well, how's this for out there? but i think i got it.

the short in the phones was worse than i thought, so i started tying to figure out some other cause - dirt, maybe?

the cords are an 1/8th inch. all the outs in the room are 1/4 inch. so, i need an adapter. i started playing with the connection to see if i could isolate it to one side of the cord, maybe.

what i began to realize is that i could get a fuller sound if i pulled the tip out just a bit. but, i couldn't get it back again after. and then it clicked.

what i'm thinking is that it isn't the cord, but the tip - that is, that this particular tip seems to have a microscopic defect on it that is not connecting properly in the adapter, but the other one doesn't. it's something most people probably wouldn't notice, but apparent on the high and low end; i think i'm getting a reduced signal due to the contact not snapping into place properly.

i happen to have a dozen of those adapters, somehow; i don't know how. but, i've experimented with a few and i'm getting closer to the proper "boom".

you can hear what i mean if you check out the first few seconds of the attached track. a drum-bass-guitar crash comes in after the arpeggio. through a good set of phones, it should get that "crush" effect on the bottom end. i was getting that through the shorted phones, but not getting it through the working ones; when i swapped the adapter out, i started getting it through the working ones.

it's a little different through each of the adapters, which just upholds the idea that there's some kind of mild contact problem.



you can hear it here, too, with the rising bass parts. that bass should saturate the mix - "BOOM". but, i wasn't getting the volume spikes - as though it was through a limiter.

well...

i'm pretty much convinced that i'm getting different results out of the different headphone cords, with the functioning pair sounding like it's through a limiter and the shorted pair sound a lot more full and open, like it's meant to.

i suppose it could be an impedance issue. a factory defect. that's so remarkably obscure. but i've been saying forever that it sounds like the signal is being obstructed, somehow, and swapping the cables seems to have fixed it.

i'm normally one to pretty loudly poo-poo audiophile claims of impedance making a difference, and i'm not exactly going to say my ears don't lie (although i can't double blind this...), but it seems to be a difference.

with all the randomness, i don't know - maybe the signal is warming up the phones, and it's warping it? i think i'm in the realm of science fiction.

i'm trying to think back to when i switched cables and don't recall exactly. i actually wasn't even sure that i had switched cables at all until i went and looked. it could have been when i swapped braces, back around new year's. but, i'm pretty sure it was working fine until a few months ago. and, again - the randomness. how does impedance "break"?

i'm going to keep testing overnight. but it honestly seems to me like it sounds right through the shorted cable.

they're usable, for now. the short is intermittent. but, i'll need to swap them. so, if i can convince myself of as much, i'll just order another cable. maybe two...

for now, i'm just excited to get a breakthrough. although, this doesn't really add up to me. how is it that other measures seemed to make a difference, if it was the headphone cord?

for now, i'll just keep listening. and if it keeps sounding good, i'll have to accept it.