Lineout SQ Problems

[Copperjacket]

Hi there

I have been enjoying my Rockboxxed H140 driving directly into my Headphones - Sennheiser HD580's but wanted to try using one of my headphone amps - RSA SR71 and Heavily modified X-cans v1.

In both cases the sound was a great disappointment - worse than feeding the headphones direct from the player. The volume control doesnt seem to be diabled either which surprised me.

What I am doing wrong and how can I fix it please?

[shadesbass]

A true lineout should not have a volume control, as you point out, but setting the volume to maximum will result in the best sound quality and is equivalent to having no volume control in the signal path.
I use the lineout of my H120 into my RSA Hornet (driving my Shure E500's) with no problems. It is noticeably better than the internal headphone amp.

[Copperjacket]

Thanks for your reply.

I have the volume to max but it still sounds awful. Bearing in mind that we are both using RSA amps we should be getting the same sort of sound quality albeit I have also tried my Etymotic ER4S and my Grado SR-225's both of which sound even worse.

I am using a good quality mini to mini - a Turbo Diabulous but quite frankly my Ipod Nano sounds a lot better using the same interconnect via a Turbodock which can't be right.

Do I need to play with the EQ settings, if so do you have any recommendations? Can one have a different set of EQ settings for both the line out and headphone socket?

I am using Apple losslessbut I can't see that would explain the situation.

Many thanks

[shadesbass]

I normally leave all the EQ settings off.
Make sure all the other sound settings are sensible values too (e.g. Balance = 0%, Channel Configuration = Stereo, Stereo width = 100%, Crossfeed Off)
AFAIK (at least on the version of Rockbox that I'm running) the sound settings apply to both the line and headphone outs.

I can't think of anything else you could try at this point, other than trying to obtain another unit to compare to yours.
Have you tried the optical output? That has fixed volume, although I'm not sure if it's pre or post other sound settings.

[Copperjacket]

Thanks for the suggestions I will give them a go.

Unfortunately I don't have access to another player for a back to back check, nor can I use the optical line out since I don't have a suitable dac/amp with that input.