the EQ at flat and the normalization on. While there are some tracks that still seem touchy, overall it's much improved for my head. I'd estimate about 10% of my tracks now have the pontential when without the normalization it was more like 75%. I can just skip a track if it's real bad. The key piece is now I can listen to podcasts without getting a headache. Twit and MacBreak were both doing it before and not now.

I love this device. It's truely remarkable and I want to use it more as a PDA with music so I can overlook a lot.
 
the senn cx300 are very piercing headphones and suprisingly the ipod touch is not that treble emphasized so you will need to think about different headphones. i switched to westone um2 and they were a little better but as microarmatures they were more focused in the trebles and it caused tinnitus i think.

now i have atrio m5 (150$) after shipping and they are worth every penny. i have also the meizu m6 and the cowon d2 and the cowon is the worst of the bunch for piercing headaches.
 
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