Has anyone dealt with uneven sound on headphones. I got a pair of sennheiser hd1s of facebook and the sounded great but was just slightly uneven. Then i got a pair of beyerdynamic dt 1770s of facebook also and they sound even better but still sound uneven. I feel like it would make sense for something to be messed up since I got them off facebook but for both of them to be uneven seems suspicious.

I’ve feel like i’ve tried everything from balancing the sound on my phone, using mono audio, flipping the headphones around and just ignoring it. I just can’t tell if it’s the headphones, my head is uneven, or my ear canals are uneven.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Has anyone found a fix?

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Muttywango t1_jbpiau0 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 6:51 PM

The evidence suggests it is a problem with your ear. Perhaps you had an ear infection and something inside was damaged, maybe you were close to a very loud bang on one side and your eardrum was slightly damaged. Or you may just have one malformed canal/drum/cochlear. Start by using the balance control on your sound source.

kevinoli OP t1_jbpiuu7 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 6:54 PM

When I was a teen I was using a qtip to clean my ear and accidentally jammed it into my eardrum and it was bleeding and hurt pretty bad. But that was when i was like 16 now am 22 do you think it could actually be from then?

Muttywango t1_jbpjwo7 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 7:01 PM

That seems very likely, you may have damaged your eardrum and scar tissue has made it less sensitive.

TRX808 t1_jbpygjs wrote on March 10, 2023 at 8:36 PM

Go to an audiologist and get your hearing tested. In the newer versions of EQ APO / Peace there's a hearing test you can do which may help some.

You can easily balance a headphone L/R using EQ but hearing damage can come in different flavors so all frequencies may not have the same issues which makes things trickier to balance properly, and it may be impossible to get perfect.

rhalf t1_jbretj9 wrote on March 11, 2023 at 3:04 AM

If you hear difference with headphones, you should also hear it without them. Listen to some noises and cover one ear.

TagalogON t1_jbplupa wrote on March 10, 2023 at 7:14 PM

Oh no, if your ears were bleeding five years ago then yup, it's probably physical trauma or hearing damage. Unfortunately there's no cure for hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis, etc. at the moment.

Visit /r/tinnitusresearch for hope though. If everything goes right, we'll probably have legit medical products/etc. for tinnitus (some versions of it), hyperacusis, etc. before or around 2030, lol.

For now, try using parametric EQ to compensate with the channel/hearing imbalance.

IEMs/headphones with PC gaming, squig.link, AutoEQ, parametric EQ: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11n9l4u/fiio_fh3_for_tarkov/jbm9db1/

You can do (parametric) EQ with $8 Neutron Music Player or UAPP on Android. If on PC, the free (Peace) Equalizer APO. There are free apps on Android(/Apple) that can also do a good enough job, but most of them have those graphics sliders instead of parametric or just plug the numbers in EQ. EQ can also be used to help with channel or ear imbalances.

Definitely book an appointment with your local Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) doctor as they'll help you figure out your current situation. Make sure to also regularly visit the audiologist/etc. for hearing health testing and also manual earwax removal.

If you have blocked sinuses, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, etc. then you may have to take anti-allergy (antihistamines/etc.) medicine, do certain exercises with your jaw/ears/etc.

Here's some exercises for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, et cetera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SZ1r1dnho

Info about decibels, hearing health, et cetera here: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11a4cpm/are_few_second_peaks_into_8285_db_still_safe_when/j9riw7q/

If you encounter sudden hearing loss, or random tinnitus/et cetera, maybe go to the ER for the (hearing) steroids: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11m5yc5/hypersensitivity_and_tinnitus_after_96db_sound/jbgt88m/

Here's a bit more info on IEMs, dongles, volume, hearing health, earwax cleaning, et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/ul7gyx/listening_needs_with_sensitive_hearing/i7ty42g/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/uk341f/er2se_ear_damage/i7ndank/

Here's more info about hearing health and hearing loss, it's mainly about IEMs, but it applies to headphones too: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/v4uuxx/tinnitus_relapse_with_kz_zsn_pro_xs/ib6kbbm/

Here's what you can maybe do directly with tinnitus intensity (I am not a medical professional so take this with precaution): https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/ul7gyx/listening_needs_with_sensitive_hearing/i7vodcu/

TipAshamed2080 t1_jbq4zzi wrote on March 10, 2023 at 9:19 PM

It drove me crazy for a while, until I adjusted the levels in windows. I just turned the left channel down to 92% and used vocals primarily to test it, since they are normally mixed in the "middle". Somewhere in the sound settings you can adjust this. I have a similar option when listening from my android phone, but not as precise, but I'm satisfied with the result

AlternativeParfait13 t1_jbq6w61 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 9:32 PM

If it’s happening with multiple headphones, well worth a trip to the audiologist. The one thing I would say is that this also happened to me, and it turned out a balance control in Windows was set to favor the left channel. But that was me being dim, prob not representative.

ProfessorBananas454 t1_jbqg2l9 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 10:35 PM

wax build up in one ear?

Yeezybop t1_jbqwnwe wrote on March 11, 2023 at 12:37 AM

Both of your ear canals are different shapes, sizes and angles so you will never have perfect balance even if your drivers are perfectly matched.