Sennheiser HD 600 - Are they crackling?

Hello everyone,
I'm very new to the world of high-end audio. Just bought my entry-level headphones - the Sennheiser HD 600.
I know a lot of people experience issues with high-end headphones especially in the beginning - the so called burn-in period. I did a 50-60 hour burn-in (total hours, not continual). Unfortunately I seem to experience some crackling noises and I'm not sure if it is from the headphones or the tracks themselves. I tried the tracks with other headphones (low end consumer headphones) and the crackling is not there. So I am not sure whether the cheaper headphones are just not picking it up or the Sennheisers are defective.
I was listening to the 24bit 96khz studio album of The Doors - The Doors in .wav format, particularly the track "Soul Kitchen" seems to crackle a lot on the high notes. Dave Brubeck's - The Duke seems to crackle in both .wav and .mp3 on both headphones. I bought The Doors album from a different vendor to see but the crackling is still there.

Some additional info:
- I don't have а high-end DAC yet, I know it's stupid to use good headphones with the motherboard DAC, but a high-end DAC is on the way.
- I don't have an amp either. I know the amp is a must have for high impedance headphones so I ordered an amp as well.

Is it possible that the crackling is because of the crappy internal DAC? I tried the headphones on a different PC with the same track - the crackling is still there, but this different PC's DAC is even worse than mine.

Another weird thought - is it possible that The Doors studio album was poorly recorded and just has some default crackling? I doubt that, but who knows...

Any suggestions? Thanks.

P.S.
I tried a random bassy track on YouTube -
There is some buzzing here as well, throughout most of the track, particularly on the bassy parts - sounds like I'm listening this in the car and the windows are vibrating - I don't know if it's intentional, or it's from the headphones - maybe someone else with good headphones can confirm/deny. It's very noticeable from 2:46 onward.

 

I would guess it's clipping that is causing the distortion... sometimes if you accidentally leave software EQ on somewhere, it will do this. Could be in your player program, or in Windows elsewhere if you're using a soundcard. If you're using some kind of plug-in, this can happen as well. I often see clipping with mp3s, including the ones that I download with vinyl I've purchased... it's a damned shame some artists release their albums in mp3 instead of FLAC. Since you mentioned they aren't mp3s, try checking for EQ or plugins messing with the volume.

Which program were you using the play your music? If it's possible, open up the tracks in Audacity to see if they're clipping (you will see a bunch of red lines over the wave form, if they're hitting 0dB). Another thing you could use is a visual peak meter to see if the track is hitting 0dB. Foobar has this built in, and I'm sure it's possible to see a peak meter with other music players.

PS. Video above has no cracking/buzzing. Needs more cowbell though... @Goobicii?

 

Just to be sure check the drivers for dents and stray hairs.

 

Inexpensive and easy testing method:

1. Get an old-school CD-player with a clean headphone out.
2. Get Massive Attack's album "Mezzanine" on CD.
3. Volume low, just loud enough to hear the details.
4. Play "Angel"
5. Next play a Dire Straights album you like, preferably older pressings. When the music sounds smooth and rich your HD600 is fine.

The HD600 can extract a lot of information from well recorded music and that can be surprising. It does not have the best bass I heard but it extends well enough for most music.

This is a personal method I often used. Hence why I always keep a CD-player around.

 

I tried the tracks on both Windows Media Player and MPC-HC, I don't use any plugins that I know of although the MPC-HC is bundled with all kinds of plugins and codecs which might be affecting WMP as well. Tried foobar too (also crackling). Audacity - also crackling. Interestingly enough the same track in .flac but at 838kbps doesn't have the crackling in any of the players. I'm not seeing any red in audacity - Just the blue lines, do I need to enable something?

PS.
I will try to run the tracks from a Linux distribution to see if it's a software issue. Then try with the new DAC that is coming. If all else fails I will call the store I bought the Senns from and RMA.

 

There were a few tiny hairs which I removed but nothing changed. I don't think it's them.

 

What do I need to look out for when trying this method?

 

Get a decent CD-player in good condition, a nice Marantz/Philips/Sony that has a good reputation. For 20 Dollars/Euros you can test one and pick one up. Good CD-players are often dumped.

Even better when you have an old-school Sony Disc-Man you already have a good CD-player. The albums are cheap to find used or new locally and through Ebay. Even better: someone can simply share the ripped WAV file; you burn it on a disc and done.

In short, you can do this at little to no cost.

 

Only the sound from the right cable is crackling (but not the right driver), I tried the right cable on both drivers (crackling), left cable on both drivers (no crackling).

 

I think the warranty should cover this.

 

Ok, so I tried playing the .wav files from an Ubuntu Linux on the same PC with the Rhythmbox player. The goal was to rule out software/windows issues.
Crackling was significantly lower, but still present. I don't think it's a software issue, probably some mild EQ differences between both OS.

 

Which headphone out are you using? If you are lucky your laptop/PC has clean headphone out. If not some crackling and noise might appear every once in a while.

 

Tried both frontal and rear headphone out. No difference.

 

Send them back, looks like the drivers are defective.

 

If I understand correctly, you just have a broken cable. If both drivers work with the left-side cable, it's clearly about that right cable. Fortunately, the stock cables aren't expensive or hard to come by. (Or just get one from your dealer/Sennheiser if you have warranty.)

The 650 cable works nicely with 600's too.

 

While on the topic of cables, is it true that different cables may greatly affect the sound

If the cable is the problem, how come the crackling noise always appears at the same time on the track. Shouldn't a cable issue be unpredictable?

 

No, its not "true". There is some truth to the idea that cables affect sound, but the extent is, in my experience, highly subjective. I can accept that people with much experience with a certain set up can hear a difference when they change a cable. Also, there are some headphones that come with workable, but not impressive cables, and might benefit from an ethernet upgrade. However, when someone new-ish to expensive headphones drops another $200+ on cables and then reports that it "greatly affected" the sound, my bullshit sniffer starts beeping.

Back to the cracklin', have you checked your ears for legos? You know, the really tiny ones.