I think that Seinheiser 560S might have been an retarded choice for a phone...........
I think it doesn't have enough power to drive them fully.

I don't think even my integrated soundcard is enough........

I'm pretty sure having headphones somewhere between 50%-80% volume is probably a sign of that

Is Seven Nation Army supposed to have a slight hiss in the background?

@matrix

I believe there's a 12k hiss, il check when I'm at work

@lunarised
Thanks. I've never heard it there so I want to know if I'm hearing inadequacy of the DAC or not

@matrix

The hiss sounds like a cymbal fade out to me, so if that seems to be what you're hearing, its all good

@lunarised
I called it hiss but static is probably a better word to use and I could hear it immediately once I hit play. It's the first song I heard in though so I dunno.

@matrix @lunarised what's the Ohms on the headphones? You probably need a dac

@coyote @lunarised 120

@matrix @lunarised yeah there's your problem, most standard devices drive 30 Ohms, if that

@coyote @lunarised High impedance headphones are like 200 and higher though

@matrix @lunarised but standard impedance is probably lower than 120 for your device

@coyote
It isn't just impedance that's important but also sensitivity.

@lunarised

@matrix @coyote

When you say sensitivity, I assume you're referring to frequency response?

That will change a fair bit depending in the gain setting of your amp.
Although I've never come across a situation where static would come through due to not enough oomph driving cans


Much to think about

@lunarised @matrix You can't trade sensitivity for ohms, that's just not how that works.

Your phone is not powering the headphones properly, hence the quiet. You need a more powerful headphone amp, or headphones that require less power.

A shorter cable than stock will not stop audible hiss/noise/static.

Oh, and Jack White is a notorious audiophile, AKA he records all his albums with analog studio equipment on tape, you're probably hearing the hiss from the analog tape equipment.