problem with Sony headphones

Patryk_Rebisz

Patryk_Rebisz

Veteran
I have Sony mdr-7506 headphones and on a recent job i noticed that the right cup projects noise - a hiss of a kind as if listening to a sound from a really low quality pre-amp. Anyone know what could be the problem, do you think it's just wiring problem that i could fix or something more serious that would require me to buy new headphones?
 
Hiss is rarely a fault of headphones... try another set and see if the hiss remains.. headphones tend to just play only what is sent to them, not create sound on their own.
Could it be you're hearing distortion? or is it a constant hiss regardless of material playing?
do they make the hiss if no signal is being played (silent portion of audio) ?
or is the noise following sound material?
also try pluging them into a different source (another Ipod or cd player) does it still have the noise?
If the noise is constant it is more likely than not a problem with whatever you're plugging them into, not the headphones themselves.

hope this helps.

GG
 
Sounds like they're broken to me. If you're handy with a soldering iron and tiny parts you may be able to fix it. I think I would end up just melting some ends and breaking the cups if I tried to do something like this.
 
I would go back in the chain. Headphones are just small speakers they don't generate any signal.
Probable causes would be the headphone amp, not sure what your chain is.
Something going into the system that the headphones are in.
If you are directly plugging the headphones into different devices and getting the same problem, I would flip the phones and see if the noise switches sides. If it does you may have a touch of Tinnitus in one ear. There are also a tone of less serious things that can cause a hiss or tonal sound in your ears, colds drug interactions etc.
In theory it's not possible for headphones to "generate" noise on their own, though possibly some strange short in the voice coil???

As a side note Sony uses a copper ribbon wrapped around a cloth center on the headphone wiring, very flexible and almost impossible to repair (for me anyway, and I'm a pretty experienced electronics tinkerer and long time solderer).
 
It was the director who noticed the problem just after i did. Thankfully i quickly realized that it's caused by one headphone while the other being fine - playing back the file confirmed that the channels are recorded correctly but one of the headphones does produce sound with hiss.
 
only thing I can think of now checking is the connections at the 3.5mm connector, but it sounds like from what you're describing that the driver has become damaged and is creating distortion.

replace the set and consider these your emergency back ups.
 
It is simply not possible for something passive like headphones to produce "hiss". Either whatever headphone amplifier it is plugged into is producing (or amplifying) hiss, or else you are not using the word "hiss" in the sense that most of us understand.

Hiss is white noise, what you hear from an analog FM or TV receiver when it is between channels (no signal). It is the sound librarians make ("shhhhh") when people make noise.

As recordingwhiz suggests, you may be hearing voice-coil scrape (which sounds something like hiss) because the coil overheated and is now dragging on the magnet. You cannot see this kind of damage. The only practical cure is to replace the driver (which should be available as a repair part.)

"Hiss" would be audible all the time, but voice-coil scrape is only audible while the headphones are reproducing sound. If you physically pushed on the driver diaphragm, you could hear the scrape.
 
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I have to agree with everyone else. I don't use Sony's anymore but not because of the audio quality. They simply break too easily. I've broken 4 of them. The sound quality has been fine though. Something else has to be causing it. Chuck them and get another pair....Or...give them to someone you don't like!
 
I go through a pair of 7506's every year to a year and a half.
With me the bottom end disappears over time and the sound becomes very thin.
(scary to think what those decently loud volumes are doing to my actual ears)

Point being is..they do just wear out. Luckily they are affordable.
 
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