Hi dear audiophiles!

Not too sure if this is the right place for the this topic, but I'm in desperate need of help! I have a Yamaha DS-XG soundcard in my pc (yes it's old, but I love it ) and used to have Sony MDR CDR280 headphones. Now I went out got my self a new pair of Sennheiser HD515 headphones which are a pretty awsome upgrade from my old ones.

However the problem I seem to be getting with them is that now when I don't have any music on I can hear this annoying background hiss. I didn't seem to have it with my old headphones (at least not as noticible). And I don't seem to have any when they are plugged into my mp3 (so it's not the headphones).

Can anyone suggest where the problem lies? or how can I fix it? I'm a big fan of chillout so you can imagine how this hiss can be annoying.



p.s I'm planning on getting the Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 when I have enough money.

The noise comes from the analogue output section of the soundcard. IF you did not hear it before, either something on the soundcard has deteriorated, or, more likely, your old headphones did not have enough higher frequency response to reproduce it very loudly.

Do your headphones differ much in impedance maybe? Do you have the data for it? (And they are connected to a headphone connector, not a line-out? Just wanted to check... )

They are connected to the audio card headphone amp.

The Sennheiser HD515's have - Impedance - 50 (hoof thing) according to back of box and 120ohm according to cnet and other online places.

The Sony MDR CD280 is Impedance - 24 ohms.

Exactly. You need a new and better soundcard.

Well looks like I'll be placing an order for teh Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 next week.

Hope it will be good enough

Couldn't just let this pass, it is the Greek letter omega Ω, standard electronic symbol for ohms.

Regards,
Madrigal